Report: Welfare Schmelfare!
The National Council of Welfare will release a report today that is supposed to provide policy options for a long-term anti-poverty strategy. Unfortunately, it looks like this is yet another in a long line of redundant, useless social policy studies. The report actually says "Neither political nor economic nor social policy changes seemed to have any dramatic effects on income inequality. The statistics show no great strides forward over the post to (past two?) decades for the poorest of Canadians." Hmm. How much cash did they liquidate to come to that enlightening conclusion?
If I am reading this correctly, their advice to the government is that there is absolutely no tangible effect from any of our current poverty-targeted social, community-based or economic programs on improving people's lots. Out of the other sides of their mouths they are calling for government to strengthen its commitment to such programs. More puzzling is the government's response: "A spokesperson for federal Social Services Minister Diane Finley said the government values the council's work but feels it has initiatives already in place to address poverty..." (Toronto Star) Of course, it should be noted that the council is a citizen's advisory body (fancy name for stakeholder-based special interest group) to the HR minister, with no real power to change anything.
It's more than ironic that low and fixed-income Canadians can barely survive, but those who have the required level of education and funding can make a living writing about the static fate of being a low-income Canadian. I don't get it. This is all just more indication to me that academia exists in its own little make-believe world, designed for the logically-circular perpetuation of itself and that government has its head up its collective ass on what really matters: People.
If I am reading this correctly, their advice to the government is that there is absolutely no tangible effect from any of our current poverty-targeted social, community-based or economic programs on improving people's lots. Out of the other sides of their mouths they are calling for government to strengthen its commitment to such programs. More puzzling is the government's response: "A spokesperson for federal Social Services Minister Diane Finley said the government values the council's work but feels it has initiatives already in place to address poverty..." (Toronto Star) Of course, it should be noted that the council is a citizen's advisory body (fancy name for stakeholder-based special interest group) to the HR minister, with no real power to change anything.
It's more than ironic that low and fixed-income Canadians can barely survive, but those who have the required level of education and funding can make a living writing about the static fate of being a low-income Canadian. I don't get it. This is all just more indication to me that academia exists in its own little make-believe world, designed for the logically-circular perpetuation of itself and that government has its head up its collective ass on what really matters: People.
Labels: Reports
posted by K-Dough at 9:45 AM
63 Comments:
Ha Ha! Great one mighty K.
I am pained by the number of people I know making six figures+ who, as far as I can see, do nothing to justify that income. Of course there are always exceptions, and there are many vocations for which qualifying monetary value is a tricky science, but I've always had a theory that the majority of the working poor are just unlucky saps who didn't learn to "play the game."
Unfortunately, history has shown that the distribution of wealth has never and can never be equitable. You would think that the richer the state, the better able it is to provide for its most vulnerable and poor. Then again, state policies reflect majority sentiment- which often is driven by natural human traits, like greed.
As one of those people who hopes to one day make an unjustified six-figure salary, I take exception to those remarks!
But you're exactly right about luck - it's a crapshoot, and our social and tax policies over the past 20 years have done much to make sure things stay this way.
K-Dough's right that we already have a very good idea as to what the solutions to the problem of poverty are, but we can't ignore the fact that many of the reasons for that stagnation can be directly tied to the pursual of tax and economic policies that keep the poor exactly where they are.
Speaking of welfare.. the corporate kind, anyways... and unjustified multi-figure salaries...
Ken Lay's autopsy released.
http://sheenavision.blogspot.com/2006/07/thump.html
Nice shameless segue.
Yeah, well.
It's a slow day.
Oh, he'd do the same thing in a heartbeat.
I'm so hungover that I want to die. Someone please shoot me.
Sounds like it. When "Yeah, well" becomes a sentence, it betrays an underpinning of SLOW.
Pam- me too. Drinks at Black Bull last night. Then more drinks and dinner at Queen Mother. Then more drinks at Musa on Dundas. I'm one beer-soaked, well-travelled dood today.
I hit the red wine pretty hard last night at a friend's house. I don't think there is any hangover quite a bad as a red-wine-in-a-tetra-pack hangover.
Drinkin' boxes? You are kidding right? Look, I'm no wine connoiseur-I'm not even sure I can spell it..but...
I know, I know. They just seemed so environmentally friendly. I'm a sucker for new products at the LCBO.
Have you seen the new Intravenous Wildberry Vodka Cooler Gel Pack. It comes with antiseptic cotton puffs, a needle, DIY veni-puncture instructions, and it's all packaged in a nice basket with multi-berry-coloured raffia.
Hey guys!
Pam, the trick is to drink copious amounts of red wine every night, thereby building immunity. Works like a charm.
(Problem is, when I don't get my wine I get all sweaty and Tourette syndrome like....just make sure you don't run out.)
K-dough, letter of resignation is in! Had a huge pissing match with the boss last week over a bid they completely fucked up.
Also, my little side business just got a bunch of orders this week...God's way of telling me it's the right thing to do.
I'm feeling a bit big-cock like this week. (That will of course change when the orders stop coming in...)
I think that product is only available in the GTA. Sounds like a party in a box, though. I hope it comes with a little sharps container for the dirty needle.
K Dough, you're such a snob - the latest fad amongst the tweenie set is an organic PB and J on foccacia washed down with a box of white zinfandel! Who can beat that picture of a passed-out Tigger on the box?
Congratulations, Leather!
A round of IV wine coolers for the house!
Leather- two things:
1. Congrats on wrestling your vacuumed lips from the teat of domestic security! I hope your private gig does very well!
2. Lots of red wine every night makes your poop purple.
ALT: Crawl out of the stone age ok?. We don't use the word tigger on this blog! We say African-American tiger!!!!!
K Dough, my sincere apologies - the pages on derogatory stuffed animal euphemisms in my copy of Political Correctness for Dumbasses were stuck together. (Note to self, never have Chablis drinking box fight with daughter....)
Thanks for the well-wishes guys!
Hmmm..."Teat of domestic security"...that would be my wife, eh?
ALT: I'm glad you clarified that "pages...stuck together" comment because I was getting seriously curious- and disturbed.
Leather- I don't know- I've never had the pleasure. Perhaps, one day?
Absolutely, K-Dough. Next time we imbibe and I specifically ask you NOT TO BRING THOSE TWINS ALONG, that means you'll be meeting her.
Ha! You so funny lound eye.
I could use a serf, now that you mention it.
Sheena: You mean you don't have one? Wow. I've always pictured you as a powerful woman with oiled up professional dancers fanning you with ostrich feathers in your Arabian-pillowed office and spooning foie gras into your supple...
nevermind.
Rex Chainbelt: You might want to see a doctor about that.
Thank you for the unexpected delight of seeing "foie" spelled correctly, K-Dough. You may now resume your rightful place as a well-oiled dancer.
Sheena: Oil on stubble is not sexy I'm told. I haven't shaved my chest in about 4 days so, unfortunately, I will not be able to partake today. Boo.
Whenever I've pictured Sheena, I've imagined seeing just the sliver revealed as she rolls down the tinted windows of her jag to throw me a loonie and scream, "don't fucking touch the windshield with that rag. mutt."
Its exciting and humiliating at the same time.
oh, and while your being so "delighted" by mr. charisma, the K man, let me tell you, I can spell a whole bunch of organs in french.
like poumons and peau and reins and cerveau. I can't spell heart though. o before e, or visa versa? who knows.
coeur
ok, now come to daddy!
You're a real smooth talker, but your secret is out. You have oily chest whiskers. Ouch.
I'm the human embodiment of a desert island with no razors and tons of salad dressing...
I liked "dessert" island better..Yum.
LOL
damn it, I'm always one-upped by the guy with the cocktail in the fruity suit. haaaa. haaaa. its not my breath. what gives...
A philanthropist does.
good grief! i thought it was bad i'm a split personality gazillionaire con looking for ways to keep the plebes in their place, in addition to being a money-challenged human resources recipient of the radical far left yelling 'ea tthe rich' in the back alleys.
but k-dough, you've taken personality disorder to a new high and i congratulate you. now, where's my tin of cat food i have to eat with my servant feeding it to me with sterling silver?
Scout- Without confusion there would be no K-Dough- or moreover, Humanity-Dough in general.
I am a hypocrite! Let it be heard, from Bonavista, to Vancouver Island; From the Arctic Circle to the Great Lakes waters; blah blah blah blah blah bla blah blah bla blah blah centre of the unverse blah blah, bla blah bla blah blah blah
What was I sayinig?
Huh? Sorry, we were not listening.
Damn spicy food. Great going down last night....heavenly, in fact.
Very not good coming out this morning. What was that Johnny Cash song? Oh yeah..."Burning ring of fire". Throw "puckering" in there too.
Is it silent but deadly, Leatherhands? Perhaps Solitary Man will describe you best this morning.
solitary man? Cash doing Neil Diamond - life doesn't get much better.
K-Dough -
what gives? a philanthropist....
clever, clever, clever.
Oh, thank you so much. Please, no. Stop. Please don't embarass me like that.
If you really want to know the secret CC- I am just that clever because LSD opened up a virtual door in my brain 20 years ago. Yes, a door. And do you know where that door led to CC? I'll teell you.
That door led to an infinite, vast electro-magnetic field of celestial comedic unity neurons. I am at one with that field now. It lives in my head like a quivering thought hamster- always salivating between miniature buck teeth; waiting for funny pellets and fresh wood chips upon which to ...
Ok I have a lunch date, can we pick this up in an hour or so ok?
Lunch date? Mine was at my desk.
Leftover pasta salad out of a tupperware eaten with a plastic knife because I can't find a frickin' fork anywhere in the building. Thank god it was rigatoni so I could fit the blade inside the tube to lift it to my mouth.
No red wine, Sheena? Gotta love those handy, dandy tetra-pack wine juice boxes. No more tell-tale clinkity clink in the bottom of the purse.
Last day of work before vacation. I'm trembling with excitement.
Sheena- That sounds tedious and absurd- like a scene from a David Lunch movie!!!
Pam- Mine starts next week. Yeehawww!
I wish I knew what you all did in real life. For that matter, I wish I knew what I do in real life.
BTW- So you know, I did what any big city worker does after a Japanese lunch date today- I bought a brand new pair of sexy, 70s motif lycra briefs!!!
That is hilarious.You must have fired up the razor last night.
It's a pull start gas-powered unit, so yes, kinda.
I was there - they are some mighty fine briefs indeed, although K-Dough, in a disco mood, kept asking me if I could "ring his bell"...
ALT- admit it though- you were a little embarrassed when I emerged from the fitting room wearing nothing but the briefs and my dress shoes and paraded around H&M
checking out my package in different mirrors on all 3 floors looking for the "right lighting".
Did you find someone to ring your bell, or did you have to ring your own bell? I suspect you ring your bell alone most of the time.
It's too bad that after all that, the only light you were happy with was the lights on the cop car that took you to the station.
Pam! How dare you pull back the curtain mortal!!!
PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE LITTLE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!
No amount of social programs or left wing anti-poverty groups will ever address the issue. What the hell is an anti-poverty group? They seem like anti-employment groups to me. If they are so interested in ending poverty, they should assist with resume writing and job searches. Forget about marches and protests and start working!!!
Oh blue boy- we love you so.
Ah K-dough, just when my day is becoming boringly full of balance sheets, filings, and email that won't work, I pop into your site and BLAM!!
I remember why I take recreational drugs for professional reasons.
Cause its fun, and it makes my wife mad not knowing whether I'm actually listening, or just tripping the light fantastic.
LSD, a wonder drug of magnificent proportions.
You know, the last time I imbibed in LSD was about 5 years ago.
I happened to chance upon some at a party (funny how its always at a party), and in the spirit of 'cid, I promptly called up my other few 40 something friends and quickly announced the solution to that long sought after instant heartattack they were all bucking for.
Not wanting to be personally responsible for serious harm to the buds, I naturally had to try it first. One didn't seem to do anything, so I consumed another hit as I was heading towards the Deerfoot, and after fifteen minutes, I was still straight.
Horror of horrors... I'd told my friends I was going to fuck them up, and the tool of the trade was defective. Thinking perhaps it was some self-induced resistance from years of cranial self-abuse, I quickly popped another.
To make a long story short, it took two friends to get me into the house, a visit by another who is a GP, and when I finally came down to a point where drool wasn't dripping out of my mouth, the 5 of us discovered I'd eaten one to many hits to share.
Luckily, I kept the phone number of the dude who hooked me up.
geeze! and i thought doing shrooms for my 50th was something....t'ain't nada compared to that!!!! anyways, sworn off everything again....waiting for my 60th, heh heh.
This is a really tough subject.
Since we already have a welfare culture, there is a segment of society who won't work, because it's not worth it.
The working poor making minimum wage don't receive the benefits of dental and medical care that welfare recipients get.
I work in the non profit sector and we're often involved in programs to encourage welfare recipients to enter the workforce.
The participants get free daycare, 8.65ph (more than minimum wage) and bus fare. I have yet to have ONE participant complete their 8 week committment.
I think that perhaps the focus should be on the working poor and not on 2nd and 3rd generation welfare recipients who have no interest in being part of the workforce, and are resentful of having to "answer" to anyone and follow the "rules" of a workplace.
I've been told to my face more than once that "working is for suckers", and they're only part of the program because their benefits depend on their participation.
It's a really hard problem to solve, and while academics think up these unrealistic solutions, and employ themselves with studies, and surveys...the working poor fall through the cracks without the benefits that people who have no motivation to be part of working society get.
OCAP can protest all they want on their behalf...but many of those that reap the benefits of the programs are not the ones who are looking for a leg up to the workforce.
Here are some links that I believe will be interested
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