108
Almost half of Canadians living paycheque to paycheque as Tory support grows: poll
(www.winnipegfreepress.com)
this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2023
108 points (94.3% liked)
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Part of the problem is that none of the parties address the real problems created by their actions. Liberal introduce a nation-wide carbon tax that should in theory tax large companies. In reality: Companies don't pay taxes, they raise their prices to cover the tax increase which "trickles down" (the only time trickle down economics actually "works") to the people.
So without dealing with that scenario when implementing the taxes, the ordinary Canadian gets hosed.
But now lets say PP becomes prime minister and reduces the taxes. Is he going to force companies to drop their prices to make up for that? Probably not. Companies will just use that as profit. So Canadians are still getting hosed.
And now after that lets say Liberals rise to power again. And re-implement these taxes. Once again, the companies will just pass those added costs onto the consumer again.
I wish I knew what the solution is here but I really don't. It feels like no matter what the government in charge does, companies just keep using it as an excuse to hose us one way or the other.
I do need to point out that the carbon tax is a bad example here, because the tax is rebated directly back to individual Canadians. So even if companies are folding the tax into their prices, we're not paying for it. They're effectively raising the price, then paying us the difference.
Of course, companies that can find ways to reduce their carbon footprint can simply avoid paying the tax altogether, allowing them to obtain more profit at the same price point. This incentivises climate friendly behaviour.
It's not a perfect solution, but within the neo-liberal paradigm that we're currently stuck in its at least making a difference, and a lot of climate experts agree that carbon taxes are an effective strategy (they shouldn't be the only strategy, but that's a separate discussion).
Point is, companies raising prices in line with carbon taxes isn't hurting your wallet, because you're getting that money right back. The designers of the policy already knew that would happen and factored it in.
In all fairness, I'm getting nowhere near the amount back on rebates that prices have increased for me. One check doesn't even cover 1 month of utility increases let alone the several months that go by in between. And there's grocery, clothing and fuel costs on top of that.
The price jump has nothing to do with the carbon tax. The carbon tax is $0.14 per litre, so it's only about 10% of the price of gas. That means it can only be blamed for 10% of the price-jump at an absolute upper limit, and that's only if your diet consists of chugging gasoline (hey, I don't judge).
If prices were only up 10% since last year I'd be goddamned ecstatic.
It's not. It's supply-chains, shockwaves from covid-shutdowns, pandemic-spending, a massive war in Asia between the world's biggest gas and grain providers, and anti-globalist on-shoring driving up prices. The last one of those isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it has a cost just like carbon pricing has a cost.
Okay yes, at the pumps it may be, but what I'm saying is: Company 1 increases their prices 10% to offset the CT costs. Company 2 takes that 10% cost increase + their 10% increase and raises their pricing. Company 3 has an increase from Company 2 + 10% increase of their own and raises their prices accordingly.
Every level raises the prices that much more and in the end the consumers get stuck with all of that. So we're paying the carbon tax for each company down the supply chain.
That would only make sense if 100% of company 1's costs were gasoline. Also, the carbon tax has been going up every year since it first appeared in 2019. The price spike started last year. And the same price spikes are happening in every country, and most countries don't have carbon taxes.
You're getting back the increase in price that's directly attributable to the tax. The rest is corporate greed my friend.
If we want to tackle that then a lot of people need to start getting really comfortable with the word "socialism."
That's fair. But as an ordinary person what I see is this: no matter which government is in charge, I'm getting poorer and no government is willing to do anything to help people like me. They just keep blowing smoke up my ass and pretending like they're actually doing something.
What makes you more of an ordinary person than anyone else here? We're all ordinary people.
And you're not wrong. We're being continually fucked over by the combination of corporate greed and weak governments who either do nothing to reign that greed in, or (in the case of the Conservatives especially), actively encourage it.
Which brings me right back to my previous point; if we want to solve the real problems then a lot more people need to get real cozy with the word "socialism."
And in the meantime, where governments fail, the people need to step up. Join a union; if your workplace doesn't have one, find one that does, or talk to your coworkers about starting one. Alone we are powerless, but together we can bring whole industries to their knees. If your union isn't doing enough for you, get involved in finding better leaders who will fight for what you need.
But for God's sake, don't vote for the scorpion and expect not to get stung. Pollievre can talk out the side of his mouth all he likes about what he's going to do for us regular people, but it's entirely clear where he stands, because it's where his party has always stood. Conservatives are, from their inception, the defenders of institutional power, and today that means being the defenders of the wealthy, no more, no less.