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The garbage pickers reaching into the container hoping to scour a few empties, the pan handlers outside the fitness club, the little rogue businessmen washing windows, the petty thieves, minor hustlers, cheezy salesman that are part of the pulse of downtown living; the unfortunate released from the psychiatric clinic wandering the main bumming smokes; the honest poor packing boxes and working in the shops. And the government says they don’t have the funds to meet the basic needs of its citizens, and extra taxes are necessitated…..

---BET.com: A recent Pew Research Center report highlighted the widening wealth gap between whites, African-Americans and other minorities. To what do you attribute the growing disparity? West: I think it’s tied primarily to greed and power among our oligarchs and plutocrats. I’m sure that the shattering of so much of the American middle class, but especially the Black and brown middle class, had to do with the Wall Street greed that led to the financial catastrophe in 2008—predatory lending, fraudulent behavior, insider trading—just criminal activity that has yet to be investigated or prosecuted. BET.com: What kinds of policies would you like to see put in place to remedy some of the economic downturn’s adverse effects. West: We need massive job creation programs and massive investment in public housing, education, transportation and health. The health care bill was an attempt to move in that direction, it’s weak, but it’s better than nothing. It’s a billion dollar giveaway to private insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies that mandate people to buy their products. It extends the number of people who can become part of the health care system, but the reason why we needed transformation in the health care system is because you’ve got 30 percent profits at the top...Read More:http://www.bet.com/news/national/2011/08/05/cornell-west-and-tavis-smiley-launch-nationwide-poverty-tour-this-weekend.html image:http://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2010/07/fred-herzog_2874.html

So, how much do Canadians actually make? Of the 24.5 million returns filed, 18 million Canadians reported total income of $50,000 or less. That’s not a typo. In other words, ignoring individuals who don’t file returns such as children, nearly 75% of tax-filing Canadians earned under $50,000 in total income in 2009.

Add another 5 million Canadians who reported total income of between $50,000 and $100,000 and you conclude that about 95% of individuals have income below $100,000 annually. What about Canada’s highest income earners? 880,000 Canadians reported income in the range of $100,000 to $150,000, 333,000 reported incomes between $150,000 and $250,000 and a mere 174,000 of tax return filing Canadians or 0.7% had income over $250,000. Read More:http://www.jamiegolombek.com/printfriendly.php?article_id=1117

As Canada increasingly adapts the more voracious elements of American hegemonic tendencies, the ensuing social impact is inevitable. The lurking echo of Kissingers alleged remark of “thinning out the useless eaters” and generalized meanness regarding the poor unemployed as “cannon fodder” are indicative of the “trickle down ” theory of economics now fully rooted on Canadian soil.

Harry Joy. Read More:http://www.blackandwhitephotography.ca/harryjoy/content/BHJ_043R_large.html


…Among the startling findings of the long-awaited Financial Literacy Task Force was the revelation that tens of thousands of Canadian seniors fail to receive free government money to which they are entitled.

It said 160,000 eligible seniors don’t receive $1-billion worth of Old Age Security benefits; 150,000 don’t get the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) to the OAS, and 55,000 aren’t even getting the Canada Pension Plan. There’s also evidence younger people are missing opportunities: The take-up for the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) is just 40%, while the median RRSP contribution represents only 6% of total eligible room….

Harry Joy photograph---The federal Citizenship and Immigration Department referred the case to police late Wednesday after it received information from at least three former provincial public servants, including detailed allegations from one of them that, at a Marriott hotel suite in Hong Kong, would-be immigrant investors gave senior island bureaucrats cash-stuffed envelopes to have their applications approved. ...“Ethically and morally, a lot of these files were not quality files,” Ms. Plourd said in an interview. Ms. Tenetko’s allegations concerning the summer meetings in Hong Kong in 2008 – a trip paid for with fees charged to applicants – go beyond the claims of patronage that have dominated PEI media and politics for three years. She said word got out that provincial officials would be in Hong Kong to meet with prospective immigrants. “Chinese applicants informed their friends,” she said in an interview. “These extra people, they had to bribe management because they were not on the list.” Read More:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-calls-for-probe-of-pei-immigration-program/article2166833/ image:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-calls-for-probe-of-pei-immigration-program/article2166833/

…Just as the financial-services industry has mixed feelings about raising financial literacy, I wonder if Ottawa is 100% motivated to let citizens know there’s free money just for the asking. Failing to be aware of this fits my definition of being financially illiterate, and it seems different arms of the government don’t go out of their way to tell citizens what other arms are providing.

The Canada Revenue Agency is easily in a position to assess tax returns and notify Service Canada about citizens that qualify for benefits. But as th


sk Force discovered, tens of thousands of seniors are falling through the cracks, even if they paid into CPP for decades and file their taxes ever year. Read More:http://www.financialpost.com/personal-finance/Free+money+have+apply/4266032/story.htmla

Fred Herzog. 1968.---BET.com: In a recent NPR interview, President Obama was asked if he has a special responsibility to Black people and he gave his standard he’s the president of everyone answer. Do you think that he should have a special responsibility to African-Americans, given that community’s economic state? West: I think that every citizen in a democracy has a moral obligation to be concerned about the weak and vulnerable and the president of the United States is a citizen. When he says he has the exact same responsibility to every member of society, I just say it’s not true, he’s lying. It’s clear that he has more commitment to investment banks than he does to poor people. It’s just clear because when they got in trouble he gave them $700 billion; he subsidized them. They have not made poor people a priority. That’s why we’re going on the tour. Read More:http://www.bet.com/news/national/2011/08/05/cornell-west-and-tavis-smiley-launch-nationwide-poverty-tour-this-weekend.html image:http://blakeandrews.blogspot.com/2010/07/fred-herzog_2874.html

ADDENDUM:

The allegations of rot have dripped out piecemeal for years, and now they’ve been confirmed by investigators in black-and-white: Organized crime’s grip on the Quebec construction industry has created a system of corruption and influence-peddling in the awarding of lucrative government contracts.

The leaked report of a government-ordered probe fell like a bombshell on the province on Thursday, dealing a serious blow to Liberal Premier Jean Charest as he tries to persuade a dubious public that his anti-corruption measures are enough to clean house.

---The report, which was leaked to some media outlets, said that organized crime, biker gangs, construction companies and engineering firms conspired to inflate the cost of road-building projects, devising schemes that also involved kickbacks to political parties. Cost overruns were planned and became common practice in the industry, according to the report. “Cartels” consisting of the Mafia, biker gangs and construction companies conspired to eliminate competition and manipulate the public-tendering process. “The suspicions are persistent to the point that a criminal empire was on the verge of being consolidated in the area of road construction,” Mr. Duchesneau wrote in the report’s preamble.--- Read More:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/leaked-report-reveals-widespread-corruption-in-quebec-construction-contracts/article2167403/ image Harry Joy:http://www.blackandwhitephotography.ca/harryjoy/content/AHJ_112_large.html

The report from the probe, headed by former Montreal police chief Jacques Duchesneau, outlined a covert culture of intimidation, fear and illegal practices reaching from construction and engineering firms into political parties through cash donations.

The findings of the Ministry of Transportation’s anti-collusion squad fed public cynicism in a province that has grown weary of ongoing reports of corruption in roadwork even as their highways and bridges crumble. a

Harry Joy Photograph. ----In response, the PEI government approved a plan to rush through applications in the summer of 2008 before the new rules took effect. To speed up the process, teams of officials travelled to Hong Kong and Dubai to process applications, foregoing the usual practice in which prospective immigrant investors visited the Island and the business in which they would invest. During this time, several numbered companies were created on the Island to qualify for the sudden rush of investors. The last-minute push raised about $400-million, equal to about one-third of the provincial government budget. ----Read More:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-calls-for-probe-of-pei-immigration-program/article2166833/ image:http://www.blackandwhitephotography.ca/harryjoy/content/IHJ_108_large.html

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Jamie Golombek:Ever wonder how much your neighbour makes? You may be surprised to learn that they probably earn less than you think.

One of the measures in this past week’s federal budget highlighted this fact by showing just how many seniors have very little income. The budget announced an enhancement to the Guaranteed Income Supplement such that seniors with little or no income other than Old Age Security and the GIS will receive additional annual benefits of up to $600 for single seniors and $840 for couples.

To qualify for the full supplement, single recipients would have to an annual income (excluding Old Age Security and GIS) of $2,000 or less and couples would have to earn under $4,000 annually.

Above these income thresholds, the amount of the top-up will be gradually reduced and will be completely phased out at an income level of $4,400 for singles and $7,360 for couples. The government estimates that this measure, if ultimately passed, would benefit more than 680,000 seniors across Canada….

Fred Herzog photography. 1959.---The basic model that underlies Western ontology, epistemology and ethics -- in other words, the basis of our being, thinking and doing -- is subject-object dualism. So deeply is this rooted in Western affluent white culture that it is scarcely visible: it is just the way things are. One way to recognize its foundational character is to substitute a different model of being, thinking and doing: a subject-subjects one. All other beings -- certainly all other human beings, but also mountains, rivers, animals and plants -- are subjects, different kinds of subjects, each with its own reason for being, which is not simply its use by us, the Sole Subject. This model suggests that we are all, human beings and nature, subjects relating to other subjects, each with its own value quite apart from usefulness to only one subject. Of course, like the subject-object way of thinking, the subject-subjects way is also a model: neither is a description, both are social constructions.---Read More:http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2065/is_n2_v49/ai_19496271/

Read More:http://www.scribd.com/doc/7423676/NSSM-200-Kissinger-Genocide-Report-1974

That so many Canadians have such a low income may come as a shock to you but if you take a close look at the statistics, you may uncover some eye-opening facts that could reframe your view of how much Canadians actually earn.In 2009, Canadians filed nearly 24.5 million personal tax returns. Of those, 8.3 million of them were non-taxable the majority of which are likely being filed by Canadians to ensure their ongoing eligibility for certain benefits and credits.Read More:http://www.jamiegolombek.com/printfriendly.php?article_id=1117

Read More:http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/365407/being_poor_in_the_united_states_the_pg2.html?cat=12
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This woman and nature are not doing well for the same reason: the arrogant eye which objectifies the other for its own benefit. Women, nature and the poor are viewed in the same way — the male gaze, the anthropocentric gaze and the colonial gaze are similar. The Western elite have adopted this gaze: standing high on a hill, this Sole Subject looks out on the world as its object. Just as the rise of perspective in Western painting during the Renaissance presented the world to the spectator from only one point of view, so also Western culture sees itself at the centre with the world spread out and available for its benefit. At the close of the 20th century, this arrogant gaze has resulted in the triumph of consumerism: nature is only “natural resources”; and other human beings, especially poor ones, are merely “human resources”. A blatant example of the arrogant Western eye can be found in the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change report, in which developing country statistical lives are not valued at the same level as statistical lives in developed countries. Read More:http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2065/is_n2_v49/ai_19496271/

Read More:http://therepublicofless.wordpress.com/category/photography/page/2/

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