Common good when middle class prospers
Given the latest letter by Joe Sawchuk complaining about other people’s incomes again, I must conclude that he is very much a one-trick pony. Perhaps he could let the readers know what his income is and from what sources so we could determine if he is overpaid or not. All in the interest of fairness, of course.
No one wants to see taxpayer money being spent foolishly but it seems that all wages paid to anyone other to himself, Mr. Sawchuk deems excessive. If these people that have incurred the ire of Mr. Sawchuk negotiated their wages in a fair manner as is their right to do then it is not anyone’s business.
Mr. Sawchuk must love what has happened especially in the U.S. where wages have been driven down to the point where the once powerful middle-class is now smaller than the numbers of people who struggle at or near poverty. And with a drastically shrunken middle-class, tax revenues have fallen and the social safety net all but nonexistent for most Americans. Higher wages are what pays for social services, education, and hospitals, Mr. Sawchuk.
Higher wages in society also floats the boat through what is called the multiplier-effect. That is just basic economics; when people who earn higher wages pay more in taxes and who spend their income on goods and services which in turn give work and incomes to other people.
While Mr. Sawchuk is quick to complain about other people’s incomes, I don’t remember him ever complaining about how the one per cent in society have pushed for ever greater economic inequalities in order to line their own pockets. How Harper, Bush, and now Trump, have all worked tireless in giving tax breaks to the wealthy and leaving the crumbs for the other 99 per cent in society.
Working people — either white-collar or blue-collar — aren’t the enemy, Mr. Sawchuk, it is those who wish to see others impoverished out of jealousy or because they have bought into the trickle-down economics that has gutted the middle-class on both sides of the border.
And for the record, I don’t vote NDP and I am retired and doing fine living on my pensions. But that doesn’t mean I don’t care about the common good which is only strengthened when the middle-class prospers.
Robert T. Rock
Mission City