coats aren't enough
by janine bandcroft
i'll bet all the homeless (an estimated 1500 in our fair city) are thankful for the free coats that the new mayor and the cool aid society and mark's work warehouse recently handed out during a photo op.
and i'm sure that all the wonderful people who work and volunteer at the shelters are just thrilled to put aside whatever festive preparations they're involved with to enact the city's cold weather 'strategy.' good thing there's no independent, free standing dignity village where people could actually have their own roof over their own heads. better to put the burden back onto the service providers and the city officials rather than enable people to take care of themselves and their friends during the first snowstorm of the year.
meanwhile, on the local public access station, linda mcquaig is teaching a simple lesson in global economics. (no doubt thanks are due to jack etkin for getting the presentation on the air). linda is speaking to a roomful about the competitiveness index published by some accredited economic institute think tank.
the united states is number two in global economic competitiveness, she says. (i'm guessing this was recorded prior to the great collapse and subsequent bailout.) it's impressive that the usa is number two, linda says, achieving a competitive edge in the global economic scene is nothing to sneeze at. but what's more interesting, she points out, is the country in first place has economic policies that are exactly the opposite to america.
finland has big government, lots of social spending (free health care, free education through university, 7 weeks paid vacation, etc), regulation of industry, and public ownership and investment. in fact, linda continues, many of the countries listed as the top 20 most competitive economically are northern european countries with similar economic and social strategies as finland.
i'm looking out the window at the first snowstorm of the year. it started last night around 9 pm last night. how and when did the city, the province, the feds respond? how many unnecessarily homeless people froze to death last night? are our government representatives trained in the malthusian theory of population control? is this their 'final solution - just let them die?'
in scandinavia, they've all but eliminated child poverty and homelessness, they have free dental care in addition to health care, everyone has an opportunity to be educated and reach their full potential and contribute to the economy that will support them in their elder years. in comparison, what have we got? 1500 (and counting) homeless (up 500 from the previous year's 'count'), and a bunch of ultra-rich neo-conservative copycats who just don't give a damn, and refuse to anywhere but south for their inspiration.
oh .... and their media that makes sure none of us know what's really going on either.
