Soooooooooooo What is POVERTY... well, one criteria, put out by NGO's is not having enough income to provide for adequate Food, Clothing, Shelter... the basics of live in any society... what is adequate is left up to the imagination... in Canada here, it would mean adequate enough to survive our Winters, living in an Urban environment... that is hooked up to the Power and Heating Grids... in Southern Ontario, the Social Services (SS) in the last budget got these rules handed down:
http://www.thestar.com/News/OntarioBudget/article/350617
As expected, the budget also includes a 2-per-cent increase to social assistance in November. The hike will bring monthly payments for a single person on welfare to $572, and to $1,020 for a single person on Ontario’s disability support plan.
A single parent on welfare with one child under 12 will receive $970 a month in provincial benefits including monthly Ontario Child Benefits of up to $50 per child for all low-income families starting in July. For a similar family with a disabled parent, the monthly benefit will increase to $1,473.
CANADIAN COUNCIL ON SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT http://www.ccsd.ca/factsheets/fs_lico05_bt.htm
Population of Community of Residence
500,000 + / 100,000-499,999 / 30,000-99,999 / Less than 30,000*
Family of 1
$20,778 ***$17,895 *******$17,784 *****$16,273 --per year
$1731.50 **$1491.25*******$1482.00****$1356.08 --per month
$399.58 ***$344.13 *******$342.00 *****$312.94 -- per week
$11.42 ****$9.83 *********$9.77 ******$8.94 -- per 35 hr week
Family of 2
$25,867 ***$22,276*******$22,139******$20,257--per year
$2155.58***$1856.33******$1844.92*****$1688.08--per month
$497.44 ***$428.38*******$425.75******$89.56-- per week
$14.21 ****$12.24********$12.16*******$11.13-- per 35 hr week
$2155.58***$1856.33******$1844.92*****$1688.08--per month
$497.44 ***$428.38*******$425.75******$89.56-- per week
$14.21 ****$12.24********$12.16*******$11.13-- per 35 hr week
Without going on, seeing as you can do your own research, it is easy to see that there is something wrong with these figures vs the SS figures... so what is the true measure of poverty...
if it isn't the bean counter type of calculations, done by either the Government Actuaries or the NGO's accounts... well, without getting to technical, lets look at the average Mr & Mrs Driver today...
you buy a car, say 20,000 dollars, mid range, and you drive around town, but take the Go train to work... you have 2 kids and they need driving to and from there practices and such... your looking at about 240 dollars a month on gas... and not a lot of driving to the country on that... your car is new, but in 4 years it needs a major Tune Up... up til now the 'tune ups' done under warranty haven't been more than a checking of the lube and oil... so now you have put a fair bit of mileage on the car, the tune up will be complete, and will run about 1000 dollars... tires will have had to be bought, winter, because the All Seasons Radials, in the Canadian Climate don't grip too well in snow... another 1000 dollars, and the expense of taking them off and on the rims... so you bought extra rims... Chu-Ching... get the picture... now the point I am making is, that with that 4+year tune up, how many people will have 1000 dollars hanging around... no many... and most people will not be buying a new car, so that tune up on a used vehicle will be more expensive and come sooner... as well as other problems cropping up, like 'BREAKS', Emission tests, and Transmission maintenance... Chu-Ching Chu-Ching!! so what is poverty... well, it is when you go to get the car tuned up and they take it in the shop, and tell you the ball park figure will be, oh, about 900 dollars... you have the money with about 80 to spare... but then you get the call, Car is ready... and you say great, how much... 1076.56 dollars, there was a part that we had to replace, not on the estimate... uhhhhhhhhh! we have 980.00 can we pay that and pay you the rest in 3 days time when we get paid... "NOPE!!" you pay the bill or don't get the car... OUCH!! your Knackered for 116.56... THAT's POVERTY... it might as well be 3 cents or 3000 dollars, for all your concerned... you are poor... and that puts you in the same boat as the next guy... ME!!
I had 4.95 dollars on me, and it was hot, and I wanted to buy a bag of apples... I had seen Empires Apples on sale for 3.97 for 5 lbs, and I went in with my little stash, smiling... got up to the fruit bins... the price was now 4.97 dollars... nope, no extra 2 cents... have to settle for the 3lb bag for 3.97... the difference between 3 and 5lbs was not a dollar, but 2 cents... THAT's POVERTY!! the price had gone up in a week, by 1 dollar... not the stores fault, but my income not keeping up with the rise in prices... it wasn't the car buyers fault, his income couldn't stretch to cover all the necessities of life...
and now we are being told, that we will have to tighten our belts more, as the war on climate change heats up, and become front line in our lives... we are going to pay more for the sin of using fossil fuels, and the products that are made needing fossil fuels... our lives are going to change irrevocably... who will be able to live through this war... will the upper class, those earning 6 figure salaries, just go whizzing by, absorbing the costs, while the middle class struggle, some winning and some losing... and us LOWER CLASS, who have minimum incomes; the elderly on pensions, the single mothers, the disabled, and the ones getting by on minimum wage... will we fall through the cracks, to make those movies that depict the future with a sub human class living off the refuse of the rich, a reality... that's the challenge for our politicians to grapple with... because if they choose wrong, and it ends up like that, with the Utopian Society for the Rich and a Post-Armageddon like subterranean existence for the rest of us, there will be little to loose in a bloody revolution... where nobody wins...
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