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Wait a minute - so you admit we're going to need this eventually?!?

As has been said many times in this thread, it mostly already is being funded, and the incremental increase isn't going to bankrupt us.

And really, where's the harm in helping people now, instead of waiting a decade and watching tens of thousands of Canadians suffer needlessly through suicide, addiction, poverty, and all the rest?

Did you know that studies have found that it is actually cheaper to house the homeless in free housing for $50,000/year than it is to let them live on the street and constantly need medical care, go in and out of the legal system, and so on? On average, homeless people on the stret cost society approximately $100,000/year due to all of that.

This isn't a magic bullet, but if it gets even 10% of Canada's homeless off the streets, the savings on this alone to society and the government will be in the tens of million of dollars.

Tack on additional help for hundreds of thousands of others living in the margins and all of a sudden, we're talking a few billion dollars. Plus, people with more money tend to spend it on living, not hoarding it like corporations do with profits and tax cuts.

Pick any low income area in Canada and see what happens when you give each Canadian living there an additional $12,000-24,000/year. The majority will spend it on consumer goods, car repairs, going out for entertainment/dinner, and so on, just like most people who got CERB this spring did. Most poeple didn't hoard it - they used it to pay rent, buy food, or even buy stuff off Amazon or from Best Buy or wherever to make their lives better.

This isn't communism, but making sure everyone has their basic needs met. Under communism, you are NOT allowed to get rich, but with UBI in Canada, you're still free to invent a widget or create software that will make you rich.

   

Calling something you don't agree with but can't come up with a valid argument against "communism" is the last refuge of the extreme right.
About time there's a Godwin's Law for that one.

   

Learn a few things about UBI here

https://www.ubiworks.ca/howtopay

Also, the rich aren’t going anywhere. My whole life I’ve been hearing conservatives warn that the rich are all going to flee to some no-tax,no-government country if we don’t do as they say . And yet not a single one has moved to Somalia as far as I know. Why do you think that is? The rich want to live in a taxpayer-funded society of peace order and good government because they and their businesses benefit from it immensely in countless ways and they’re never leaving...they just think they should have special exemptions from the rules here that apply to everyone else.

   

Look no further than the U.S. 1200 dollars once in the last 6 months, millions more people unable to get healthcare because it has to be tied to a job, refusal to pass any other stimulus packages.

   

I want to start off by saying that I do not know enough about UBI to make an educated call on a yea or nea on the program. I simply want to address a few points that you brought up. I am all for addressing the homeless problem, but do not feel like simply sending them a check is the answer. Many of the homeless population have many more problems than just a lack of cash. Many of them suffer from mental illness and substance abuse problems. Way to many homeless spend their time chasing a high. Just sending them a fat government check is not going to solve their problems. Many of them are just going to blow it on drugs and alcohol. Deaths from overdose and alcohol poisoning would skyrocket if you just give these people money. They need to be in some group environment where their problems can be addressed. They need some supervision and oversight to fix the other major problems in their lives. Simply throwing cash at them will not work.

You state that people with more money tend to spend it on living, not hoarding it like corporations. Amazon would not be building a distribution center in every city in North America if they were hoarding cash. There would not be a Walmart in every one horse hick town in North America if they were hoarding money. Corporations that can expand, are expanding. They always have. People spending every dollar that they come in contact with is NOT a good thing. Uneducated people spend their money like there is no tomorrow. That is why they are poor. They have no savings. They have no retirement accounts. The first sign of trouble in the economy, and they are on the streets. They have no rainy day fund. Their car breaks down, and they are screwed. Why shouldn't some of this free money be put into savings accounts for these people for the future? Why shouldn't they have to take some free financial education classes to get this free money? Its the whole give a man a fish or teach him how to fish thing.

I have no problem giving people a helping hand. I just do not think that the government should be doing all the work, or even more work than the citizen for that matter.

   

Jeff Bezos has made $67.4Bn dollars this year. Think about that.... He can afford to build more centres because he's made as much as Bill Gates did in 20 years in the first 9 months of this year.

There was nation who's view of government was "of the people, by the people, for the people"..

   

Bezos has a bald head because he want to be seen as an imperial senator of the old roman republic. Or so I have heard.

The biggest threat to the USA is itself.

   

The government's priorities will most likely change in an instant this coming week, as I believe it's more than likely that the government will fall after the throne speech. The Liberal party has been on borrowed time since Trudope was first elected as PM.

I don't normally cheer for the Bloc, but hopefully they and the Conservatives smarten the fuck up, join forces (temporarily), and put this government out of Canada's misery.

There really is no other option.

-J.

   

So we have a pandemic general election? Smart. The Conservative party is the last party that needs to be in power during a pandemic.

   

If they force a general election during a pandemic, they will be the last party in power.

   

You want an election in the middle of a pandemic? You fuckin high bud?

   

NB just had one.
And the USA is having one right now.

It's not ideal, simple or wanted, but it's feasible.

   

The Canadian public may take a pretty dim view of the Bloc/Conservatives trying to wrest power from the Liberals, I hold no love for Trudeau; but the man has kept the economy afloat. The Conservatives would have exacerbated the situation, though not to the degree that the Emperor-God south of us has.

   

So long as the American Caligula exists, Trudeau's transgressions remind me of that line in Austin Powers about "the Diet Pepsi of evil"....

   

I want accountability, and I want it NOW. Trudeau has mismanaged everything possible, breached ethics laws numerous times, and will keep ruining our country further unless we the people of Canada hold him accountable, and dispense with him.

-J.

   

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