Saturday, February 25, 2012

Pre-Seniors Unite!


It is time that we Canadians put our collective feet down and say “no more cutbacks to the old and poor and sick”.  What on earth do we pay taxes for?  To keep the rich in wealth?  To have penguins and pandas in our zoos?  To buy antiquated submarines and airplanes without motors?  To build bridges and roads that line vendor pockets?

       NO.  We are in the 21st century and the Sheriff of Nottingham and his ilk should long ago have been outlawed from our civilization.  We pay taxes to ensure the General Population’s life is Civilized.  This means educating our young so that they can have meaningful, purposeful careers without a load of debt once their schooling is complete.  It means that those who have worked diligently all their adult lives (some 40 years) can retire at the Expected Age of 65 and have a pension that keeps them in the relative lifestyle they have been accustomed to over the past 40 years.  It means being able to rely on swift, efficient and affordable health care.

       The trouble we have is that the media does not provide us with full disclosure. In other words, they are not doing their job of informing us correctly.  The information is available and can be disseminated if journalists took the trouble to sift through the material (specifically the Federal cost report / budget).  Let’s just think about the “horrendous” cost of keeping a senior from the age of 65.  Oh my, 2.4% of the annual budget, and over the next 20 years it will increase by 1%.  Gosh, isn’t that huge?  Give me a break!  

       Yesterday I was having coffee with some colleagues and they said they heard now they are talking about 68, not 67.  I choked on my coffee.  Then I thought “they are leaking out different numbers to get reaction.  When the budget rolls out, we will be relieved that it is 67 instead of 68.  Once they have us, we will see it pushed back to 70 within 5 years.”  Oh yes, they have us by the you know what.


       Driving home last night I heard that 2 brilliant (read the irony in my voice) university professors from Calgary and Toronto (who have probably never been out of their ivory tower) tell Canadians that we should be paying taxes on food and medicine and we would have so much more money in the tax coffers.  Isn’t that brilliant.  Why don’t we lay more burden on the ones least able to afford it.  Are you kidding me?  Put tax on food when seniors are already struggling to buy groceries? 

- write a letter to your MP, your MLA, your Alderman
- do a petition and send it to the newspapers, and the above
- speak to your friends and colleagues about your concerns
 I say – People Unite.  Pre-Seniors, we need to take a stand.  Yes, that means YOU.


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