News from the Trough

Over the past year or more I have been alerting people to the dangers of big government and the slow process of change that is taking us towards Socialism and maybe on to Communism,who knows? So to you naysayers (not mentioning any names “B”) here’s some facts that clearly illustrate what I am talking about. Over 30 years ago I would always tell my sons that the “Private Sector” was the place to get a job and plan a career. Working for the Government was not a very secure job and the pay was not as much as in the Private Sector. Every time the recession cycle came around the government had to tighten its belt and layoff’s generally occurred. The upside was that you didn’t have to work very hard and the benefits were good, not great, but good. Even people just out of high school who chose not to go to University or College had the opportunity to get general labour jobs in the market that paid very well. If you were fortunate to land a position at one of the “Manufacturing Plants” in Ontario you would be able to maintain a reasonable lifestyle while raising a few kids. Then it started to change as Liberal Government after Liberal Government both Federally and Provincially began to spend more and more money to bring in larger entitlement plans as well as projects that weren’t necessary. Of course in order to pay for these giveaways and boondoggles taxes had to be raised on everyone through many different ways. Sales taxes, Value added taxes, health taxes, employment taxes, and gas taxes and on and on were introduced in order to pay for the indulgent and high spending politician’s programs and pet projects. As the everyday “Joe” lost more and more of his paycheque, guess who had to go to work to supplement the family income?Boom a wave of women hit the job market and guess what, jobs became more difficult to get and when there are more people than jobs the hiring folks are in the driver’s seat. Next came the assault on industry as tons of red tape and taxes were hoisted onto business driving down their revenue and profit. Because of the low value of the Canadian dollar the Canadian manufacturing sector managed to survive for awhile by exporting more to the States (thanks to NAFTA). Once the dollar began to rise then this edge was lost and Company after Company either failed or moved out of the Country. Thousands upon thousands of jobs were lost and never replaced. The average of 3% or 4% unemployed rose to the new norm of 8%. Now here we are today and I am telling my sons, “ stay in the Public Sector because these are the jobs that are secure, well paid and have enormous benefits." You will make on average $20,000 more per year than the average Joe in the Private sector and you won’t have to worry about being laid off because now during a recession the Government just keeps on spending and hiring. It reminds me of the USSR in the late 80’s when I went there on business. At the manufacturing plant I visited the parking lot had many BMW’s and Volvo’s that were driven by the Boss’s and the Communist Government overseers. Right next to these were some Lada’s and then mostly horse and wagons that were used by the employees. If we don’t get common sense Government leadership or the people don’t revolt I submit our workplaces will look the same. Check the stats in both the USA and Canada and you will see the same trend. Unfortunately for Canada we have too many sheep and not enough bulls so it will more difficult to stem the tide, but not impossible.