While I agree that skills, potential and opportunities should be
maximized for all citizens (rich or poor) in a country, I am critical
of the belief that welfare handouts are a tool to help realize these
goals.  Often, welfare is an enabler of dependency and poverty.  I
believe in good social programs like early childhood education, a good
health care system and the work of innovative NGOs to help youth or
new immigrants build skills and gain jobs.  I believe in
entrepreneurship and the need for linkages between government,
corporate and community partners.

I don't believe that greater welfare handouts solve problems of crime
or homelessness, necessarily.

Sunita
On 8/27/06, Thompson, Kenneth <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> that last point can be expanded.  in this era of globalization and new techologies, with increased international competition and the need for ongoing innovation, it is critical that societies elicit as much capacity and talent as they can from their people.  systematically marginalizing large groups of people decreases the innovative capacity of the community and will limit the capacity to compete globally.
> unlike the old industrial economy, it is not a competitive advantage in a high wage post industrial country to have large numbers of people who are blocked from contributing to sustainable economic growth.  in fact, its a major inefficiency.
>
> ken
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Social Determinants of Health on behalf of Dennis Raphael
> Sent: Sun 8/27/2006 3:29 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [SDOH] In rich Canada, welfare worsens
>
> You are more likely to get mugged, wait longer in the ER, and have yur
> general quality of life decline to a lack of economic productivity. (as a
> beginning)...
>
> dr
>
> sunita kosaraju <[log in to unmask]>@YORKU.CA> on 08/27/2006 12:48:04
> PM
>
>
> Please respond to Social Determinants of Health <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent by:    Social Determinants of Health <[log in to unmask]>
>
> To:   [log in to unmask]
> cc:
>
>
>
> Subject:    Re: [SDOH] In rich Canada, welfare worsens
>
>
>
> How does poverty affect rich Canadians?
>
> On 8/25/06, Chrystal Ocean <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > From Thomas Walkom's Toronto Star article:
> >
> > "But in the end, politicians can't help but respond to the issues voters
> > care about. And that stark political fact says something very unpleasant
> > about us.
> >
> > 'Most Canadians would find it impossible to cope with the substantial
> > income losses that welfare households have experienced,' the council
> > writes. 'Coping is even harder for those who are already at the bottom of
> > the income scale, given their already meagre incomes. Yet there appears
> to
> > be little concern ...
> >
> > 'Have both governments and the Canadian public turned their backs on the
> > poorest of the poor?'"
> >
> > Yes. Governments and politicians won't care until the general public
> cares.
> > And the general public won't care until arguments and examples are
> > repeatedly used demonstrating that EVERYONE's self interests are
> threatened
> > when poverty exists.
> >
> > Appeals to compassion won't work in this individualistic, materialist,
> > consumerist world and they may even be counter-productive.
> >
> > Where we once had socially-connected, vibrant communities in which
> residents
> > caring for one another was as natural as breathing, we now have
> population
> > densities in which Metropolis-like automatons work, then work some more;
> > spend, then spend some more; vote for their corporate-backed masters,
> then
> > vote for them again. The majority of Canadians are stressed to the max by
> > the growing corporatization of their lives, yet they're kept so busy
> > working, then spending, that they haven't the leisure to question the
> value
> > of what they're doing or how they're living.
> >
> > For Canadians to care about poverty, then need first to be woken up. Then
> > they need to be faced with the reality of how it threatens them.
> >
> > Ocean
> >
> > -----------------------------------------
> > Chrystal Ocean, WISE Coordinator
> > http://www.wise-bc.org/
> >
> > NEW - Scarlet Letter Campaign
> > http://www.wise-bc.org/SLC/slc_intro.html
> >
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