This is just a small taste of what has happened in the US since the Americans gave all the power to the conservatives who then let the free market run wild.

Whinger World #37

Jonathan Kay.

It’s been three years and seven months since the United States invaded Iraq. But only last week did I become definitively convinced that the war I once cheered on was a failure — that it made the world a more dangerous place overall.

As I saw things in early 2003, there were three good reasons for deposing Saddam Hussein, any one of which, by itself, was sufficient to justify his ouster: (1) Saddam was a maniac who had weapons of mass destruction; (2) The creation of a democracy in the heart of the Muslim Middle East would transform the region by firing a fatal crack into the monolith of Arab tyranny; and (3) Putting the wrecking ball to Saddam’s dungeons would end the wanton slaughter of Iraq’s long-suffering people.

Turns out I was zero for three.

While some netkooks think Kay’s mea culpa is admirable because it doesn’t have any strategic value, I think it’s nothing but the latest strategy from the conservatives in reaction to news like this: Pro-U.S. stance hurts Conservatives in poll. The disintigrating Republicans have become a millstone around the neck of PMS and I wouldn’t be surprised if he along with many of his loyal foot soldiers in the media begin actively downplaying the conservative’s support for Bush. And there’s no better way for them to do so than by repudiating the failed war in Iraq that has never had the majority of popular support in the two provinces with the most seats; Quebec and Ontario. If I’m right the floodgates should open over the next few months as other conservative pundits in Canada join Kay’s decision to cut and run from his support of Iraq or even take it one step further and directly cut and run from Bush.

The newly elected NDP MPP for Parkdale-High Park, Cheri Dinovo introduced a bill to raise Ontario’s minimum wage to $10/hr today. Predictably the socalled Liberals–no doubt soon to be joined by the Conservatives as well–are against the idea and have already invoked the twin boogeymen that have become the standard arguments against minimum wage increases; lost jobs and unaffordability.

Of course, like every other time there’s been an increase in the minimum wage, no jobs will be lost. There never has been a loss in jobs resulting from any of the previous minimum wage increases. Despite recent increases to the minimum wage in 2004, 2005 and 2006, the employment rate in Ontario has remained at a steady 63%. Yet this boogeyman is trotted out every time. You’d think opponents of minimum wage increases would be shamed into dropping this particular argument considering how many times they’ve been proven wrong in the past.

As for unaffordability; don’t make me laugh. Given that there are 200,000 Ontarians making minimum wage and 1.2 million Ontarians making less than $10/hr, this $2.25/hr increase will cost approximately $2.5 billion.

Now that might seem like a lot of money but it’s not when you consider that Ontario’s GDP is in excess of $500 billion. Which means a paltry $2.5 billion is equal to less than 0.5% of the province’s economy.

It’s also not a lot of money when you consider that Ontario corporations are raking in roughly $80 billion in profits every year. That $2.5 billion represents a mere 3.1% of their profits.

Lost jobs? I don’t think so. What is lost however, is the dignity of Ontarians who despite working for a living are still unable to put food on the table for their families.

Unaffordable? I don’t think so. What is unaffordable however, is for corporations to be allowed to continue paying employees sub-poverty level wages that then leave the taxpayer stuck with the bill for the additional government assistance many of these working men and women are subsequently forced to rely on.

As Politics’n'Poetry points out, the Conservatives are changing the rules regarding who is eligible for funding from the SWC to include corporations. This isn’t the first time the New Government of Canada has implemented such a change. Earlier this year they changed CIDA’s funding rules to allow professional associations and diaspora groups to become eligible for funding.