Raul Freitas

Mind the gap

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Throughout our lives, certain headlines, or news items, have echoed relentlessly. Situations that have persisted unchanged, unresolved. Equally ever-present in the headlines was also the promise of resolution to said issue.
One example of that is the crisis in the Middle East, no light at the end of that tunnel any time soon, but the one I’ll be referring to today is what, these days, is being called the “wage gap” or, what used to be called the “gap between the rich and the poor”, (economically speaking). Wage gap is cleaner, more streamlined, kind of like when Unemployment Insurance became Employment Insurance, suddenly it doesn’t sound so bad, right?

Anyway, the headlines have always, as far as I can recall, mentioned that this gap was getting wider, and the story usually included statements from government officials who claimed they would be looking into the reasons as to why this was happening. Well, most of us know why it happens.

Crises, whether cyclical or spur of the moment, like Covid or the Ukraine, create upheaval in what is called the Market, prices of all goods increase and those of us with the least economic power are the ones who suffer the most. Suffering could include losing your possessions, including your home, and when you lose your stuff because you can’t afford to pay for it, it gets put up for sale. Who buys your stuff at sell-off prices? Those of us who have greater economic power. Easy math. Today’s economic climate is wreaking havoc on the people who live on the threshold, economically, and I’m speaking of probably the vast majority. Things that are absolutely essential for survival are in private hands, at the mercy of a market that has been spooked by volatility in all the major economic powers of the world. Not only unheard-of increases in prices, but recurring increases, in some cases, daily. Yet all the oil companies are issuing reports of record profits and you just know that your friendly neighbourhood supermarket is taking advantage of the situation to its fullest extent. All of the essentials for human survival are in the hands of those whose goal-above-all-goals is to profit and to make sure those profits keep increasing. How can there ever be a narrowing of the wage gap?

The system works against it. What’s happened to Toronto since real estate prices have gone ludicrous? Those who own outright or even those who bought low are elated. They’re all millionaires, on paper. What about those who are just getting started? The only option is to rent, but wait! Renting has also gone awry. Not only do you need tremendous amounts of income to pay the rent, but now you have to apply, like a bank loan. There are so many that need housing and whose only choice is to rent, but there aren’t enough rental units available, even at these ridiculous prices.

Wages have never actually accompanied the rise in prices, and at the rate they’re rising today, the result is what we see before us. More people asking for social assistance, going to food banks, and so on. These lifelines, ironically, are also fed by the everyday person.

Food banks count on donations and social assistance money comes from taxes. Us! (Also, remember that everything the government gives us, it will eventually take back). Here in Portugal, the government has reduced taxes on the prices of fuel and issued assistance cheques to lower-income earners, but that’s our own money they’re distributing, while the real culprits are free to do as they wish. The Arabs decided that they needed to maintain the price of oil, so they deemed a reduction in production was in order. They don’t seem to be too concerned about the current plight of the many, they’re busy building cities in the desert and air-conditioned world cup stadiums, off the backs of poorly paid immigrant workers. And what do we do? Nothing. We’ll be too busy cheering for our respective countries at the world cup. They all sure know how to play us.
Fiquem bem.

Raul Freitas/MS

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