Just over half of Canadians say they are $200 away or less from not being able to pay all of their bills at the end of the month amid higher interest rates and inflation.
Is really this bad? Half of Canadians? This is a catastrophe waiting to happen, wasn’t Canada supposed to be a rich country with a good standard of living, even in lower income areas?
That doesn’t mean consumerism can’t take hold and pressure people to make unnecessary purchases.
Nah, even people living within their means arent doing well. My partner and I have very good, stable jobs, with a combined household income of nearly~$100,000 after taxes and deductions (union dues, pension deductions, etc).
We drive a 12 year old car, we don’t take vacations, we don’t have kids, we don’t carry debt, and we don’t spend beyond our means.
Granted, we had the unmitigated audacity to rent a house instead of an apartment because I like to play music with my friends, so thats an extra $200 a month over the cheapest apartment we could find that we’re “wasting” on our comfort.
But factor in the rising cost of *gestures broadly* everyfuckingthing, we have been able to save less than 10% of just the down payment required to begin sniffing at houses in the last 3 years.
The system currently is broken and needs a major overhaul, so we can level the playing field and the middle class has a chance of existing again.
so we can level the playing field and the middle class has a chance of existing again.
Does the middle class want to exist again? Let’s face it, a big part of why housing has become so expensive is because people don’t want to spend their money on starting businesses. Canadian culture in particular is very much “get a job, buy a home, live happily ever after”. But if all you have is a job, you’re always going to remain working class.
Personally, I’ve been trying to start my own business for about two years now. But that takes money that I don’t really have. My estimate right now is at best, I’ll be launching in about a year and a half. The products I design aren’t even all that expensive in terms of supplies, but when I’m using all my funds to cover my personal bills, restocking supplies to create more inventory isn’t even an option.
And that’s not even considering how businesses often actively work to suppress the earnings potential of low-wage and essential workers to ensure they stay where they are. For example, one employer I was at years ago (a certain national poutinerie chain) stole our tips the entire time I was there, registered individual corporate locations as separate businesses to avoid paying OT if you were scheduled across locations, and, most egregiously, would outright ask interviewees about their financial position- they wanted to hire people too desperate to quit. My current job regularly messes with people’s hours and bonuses so a stable level of income is a luxury, and the whole industry I’m in right now is like that so it’s not even like things will get better if I leave. If you’re self-funding your startup and you earn a low wage, you really don’t stand a chance. And BDC isn’t really all that helpful for anything other than advice, unless you already have the money you need to launch.
But that takes money that I don’t really have.
Then, frankly, housing was never in the cards for you either. You are not the demographic being talked about.
… excuse me? Because my wages are surpressed, I deserve to live in poverty and don’t deserve access to opportunities like home ownership or entrepreneurship and to work for social stratification and to live a good life, am I reading you right here?
am I reading you right here?
No. Not even close. Can you break down my comment to explain where you found applicability to anything you wrote? I am genuinely interested to see where I failed to effectively communicate.
