Hysteria Versus a Sober Analysis of the Facts.

Louis Shalako

The true ideologue is among the most ignorant of men, for he asks no questions, (although they do make a lot of statements), and needs no new information, and wouldn’t entertain an idea if it bit him on the ass. He already has all of his answers, provided to him in the most dichotomous terms, by his father’s dinner table conversation, at or about the age of nine years old.

They never forget, and they never learn anything new.

However, you and I can do better than that—


Freaking Out.


When people freak about Mr. Ford's slashing of proposed increases to ODSP/OW, one must bear in mind these were pre-election promises made by a doomed government.

There is no guarantee that they would have ever been implemented. At one time, the Liberals had proposed a massive shift, where welfare was eliminated and everyone would get, essentially, $749.00/month in subsistence. This would be four hundred less than ODSP clients were already getting, and in fact my own rent is more than that. So it remains to be seen just how far Mr. Ford will go, or how far he even can go, bearing in mind certain realities--e.g. the fact that my landlord is dependent on that disability cheque to the tune of $788.00/month. 

And I can assure you that the landlord is a conservative.

It is true, that I tweeted to former Premier, the Right Honourable Kathleen Wynne, seven or eight days before the election, that there was still time to raise ODSP and OW rates, in an act of simple justice. She admitted on the front page of many media outlets, the very next day, that they couldn’t win the provincial election. There was still some time, they had a majority, and yet they made no move to adopt the suggested changes.

#facts

Okay, read the second last line. Now recall, that I tweeted the new Premier the following question—this was just a few days ago: Doug, what sort of preliminary data were we getting back from the Basic Minimum Income project?

Now. Reading between lines, bearing in mind the Progressive Conservative ideology, it is an easy guess, that the program was fairly successful, in that outcomes were, in general, positive, and with at least some of the promised savings for taxpayers, even though the program took millions in funding. It has also only been going since early 2017—

The cynic in me says this is exactly the kind of information that PCs would prefer not to receive, as it contradicts their ideology, which is that work brings dignity, (more cynic), and the less it pays, the more dignity it brings. (On a dollar-for-dollar basis, this is true on some level. It is a level only ideologues and capitalists can understand, perhaps justify is a better word).

Mr. Ford is not going to pander to his critics, he has all the power. But he will, inevitably, pander to his base, no matter how ignorant and unsophisticated they may be.

Him too.

##Doug_Ford @FordNation #ODSP #OW #Louis

You guys know my attitude towards food banks, they are of course a national disgrace, and there are an estimated 1,000 of the fucking things here in Ontario. However, it is even possible that Canadian journalists also read my posts, and they're not exactly stupid. What they are, is thin on the ground, overworked and underfunded, and with the precarious nature of this particular calling at this particular time, not inclined to rock too many boats when advertisers are, for the most part, business advertisers—business big and small.

The other advertisers are the government, charities, (like fucking food banks and shit like that), as well as a few multinational corporations of a predatory nature.

Perspective: The Harris government slashed OW by 22.5 % back in 1995. Mr. Ford has slashed an increase by 50 %. The Liberals had promised three percent, for three years in a row, the Conservatives have left much doubt about the two years after this one. I don't like the man's policies, but if he follows my advice, we can still improve people's lives (I'm on ODSP) and still save a few taxpayer bucks. This is why I will be tweeting at him every day for the next 100 days.

If you have a concrete, specific suggestion, you can tweet the Premier, #Doug_Ford at @FordNation

No ineffectual do-gooders please.

Together, we can make a difference. Sure beats hysteria.

#hysteria

Doug, I totally agree with the Minister—social services is a patchwork, a mess, a fur-ball.

The question is what to do about it.

The thing is to do it right, with the minimum of pain and disruption to Ontario's most vulnerable citizens.

#Doug_Ford @FordNation #ODSP #OW #Louis

A simple test. If the preliminary data coming from the Province of Ontario's Basic Income pilot (now cancelled), was all-negative, then I have no doubt it would be quickly released by the government. If it was at all amenable to spin, then I suspect some spun version, shall we say more interpretive than hard numbers and facts, would be released at a somewhat later date—this allows them time to do the work of spinning it. But if it was mostly positive, or completely positive, the odds are the government, this government, would have no real incentive to release that data.

#analysis #tests #facts #honesty #interrogations

(Louis is always interrogating the system, ladies and gentlemen. – ed.)

On behalf of the taxpayers of Ontario, who paid for this study, I hereby call upon this government to release this preliminary data.

It will be interesting to see, if the Right Honourable Doug Ford, Premier of this fine province, can get the affected department, in the face of their own soon and imminent demise, to do the work of analysis and digestion of aforesaid data.

Honestly, if we could simplify this bullshit, it would free up a few hundred million for other projects, including poverty reduction. #snork #cynics

…and now you know how I really feel.

END

At the time of this writing, Louis has all kinds of books and stories available for free from Smashwords. He would hate to see anyone miss out—

Thank you for reading.

Payday Loan Scam Still Going Strong In Ontario. Louis Shalako.

Louis Shalako

Simple charity will never be the solution to poverty. The problem is simply too great, too pervasive.

There are too many reasons. There is no one, single cause of poverty in this province and this country.

The subject is so complex, it is best to tackle the reasons one at a time.

***

The payday loan scam is still going strong here in Ontario, presumably in the rest of Canada as well.

This is the one, where people who are already well below the poverty line, whether working full or part-time, on the Ontario Disability Support Program or the so-called Ontario Works benefit, (welfare), the elderly, the mentally-ill, and yes, the addicts and the alcoholics, line up to borrow a hundred bucks, perhaps a couple of hundred, in order to make it through the month.

Sometimes it’s some small, unexpected emergency, a car repair or the kids need clothes for school. There are certainly legitimate reasons for a small, short-term loan in the family household.

Whatever. Ultimately, the scammers are taking the taxpayer’s money out of the mouths of the hungry.

My neighbour went to a so-called ‘cash-store’ last month. She says she went twice. She borrowed a total of $220.00, and at the end of the month, when she got her ODSP benefit, she repaid a total of $273.00.

The total term of the loans were less than two weeks. That is fifty-three dollars and some small change on a loan of a couple of hundred bucks, for less than two weeks. These interest rates are usurious, and the worst part, is, she’s starting off the next month, almost three hundred dollars down—in a hole, and her total benefit is the provincial disability benefit of $1,151.00 per month. She doesn't actually get all of that, due to some help from CMHA.

She’s on disability. The Canadian Mental Health Association kicks in on the rent, I don’t know how much because she doesn’t either. She’s out on a Community Treatment Order. Her social worker shows up every day to make sure she takes her medications, otherwise its back to hospital for her—maybe even permanently, although her illness seems to respond well to continuing treatment.

She’s back there every month, (I mean the cash store), and this has been going on for years. 

Basically, they’re like pimps, living off the avails of someone else’s disability pension. Sure, its nickel-and-dime shit, but they got a lot of them.

I told her, that if she could just stay away from there for as little as two months, she would have beaten them.

(This coming from a guy who maxes out the credit card every winter when things are slow, and never quite gets it paid off in summer, when things are a bit busier. The yearly rate on the credit card is 28 %, which seems more than high enough. Yet compared to the so-called payday loan operations, it seems almost benign. But it isn't, not really.)

This business is so lucrative, that the money stores have sprung up like mushrooms after a summer rain.

There must be twenty of them in this town, and that is in a city (Sarnia) of only 72,000.

***

I know a couple of guys, they got sucked into transferring their credit card balances to a service provider offering a much lower interest rate. It was an introductory rate—less than half of what they were paying.

It worked so well, that they ended up transferring their balances around about every six months…and they signed up for a handful of new credit cards as well. After all, it was so much easier to make the payments, and they were both working. 

Naturally, sooner or later, they ran into trouble. A layoff, a slowdown in the work, illness, a bad break. They were always maxed out and therein lies the problem.

Ultimately it turned into a bad debt for all parties. Their credit was destroyed, and the debt was ultimately uncollectable. When all this occurred, they were so enthusiastic, they sucked a few others in as well. Oh, yes, they told me all about it. The thing practically sold itself. 

Anyone that could get credit, that is, and there are a few who can’t, and never will.

It was good for nobody, in the end—not everyone ends up like that, of course. Some people smarten up and learn the credit game in the end. Maybe they just didn’t have so many bad habits. Maybe they’re just lucky. Maybe they’re continuously employed somewhere…in which case they can make the payments.

Once you scratch the surface of the problem, it quickly becomes clear that the solution to poverty requires a plan, one that takes into account all aspects of the problem. A plan that attacks from all directions at once, a plan that involves all levels of government, federal, provincial, regional, county and municipal. It will require the cooperation of certain institutions, banks, business, commerce, industry, and private NGOs.

It has to involve the individual as well.

This plan will require some very well thought-out tools and an enlightened, long-term policy that all can commit to.

END

Image: Fair use of one sort or another.

Notice how I got all these books and stories available from Amazon.

Thank you for reading.