Occupy Bay Street (Toronto)

For the people that don't know (or the people who saw some sort of sad excuse for a protest on TV), the crux of the Occupy movement is that 1% of the world essentially decide life for the other 99% and control around 42% of the world's wealth. 


The protest is SUPPOSED to be about inequality...when the real issue is capitalism. There are a bunch of people realizing that capitalism doesn't work. Or that it does, but with an end-life. And we're just unlucky enough to be at the pinnacle of it. The very concept of capitalism is competitive...and with competition comes a wider gap. It's funny 'cause it emphasizes hard work, but the longer a capitalist system goes on, it becomes more about luck. I like capitalism; it's the reason I can have the things that I need an/or want. But I'll admit that it sucks for the people who haven't had much luck in it. After all, that could've been me.

I think it's way too easy for the people who are well-off to say "suck it up and deal with it" 'cause they'd like to think that they deserve to be where they're at, and everyone else just brought it upon themselves. But that's not the way the world works - some people CAN'T help themselves...or if they can, it's not enough to actually fix things. But capitalism's never been about equality - which is what democracy's here for (ie. banks mess up the fancy world we live in and we have he right to protest about it). It's the only check we have against that system, and to be honest, it doesn't seem like we have many other "systems" to try out. Power and wealth differences will always exist because it's at the heart of capitalism. I don't think people realize that for someone to do well, someone else needs to do worse. 

I get what they're protesting, but I'm not sure there's really much that can be done. You can prolong a "failing" system by patching the leaks, but it's eventually gonna end up the same way. Given that, there's 2 ways to take this: accept capitalism and the idea that some people flourish and some are **** out of luck, or move towards a more equality-based system where everyone's doing okay. But that leads to another problem. No one wants to be "okay". Everyone wants to be great. No one wants to be okay because we'd all rather be happy, even if it meant risking that we'd be sad at some point. 


The rebuttal here is that it CAN be fixed - that you need to have regulations in place to control the rich who get greedy, which wrecks the economy for everyone else. But until you can fix people, that **** isn't gonna happen. It's especially NOT gonna happen in a system where the rich call the shots. You can't tell people who are the reason we even had or saw success in the first place what to do. Not even if you're the government (unless you're richer than them).

I saw the protest and it does more damage to the cause than anything else. It's a shame it wasn't better-organized. At the same time, the media's doing a good job of diffusing the issue - they use any chance they can get to bring attention to how disorganized it is, rather than trying to explore the different issues and factions. For such a big city, our version of occupy was such a sad demonstration (or maybe a testament to how we don't have it that bad).

A lot of people say that they're identifying the issue, but not proposing a good fix. Maybe 'cause there isn't one. So basically, hey're bringing attention to how we're all screwed and there's not much that we can do. And that's what I'm trying to do here. Here's to hoping (and in some cases, knowing) that some of you guys (will) make it in to the 1% club. ;)

Is Voter Apathy A Good Sign Of A Democracy?

On a forum that I frequent, the topic of "who are you voting for" came up, and I decided to post my 2 cents:

"I saw highlights of the debate on cp24. I want Ford in office just for the entertainment value. I couldn't even believe when the guy called out his dead father. I used to follow politics back when I was in high school, but as the years pass, it just seems to confirm that:  - the people are never going to be satisfied with the government - the government's never going to satisfy the people   No, I don't think it's asking too much to manage taxpayer money better...but I have a feeling that it's just never going to happen.   Is there even a point of caring any more? What kind of system leaves us voting not for the best candidate, but for who's gonna screw things up the least? Do campaign promises even mean anything - who's to stop someone from doing a complete 180 once they're actually in office?  I know it's really just [I]called[/I] a democracy, but it seems that I just get more and more indifferent every year - and that worries me"

To which Duster 929 replied:

"I really don't like it when people say we don't really live in a democracy, and that they're apathetic because they think our democracy is a joke.   Voter apathy is a sign of a democracy that works quite well. Voters are apathetic because they don't have particularly large problems. They're relatively comfortable, have enough to keep their time occupied, and don't suffer daily persecution and violence. When a society has MAJOR problems, voters are not apathetic. They're in the streets, first with banners, then with rocks and clubs, and then with explosives. Toronto's problems: public transit isn't very good, taxes are going up by a few percent too much each year, there's a persistent shortfall in the budget that is filled in by more senior levels of government. Heck, even at the national level, it seems our biggest problem is that the government wants shotgun owners to register their weapons.  These are not the problems that many people in the world have. So, don't feel bad about being apathetic, and don't blame it on the fact that the system doesn't work. Be thankful that you can afford to be. Voters aren't apathetic in Afghanistan or Palestine, because they've got real problems, and they rarely even get the chance to vote."

Anyways, my mind = blown. I still don't think it's much of a democracy...but I now have a way to justify my apathy towards things. Whether the happiness of a country hinges on a "democracy" like ours is still something that I'm thinking about...but this is something I would have never considered.


Peace,


- knowledge

Giambrone For Mayor?

I know I said that I was gonna post the eye-opening video from my last post...but I had to push back a couple of posts just to post while this fiasco's still relevant.

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Refresher links in case you haven't been following or don't know what's up:

General Info: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/sto...e-affairs.html

His Trick: http://network.nationalpost.com/np/b...ten-lucas.aspx

Giambrone's sorry excuse of a campaign will be remembered in infamy.

I've been really interested in the TTC lately, so I've been following this closely.

He's long been hailed as Toronto's poster boy for THE up-and-coming prominent politician. At 32 years old, he's accomplished a lot... but I guess wise decisions & the ability to make good decisions based on experience isn't included in that. His list of accomplishments include (in this order): NDP youth wing affiliate by the time he was 15, Federal NDP president, Toronto Councillor, Commissioner of TTC, & Chair of TTC, before finally running for Mayor.

Mistake 1: Heading the TTC at a peak of customer dissatisfaction. Rider dissatisfaction has been building up over the years, with the steady increase in fair hikes, bad service, delays, irresponsible fiscal spending, etc. Unfortunately for him, he just happened to be the face to attack when the shit hit the fan - which I think would've been completely avoidable or minimized. If he planned his political career better, he could've resigned. Imagine how well the spin would've worked if he resigned and said it was because "he can't stand by and watch the TTC betray its customers/the city like that".

Mistake 2: the horrible excuse of a campaign video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnOUupt2f9E&feature=related). The editing was horrible, the sound was garbage, and the writing of his script was horrible. If it was meant to be satirical, it was a bad attempt at that. If it was supposed to appeal to the younger audience, it appealed...but not in a good way (check any of his campaign videos & read the comments). Bottom line, Mr. Giambrone, is that corny humour only works if it's actually funny.

Mistake 3: having a mistress. Seriously? Was there any way that this could've gone well? It's like girls who send naked pictures of themselves to their dog of a boyfriend - I'm sure they're gonna keep that all to themselves...*insert eye-rolling smiley*.

& here's pics for you dogs (lol):

- Giambrone + partner both in his private & public life

- The alleged mistress

Mistake 4: Not admitting the truth, to begin with -by trying to deny the affair. First of all, if you TEXTED someone incriminative information, why would it be likely that they wouldn't keep it? The truth(or some distorted version of it) will only eventually come out, and you just screw yourself over even more. Second of all, wouldn't it make more sense to declare something that will eventually be leaked so you can beat them to punch & make it less effective when it inevitably DOES come out?

Mistake 5: Crying during a press conference. If we can look past the fact that he's a grown-ass man...why the hell would you cry during a press conference. Sure, life's stressful, your careers over, you just made the biggest mistake of your life (okay...now that I think about it, why wouldn't you...). But STILL, think of the image that this sends. A mayoral candidate cracks under pressure. It begs a voter to question how he would handle stress if elected for office.

Mistake 6: Dropping out of the mayoral race. Although it's probably a good ting that this guy isn't going to be running the city...from his point of view, he still had a chance. The elections are 6 months away; spin control's an amazing thing, these days; and dude was 2nd place in the race. It would only take a couple of months, a hundred apologies, and the majority of the public would eventually forget that this ever happened. What makes this even worse is that he couldn't do it himself - a representative had to walk into the room after he stormed out to announce that he was dropping out.

Let's open this up for discussion now:

- Was it wrong of her to exploit the situation?

- Besides how it hurt his image, isn't all this irrelevant to his platform? 

- Isn't his personal life his own business? 

- Or are they supposed to give up all rights to privacy when they take up a public position like that? 

- Should "skeletons in the closet" be forgotten or are they ALWAYS relevant?

Take a step back and think: should this REALLY affect what his political agenda is? Does it really take away from his character?

Personally, I'm not a fan of the guy (anti-motorcyclist lobbyists = not a good match for me)...but what he's been able to do with his political career is pretty commendable. I'll admit that it's easy to analyze all the "what if"s and point out what people do when you're on the outside looking in...so of course, nothing I just said holds any weight (except for the fact that it seems to make sense). I can't lie that I'd love to be Giambrone's Public Relations rep right now (no sarcasm). Not that I support his platform, but dude was well-recognized because of his media coverage from his TTC days -  he threw the towel in way too early. I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to retract his dropping-out (remember where you heard it first!...hypothetically speaking)

Btw, this is the pre-curser to the "short-comings of Toronto" series: the TTC chapter.

Long post - I know. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Here's a funny .gif for being a trooper and reading the whole thing:

Figuratively speaking, guess which one's Giambrone & which one's Toronto? ;)

Peace,

- knowledge

The H.S.T. Tax

For anyone who hasn't been following this, the H.S.T. is the "Harmonized Sales Tax". It's a new consumption tax that they're trying implement. Ontario's one of the provinces pushing to make this happen. The point of the tax is to eliminate costs by blending the PST (8%) and the GST (5%). The theory is that by blending the two taxes together, less paperwork and administration will be needed - in turn, saving Ontario money.

This all sounds great in theory though, but "progress" comes with a price! Guess who's shouldering the increased costs? Not the corporations or businesses, but we are.

Here's an e-mail that I sent to my MP:

Hi,

I would just like to know how the HST tax benefits anyone within your constituency...

The way I see it, it's just a way of shorting out costs & administration, while we face a slight increase in taxes - it's a money grab. If the benefits are supposed to trickle down from this years after, I'd rather hold on to the money I could be saving. Regardless of what incentives, vouchers, or discounts you guys may offer...they'll be useless within a couple of years as the standard of living continues to go up. I can't see this as positive in any way for your respective constituency, the people who voted you in.

Please tell me I'm wrong.

Sincerely,

- knowledge

The problem with the HST is that it either charges us taxes on things that we didn't used to get taxed on, or it slightly raises what we did used to get taxed on. Here are some things that we'll be paying more for:

- Gasoline

- Utilities (heating/hydro/natural gas)

- Internet bills

- Magazines

- Adult footwear under $30

- Admissions under $4 (e.g., swimming pool, skating rink)

- Veterinary care

- Personal services (e.g., hair stylist, massage)

- Professional services (e.g., legal, accountant, mutual fund fees)

- Membership fees (e.g., gym)

- New homes over $400,000

- Real estate commissions

- Commercial property rentals

- Condominium Fees

- Landscaping

- Vitamins

- Most admissions to live theatres

- Taxi fares

- Conferences and seminars

- Dry cleaning

- Carpet cleaning

- Labour costs related to home renovation

- Motor vehicle services (towing, car washing)

- Ice rink rentals

- Hotels

- Overnight summer camps

- Domestic air travel

- Domestic rail travel

- Bus tickets

- Christmas trees

- Electrical and plumbing services

- Snowplowing

- Bicycles

- Funeral costs

- Postal stamps and courier fees

- Green fees

If you can break down what your family spends on these things, you'll realize that their $1000 incentive doesn't do anything. We're already facing a flurry of green fees (think of all the ridiculous "environmental taxes" that we get). Homeowners are going to have to shell out a lot more. Condo owners will have to pay more. People doing home renovations are going to be ridiculously taxed. Furthermore...heating, hydro, and gas bills are going up (as if they didn't go up enough when Harris privatized them in the 90's).

The Irony is that the Liberals are the ones implementing this, not the Conservatives. The only ones really opposed to this are the NDP. Elections are in October 2011 - make sure to vote. I'm still trying to figure out which party I agree with, but I guess I'll decide when that time comes.

But we can definitely add another lie to McGuinty's list. Instead of saying "this will be better for you" why didn't he just say that "we got hit by the recession, are in deficit, and need the extra money?" or that "Ontario sucks at managing money". But then he'd have to admit that he made a mistake...which means that he told the truth. That's something that he doesn't like to do

Toronto, I love you and all...but I'm scared to see where the city's headed when I'm in my mid-20's.

Oh, and this is only part one of my piece on ridiculous taxes. Wait 'til I get to the things they've BEEN adding or raising.

However, I did manage to find a report(Toronto Star: "HST won't hurt much, report says") that "shows" how the HST is "virtually revenue neutral". It's a good thing that report was paid for now, because they saved 8% on taxes.

Peace,

- knowledge

The Beauty of Toronto

"I said there ain't no love, in the heart of the city."

Toronto - the screwface capital. The city with 2.48 million people (or 5.5 million of we count the GTA).

I love this city and have no clue where to begin...

- It's a cultural mosaic

- The city's truly "24 hours"

- Huge fashion district & variety

- There's a following for every single musical genre, sport, and hobby

- Large entertainment industry: from theatres, to musicals, to concerts, to shows.

- We get to enjoy 4 seasons...some argue that's a bad thing, but I love it.

- Also home to an amazing skyline, numerous parks, beaches, and spots to just kick it.

Yes, I'm aware that this is a pretty shitty post. Sorry about that, but it was necessary to set it up as an intro to a series I'm planning to start about the short-comings of Toronto. I promise you that the next couple will more than make up for it.

I'd also like to note that despite any future posts...I still love Toronto - at least until the day when I decide that it isn't worth living here, and move out (which probably won't be any time soon. Or will it? Tun tun tun. Just playin'. Or am I? Tun tun tun.)

Peace,

- knowledge