How did it happen and what the h-e-double hockey sticks do we do about it?
As we enter 2018, Canada has passed even Great Britain in the amount of taxes it demands we Canadians pay.
And, to further let the air out of Billy the Bouncing Buck, the first signs of non-unionized businesses trying to revert back to their ideologies of early in the previous century are on display for all to see.
It seems the goal for every business is to adopt some form of the Walmart model to retard wage increases, pass business expenses on to the employees, not the consumers, and eliminate all perks and benefits to the point of even having employees pay the lion's share of their own medical coverage for extended periods of time.
In Ontario, none other than the Tim Hortons franchise (Timmy's for gawd sakes) has begun waging war upon working poor and lower middle class workers to not only offset raises in minimum wages, but to make sure the workers are even worse off than they were before the wage hike.
Where's Sally Field (Norma Rae) when you really need her?
Actually, all puns aside, it's a good idea to revisit the 1979 movie that earned Field an Academy Award for Best Actress, Golden Globe for Best Actress, Cannes Best Actress Award and Best Actress awards from both the New York and Los Angeles Film Critics.
If you do, you'll not-so-gently be reminded how labour looks when business holds all the cards.
Be sure to pay attention early in the film when Field's dad in the movie dies from a heart attack when his line foreman won't let him leave a few minutes before break when he's obviously in medical distress.
Ah, the good old days of organized labour busting, class privilege, contract breaking, pension stealing, benefits denying and wage parity snickering.
Here in Canada, a report by the Fraser Institute this past August showed that the average family now pays 42.5 per cent of its income in taxes to the feds, provincial or territorial, and municipal governments.
Now, to put that tax percentage in perspective, we pay 37.4 per cent of our income on the basic necessities of life.
We work harder and longer to pay more money to “our” governments than we do to sustain our own lives.
I don't know about you, but I feel awful for the Timmy's chain and that damn minimum-wage hike to try and give more Canadians a better quality of life.
And, don't forget, if I were to actually drop a confirmed number in here linked in any way, shape or form to immigration, I'd be labelled a racist.
Just four short years ago, an analysis of a 2011 survey conducted by the BBC on 160,000 residents of the United Kingdom revealed seven distinct classes within their society. Seven! And we pay more in taxes than they do.
Somewhere in the great void, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is having a heck of a laugh while standing on a corner stone to a perfect society.
In a supposed modern, technology-driven society, we are travelling backwards, and working hard to ensure the worker bee will never rise above his station in life!