POVERTY AMIDST RECORD
PROFITS
(The
following article is from
the January 1-15,
2008
issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles
can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in
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People's
Voice Editorial, Jan. 1-15,
2008
The year 2007 ends
with news that
should make every working person see red - rising poverty rates even
while corporate profits keep going through the roof.
According to
the latest reports, provincial welfare rates are lower now in real
terms than they were in 1986, forcing 720,230 Canadians to use food
banks in 2007, including 280,900 children. Despite a booming economy,
British Columbia reports the highest provincial child poverty rate at
15.2%. Even in Alberta, 64,000 children live in poverty, as do another
345,000 in Ontario, the largest province. Among recent immigrant
families, 49% of children live in poverty. The figure is 28% for First
Nations children, 34% for children in racialized families, 28% for
children with disabilities. The average low income family survives with
$9-11,000 less than Statistics Canada's Low Income Cut-off.
But wealthy
shareholders certainly aren't suffering. Pre-tax corporate profits hit
$213.7 billion during the third quarter of 2007, up from $201.9 billion
in the same period of 2006. That's almost $100 million in profits every
single hour of the day!
Among the
biggest winners were Canada's six biggest banks, which reported 2007
profits totalling a record $19.5 billion. Three of the six banks
reported their best-ever annual earnings, despite some big writedowns
related to the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States. Service
fees (largely gouged from working class and poor families) make up
about five percent of total annual bank revenues, totalling $3.7
billion in 2007. That would sure buy a lot of hot meals and new homes
for Canada's poverty-stricken children!
Found at:
http://www.peoplesvoice.ca/articleprint09/POVERTY_AMIDST_RECORD_PROFITS.html