The North American Middle Class Has Been Lulled Into Ignorance

Last updated August 3, 2013  5:27 PM

June 27, 2013 -- The slogan in the photo to the right speaks to a lot of fallacies in our society about taxation, government spending, corporate welfare, tax cheats and how the elites in society pit the "99%" of those who are middle or lower income against each other while the "1%" laugh their way to the bank.

The slogan is very clever since it speaks to the worries of a middle-class that is getting squeezed more and more and it funnels their ire towards a sector in society who are in a worse position financially then they are.  It also feeds into a fallacy that most people on social assistance are leeches on society, commit welfare fraud and don't want to work, and it directs attention away from the real culprits -- the rich 1% of society and large corporations who have seen their incomes and profits explode (partly as a result of huge tax breaks) while 99% of society try to keep their heads above water and struggle to achieve the middle-class dream.

A better statement would be that it is wrong to tax the 99% of the population that is not rich while giving multiple billions in tax breaks and tax cuts to highly profitable corporations and the rich 1% who use every tax loophole available or stash their profits in overseas tax havens to avoid paying their fair share of taxes here.

In Canada most people would probably be surprised to discover that we have the lowest corporate tax rates of any of the G8 countries.  Yes it's true, corporations in Canada pay lower taxes then those in the United States and yet there is this myth in this country that continues to be perpetuated by right wing political types that Canadian business taxes need to be lower if we are to be competitive. 

Another statement that would challenge the one above is that it is wrong to gut services and agencies in the name of "balancing the budget" that are meant to protect and monitor our food, water and environment yet that is what Stephen Harper's Conservative government has done.  These rollbacks of legislation now means that corporations can make billions in profits without regard to protecting the lands and resources that are collectively owned by Canadians.

Organizations like the Capitalism Institute, which is based in the United States, believe that unregulated capitalism and less government is the solution to the economic ills of society.  And yet what they propose would take us back to the days of robber baron capitalism when there were few limitations on the ways a profit could be made or that people could be exploited to make those profits.  They have been somewhat successful in their objective by distracting a good portion of the population by perpetuating slogans like the one above that pit the middle-class against itself and the less well off.  It also helps that they have very deep pockets and spend money advocating their positions in ways that organizations that represent the broader middle-class and the socio-economically disadvantaged are unable to do. In their eyes government programs that create a balanced and equitable economy, that build the middle-class and raise people out of poverty reeks of the evils of socialism.  And yet these right wing types are the first at the government trough if it benefits their causes.

As the mortgage meltdown in the U.S. demonstrated the vast majority of us are a couple of  paycheques away from losing our homes and our middle class lifestyles.  And if it weren't for the social assistance programs that exist to help those who have fallen on hard times the numbers of those from the middle-class who fall into poverty would explode even more then it already has.

Is there welfare fraud as the slogan implies?  Yes there is.  Is it as widespread as right wing and conservative types say it is?  No it isn't.  The impression that it is widespread usually comes from the occasional sensationalist news story about someone committing fraud that gets amplified in the conservative blogosphere and by conservative politicians, and is bought into by those in the middle-class who are struggling and looking for someone to blame.

The middle-class in Canada and the U.S. needs to wake up to the fact that government seems to have morphed into a sort of Robin Hood in reverse, especially if the party in power has conservative leanings.  And it has done so under pressure from conservative and right wing elements in society, corporations and the 1%.  Whether it is in the social, economic or environmental spheres, they are literally and figuratively robbing from the poor and middle-class to give to the rich and powerful.  And the sad thing is that a good portion of the middle-class can't or doesn't want to see this.

Unfortunately there are not as many organizations representing the poor and middle-class with deep pockets as there seem to be for those who represent corporate and monied interests.  If there were then maybe the public debate would feel more balanced on how and where government should spend public tax dollars, and we would see slogans like the one above except they would represent the other side of the coin.  It would also push organizations like the Capitalism Institute and their claim of representing middle-class interests out of the spotlight and allow those in the middle-class who have bought into their right wing propaganda to understand that those of us who are the 99% are all in the same boat and we need to stop fighting and blaming each other whether the issue is the spending of tax dollars, the environment or the economy.  To do otherwise allows the 1% to shape and control the lives of the middle-class and take society in a direction that the silent majority of the 99% will come to regret if it doesn't do so already.

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