Vanier Institute: Each Cdn worth over $300,000.

[maplesyrup]

According the Vanier Institute of the Family, which quite frankly, has a lot more credibility that any of these lobbyists disguised as so-called think tanks like the right wing Fraser Institute, each Canadian is worth more that $300,000.

So, based on theses figures, after Jack Layton hits a home run on one of Paul Martin's pitches, and become prime minister, hopefully there will be a settling of accounts.

Anyone worth more than $300,000. will be getting out their cheque books and writing a cheque to the Receiver General returning their surplus which they got either through stealing, murdering, or some tax loophole; and those who have less than $300,000. should expect to receive a cheque in the mail to even out the score.

And perhaps Canada should institute a policy of settling of accounts every ten years to prevent anyone group of people from hogging the wealth, eh!

[takeanumber]

There's a difference between 'hogging' wealth and 'earning' wealth.

Your logic is faulty in that it ignores that.

[Slavik44]

So MS, which one is it for you, murder? I belive this 300,000 is total net worth, and yes you heard my replies to 1 million dolalr death tax, well $300,000 Life tax is not an improvement, we do need to find a way to redistribute wealth, we do need to find a way to allow for Social Mobility, and keep the poor from living in un-acceptable standards for a first world country, that being said limiting someone to $300,000 net worth is a load of crap.You don't need to steal, kill, or cheat to get $300,000 net worth almost anyone with a decent education can get that with a bit of determination and hardwork in 10 years.

[maplesyrup]

The way the system works, the tax structure is rigged to retain the status quo. keep the rich, rich and the poor, poor. I am not saying our tax system is crooked. Unethical probably. Unfair absolutely. With powerful secretive lobbying through tax accountants and lawyers the rich stay rich. Well its time for the poor to get some breaks, and goodness knows if every person is worth over $300,000. there is no need to be poor in Canada, eh!

I just think it is time for the rich to stop bellyaching about tax cuts, which only help the rich and exacerbate, or make things worse for the poor.

[caesar]

300 thousand isn't really a heck of a lot these days. You can't even buy a house in Vancouver for that these days.

EI should be abolished as it no longer protects the workers as there is no longer the right to quit an intolerable job or where the wages do not keep up with inflation. It is a rip off.

[August1991]

I suspect the number was calculated in this way: our annual GDP is about $1 trillion so we have about $10 trillion in physical capital. With 30 million people, that's about $300,000/person.

IOW, a family of four has assets of about $1.2 million.

This ignores the intangible assets of one's own skills and abilities. A medical doctor has made a considerable investment by going to school for many years. That investment is not included in the number above.

I might as well mention here that young people are poor and old people are wealthy. As the young become old, they will become wealthy.

MS believes that we should even things out when life does that partly anyway.

Lastly, farmers are among the wealthy because of the land they own. MS would somehow transfer their wealth to people in cities.

[caesar]

yes, land rich cash poor. but it is the lifestyle they prefer.

I consider myself worth more than 300 thousand. The credit card people think I am worth a lot; they keep upping my credit limit.

[jay74]

Is this guy for real? Hey, Robin Hood, where the f*#%, does this money come from?

[maplesyrup]

Don't you think it is time to get over the CanWest hype and start to address the issues that the average citizen cares about, rather than their agenda of these tax cuts for the very rich?

As the Vanier Institute for the Family points out we have an abundance of things material in Canada. so lets drop this notion that we have to have poor people, that we can't have universal health care, tuition free education, guaranteed annual income, etc.

[jay74]

MS, you've been blinded by idealism. I am not saying that your ideas are wrong. They're just not realistic.

[playfullfellow]

Well its time for the poor to get some breaks, and goodness knows if every person is worth over $300,000. there is no need to be poor in Canada, eh!

LMAO, I must at least thank you MS for giving this poor old hammer jockey a laugh first thing Monday morning. They obviously forgot to check my bank account but I am part of the working poor as they call us. As Caesar says, just about anyone who owns a house in Vancouver is worth over 300,000 but the same house in Newfoundland is only worth maybe 80,000. Caesar and her husband have paid their dues and are near retirement age so you want to take away from people like them who own their own property to pay for others lack of initiative? Why should someone who has worked hard their whole lives pay for someone who just wants to sit on their ass and do nothing to get money? Caesar and I may not agree on a lot of issues but I respect people who have worked hard to get their money and paid their own way through life.

Besides, where does a 300,000 dollar threshold come in? Does this mean that anyone who owns a house worth more than 300,000 now but was only 80,000 20 years ago have to pay through the nose to retain that house? What you are proposing is an initiative killer. Where is the incentive to improve? Where is the incentive to go after that higher paying job? Where is the incentive to keep your house nice so it's value grows? There would not be any as none of us working type people really care to pay the way for people who have no initiative to do better but sit back and collect the dole.

[maplesyrup]

Which proves my point precisely. While you guys argue about have many dancers can stand on the tip of a pin, most people in Canada would love to have their fair share of $300,000. any way you wish to provide it.

So tough if you don't have money, you just don't own of buy in Vancouver. Go and live Powell River.

The reality is only the extremely wealthy can now purhase property in Vancouver.

[Slavik44]

Which proves my point precisely. While you guys argue about have many dancers can stand on the tip of a pin, most people in Canada would love to have their fair share of $300,000. any way you wish to provide it.

So tough if you don't have money, you just don't own of buy in Vancouver. Go and live Powell River.

The reality is only the extremely wealthy can now purhase property in Vancouver.

M.S $300,000 net worth is nothign special it is nothign extroadinay, and it is nothing that requires anyhting more then hardwork, for a godo portion of the population, instead of limiting people, we shoudl look at helping people who are just short of being able to have the chance to make what other make. A $300,000 cap on net worth is the elimination of doctors, Lawyers, Telacomunications experts, Computer programmers, Truck drivers, Buisness owners, Scietific researchers, Police officers, Politcians, teachers, Construction workers, electricians, Architects, engineers, and so on and so forth. This is not soemthing you can just replace, as there is no desire to spend 7 years in school to make what a highschool drop out makes. You following the outdated and niave principle that Canadian society is liek a pyramid, where the poor bottom dwellers support the rich peak. Imediatley the first problem with this situation arises, as the biggest portion of Canadians society is not the welfare bum, at the bottom of the pyramid. Canadian society is like a a chain link rope, holding up Canada. Each link has it's role to play, and each link makes the other stronger, nto weaker. Destroyign one link to better another does not make it easier to carry the burdern of Canadian privledge, it cause the chain to break, and Canadian privledge to drop, into the waters of dissaray and anarchy, and desolation. if you want to make life better for each of the links, it is best to help strenthen the links individualy rather then just destroy the links. You are nto calling for the destruction of the wealthy, you are nto callign for the destruction of the upper middle class, you are nto calling for the destruction of the lower middle class, you are calling for the destruction of Canada. this is nto equality, this is not benificial, this is not equal privledge, this is the destruction of life, the destruction of Canada. this is not soem rightwing trash or some rich lies designed to control the poor this is the truth that a privledge society must have oppurtunites and will indeed create imbalances, concentrating on giving every one the equal shot at oppurtunity is what needs to be done, not destroying the chance at oppurtunity.

[playfullfellow]

The reality is only the extremely wealthy can now purhase property in Vancouver.

That's their priviledge, if they have the money, then they should be able to do so. Who really cares as long as they got theire the honest way, either working for it or inheriting it. Sitting around waiting for a cheque from the government if you are capable of working is none of these. If my net worth is going to be 300,000, then I want to get there the old fashioned way, working for it. You should try it, a little sweat never hurt anyone.

[maplesyrup]

I really get a chuckle at the assumptions that are made here, such as if you don't support tax cuts, or you don't support the rich ripping off the poor, somehow you are lazy or that you don't work, etc. Give us a break, eh!

[Stoker]

I really get a chuckle at the assumptions that are made here, such as if you don't support tax cuts, or you don't support the rich ripping off the poor, somehow you are lazy or that you don't work, etc. Give us a break, eh!

If you want something that you didn't earn, that is lazy.

[maplesyrup]

Some people confuse the word earn with the word exploit.

The reason the rich want the poor around is that they could not get rich without doing it on the backs of the poor.

[playfullfellow]

I really get a chuckle at the assumptions that are made here, such as if you don't support tax cuts, or you don't support the rich ripping off the poor, somehow you are lazy or that you don't work, etc. Give us a break, eh!

Thats because you generally advocate shorter work weeks, more time off, higher wages, no cost education, no cost healthcare and all without you working harder for it. You generally propose that we take from the rich and give to the poor whom have to give nothing back in return. I think everyone of us in this forum know of people who do or would use the system to sit at home on the butts and get a free cheque every month to do nothing.

I know people who are considered quite wealthy by anyones standards but they got their money through hard work and taking initiative to better their lives. They invested and they built businesses that have succeeded quite well. I know that these people would not have invested so much time and money to achieve their goals if the government was just going to take it away to give to others who did not feel like taking intiative. So, that would leave us with a country of poor people who do not want to get ahead because it will all be taken away from them anyways. Myself, I do not really like having to work for over half a year before my taxes are paid off so then I can start to work for myself and my family. At the moment, I am not getting a good return on my tax dollars and in the real world, would withdraw my money from such an investment.

[Hugo]

So, based on theses figures, after Jack Layton hits a home run on one of Paul Martin's pitches, and become prime minister, hopefully there will be a settling of accounts.

I'm just curious about how Maplesyrup plans to enforce this. For those whose net worth is over $300,000, will you just send a demand in the mail? What about those who say, "Screw that, I worked hard for what I have and I'm not handing it over to the government" and toss the letter in the trash?

Will you try to imprison them? What if they announce that they plan to resist arrest? Maybe some might declare that their property belongs to them, not the state, and that they intend to defend it, with force if necessary - that any government agents who trespass upon their property with the intent of stealing will be met with force. What then? You'd have to kill them.

So it can be seen that government demands and plans are empty without the use of violence, including the power and will to murder citizens. Unless the government was willing to use force against you up to and including killing you, nobody would listen to their demands.

So, what Maplesyrup has proposed is that the state steal vast amounts of property backed by the threat of violence and murder. I'm sure Stalin would be proud of you, but I think Layton should probably sue you for defamation by inferring that he would be involved in such a monstrous plan.

[Cartman]

EI should be abolished as it no longer protects the workers as there is no longer the right to quit an intolerable job or where the wages do not keep up with inflation. It is a rip off.

Sadly, you are right, it is a rip off. Either make the system effective or eliminate it. As it is right now, it offers little value but costs much.

[Slavik44]

Some people confuse the word earn with the word exploit.

The reason the rich want the poor around is that they could not get rich without doing it on the backs of the poor.

Ms the thing is you don't need to exploit someone to get $300,000 networth, infact you can get that while being "exploited" by someone.