Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Modest inflation outstrips wages and Canada Social Transfer

Statistics Canada reported recently that the annual inflation rate remained 2.9 per cent and the Bank of Canada's core rate remained 2.1 per cent in November.

The monthly increase in consumer prices slowed to 0.1 per cent in November from 0.3 per cent in October. The monthly increase in core prices slowed to 0.1 per cent in November from 0.2 per cent in October.

Inflation remains modest and should not deter the Bank of Canada from keeping interest rates low, and perhaps reducing them, to support our fragile economy and labour market.

However, even this modest inflation exceeds the small pay increases received by Canadian workers. While the Consumer Price Index rose 2.9 per cent last month, the Labour Force Survey indicates that average hourly wages rose only 2.4 per cent. In Ontario, inflation exceeds wage growth by a full percentage point: 2.5 per cent versus 1.4 per cent.

The Minister of Finance announced that, while the Canada Health Transfer and Equalization will be tied to nominal economic growth (projected to be about 4 per cent annually), the Canada Social Transfer for post-secondary education and other provincial services will grow at only 3 per cent annually. Today's inflation figures beg the question of whether that will even cover inflation plus population growth.

Original Article
Source:  Rabble.ca

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