Saturday, January 17, 2009

Public money for the public

What do the people really want? I am feeling a little dizzy these days when I hear politicians talking about billion dollar bailouts for Corporations. I think about my life in the 1980’s, fresh out of high school, and our elected officials were recklessly slashing the student aid programmes to ensure fiscal prudence. Jump forward to today, and these same voices that were calling for more free market and less government interference, are the first in line to collect state handouts, commonly known as the taxpayers money. Just as there are conditions put on the poor when they have to turn to the state for assistance, it seems only logical that there be conditions in place to ensure the Corporations are not receiving benefits that they are not entitled to.

If you apply for a student loan in BC and you have ever declared bankruptcy, you are ineligible. So it should also be for any government assistance to any company. If the company or it’s directors have ever declared bankruptcy, they should be ineligible. Fair is fair. Although I feel that the idea of preventing people from receiving further education due to their economic history is unreasonable, I think it should apply homogenously to all those wishing to access government funds.

I look forward to the day when all of the worlds citizens can enjoy the prospect of higher education based on desire not financial ability. I look forward to the day when sexual orientation is a deeply private matter and society can show all people respect for and admiration of personal values. Looking forward is all we have in times like these.

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