[Wamvan] Fwd: 5 BIG reasons to Support Occupy Wall Street in British Columbia

[Meenakshi Mannoe]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: International Socialists <vancouver.socialists at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, Oct 14, 2011 at 7:05 PM
Subject: 5 BIG reasons to Support Occupy Wall Street in British Columbia
To:


>From the BC Federation of Labour:

5 BIG reasons to Support Occupy Wall Street in British Columbia

The Occupy Wall Street movement expresses an underlying desire for
fairness and equality in the economy and our society. Here are five
big reasons for people in British Columbia to support Occupy Wall
Street.

Read the full list here: http://act.bcfed.ca/5reasonstosupport/

1. The gap is growing, fast

The gap between the rich and everyone else is growing faster in Canada
than almost everywhere else in the developed world. According to the
Conference Board of Canada, our income gap has been growing faster
than the United States since the mid 1990's.

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2. Corporate profits are way up. Corporate taxes are way down.

Corporate profits quadrupled in BC in the 1990s and doubled again in
the 2000s. On top of increasing pre-tax profits, corporations are
paying less tax than ever. Tax cuts since 2001 have robbed public
services of more than 12 billion dollars combined.

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3. The wealthiest 1% are richer than ever

In the last ten years, the wealthiest 1% have had an average pay hike
of over 200,000, or a whopping 36%. PLUS, tax cuts in BC alone put an
average of 41,000 more a year in their pockets. That’s right, because
of the BC Liberals, the wealthiest one per cent are saving more in
taxes than the combined annual salary of two minimum wage earners.

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4. You aren’t richer than you think

Since 1980, real wages have stagnated as the cost of living has
increased. Low interest rates and easy credit allowed people to keep
spending, but now most of us are carrying huge debt. On top of that,
we are paying more in regressive fees like MSP. This year, families
paid more in MSP premiums than corporations paid in BC Income tax.

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5. Corporations are holding cash, not investing in jobs

Despite benefiting from record profits in the last 10 years and
massive tax cuts, corporations in BC aren’t investing in our economy.
In fact, investment in machinery and equipment is down 20 per cent
from historical averages as a percentage of our economy.

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B.C. Federation of Labour's Statement on Occupy Wall Street

Earlier this week, the B.C. Federation of Labour issued a statement
supporting the Occupy Wall Street movement’s call for greater equality
and justice in our economy, and encouraging its members to
participate.

You can read the Federation’s statement here:
http://act.bcfed.ca/solidaritywithoccupywallstreet/

Donate to Occupy Vancouver

Occupy Vancouver has set up a PayPal account and are accepting
contributions. Occupy Vancouver relies greatly upon the generosity of
individuals.

Occupy Vancouver's Donate Page

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