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Well here we are in Canada, very few of us really know how we got here, and where we go from here, or even for that matter what “here” is. One of the Main reasons that we are going to look at through out this paper is the economic system that is set up that has set us on the path we are on and what is at the end of this path. As well we are going to look at if there is any ways of getting off this already set path and if so what kind of system could we hope for in an ideal system.
Where are we??
The first point we are going to look at is supposed to be our pasts, but I feel as though before we can even do that we have to look at where we are now. After looking at some news articles and doing some mild research which one could do just in watching the news, we realize that we are in a very economic centered world. We now live in a world where you can buy and sell practically anything on the world market. This is easily demonstrated by the fact that one of the largest employers in the world is an American corporation that sells discount goods from all over the world.
This fact has both negative and positive sides depending on who is evaluating it. It is a positive in the case of a consumer where as they are able to purchase goods at a low price thus getting the best bang for your buck. As well as the fact that since it is such a large corporate market we are able to buy goods from all over the world that may be of a better quality than anything made at the local level, but since products are most often bought in large quantities there is still a discounted price passed onto the consumers.
The negative side of this concept is also for consumers where as this creates a system where large corporations take over the market due to their ability to purchase in greater quantities and therefore being able to offer lower prices. This is a problem due to the fact that it allows these companies to set the prices at whatever they see fit since in a lot of circumstances they have a monopoly after having eliminated the small local businesses.
This is bad for a community for the same reason, since these large corporations are able to buy things on this world market, at a discounted price, it puts local businesses out of business which creates further problems such as loss of jobs which in turn hurts the local smaller community through financial deficits. The large corporations normally dont keep their profits in the community and return it to their head office which is located far away from the community that is now supporting it.
This seems to be an unchangeable system, as it is so worked into our society and even built into our laws through the Free Trade Agreement signed in 1994, which makes it possible for large corporations to come into our communities and get rich and if any government agency tries to do anything to stop these actions the corporations are, under this act, able to sue these governments for all the funds they hypothetically could have gained had they been able to set up business in that community.
These large corporations would like us all to believe that this situation we currently find ourselves living in is actually a very good thing. Their basis for this statement goes back to the fact that consumers are able to get low priced goods right in our own backyards. When asked about the concerns of people on behalf of local businesses and their employees these large corporations point the fact that they are hiring local people for their stores, what they fail to mention is that these local people who are hired to work in these large stores may have already had their own businesses at which they were there own manager and making a good living, however in these large businesses they are nothing more than another clerk in a line, all rarely earning more than the required minimum wage.
Which means that these clerks who previously may have been making thirty to forty thousand dollars a year are now most likely lucky to be making twenty five thousand dollars which means they have no choice but to shop at these discount stores to get the most bang for their buck which further encourages these stores to stay in the community.
Basically the system set up for employees within these companies is to keep people poor enough that they have no real option but to shop at these stores which in turn makes a profit, so not only do they make a profit off paying these individuals minimum wage they double dip by having their employees put there pay right back into the store in the form of purchases.
How did we get here??
The next question we have to look at is how did we get into this situation in the first place. That is one that is steeped in history with the idea of settlers. More often than not Noble people were paid sums of money to help colonize the New World. Even though these Nobles would be paid by the crown to venture into the New World they would also collect monies from the peasants they ruled over either in the form of monies, or agriculture.
This became a practice that was continued with our current Governments which tend to offer incentives to large corporations to come into their communities, these incentives are normally either done in the form of getting land at a discounted rate, tax cuts, or even grants from the local Government. This is all done with the alleged good intentions of government officials to bring jobs to their community as well as the prospect of the again all mighty dollar that prospective tourist shoppers may bring with them.
Nay Sayers may say that this is simply the way government and businesses work and that people should just elect candidates who they feel will not sell out to big businesses on their constituents backs. These same people would argue that it is not the responsibility of elected government officials to protect small businesses and preserve peoples way of life.
These same people argue that having these businesses in a town are beneficial as they are only looking