WHAT IS THE POINT OF POLITICS AND POLITICIANS IN FINANCIAL DISCRIMINATION OF SINGLES?
(These thoughts are purely the blunt, no nonsense personal opinions of the author and are not intended to provide personal or financial advice).
One wonders what is the point of politics and politicians when there is such gross financial discrimination (along with violation of human rights) of singles.
One online review describes the purpose of government and politics as follows:
The purpose of politics is to enable the members of a society to collectively achieve important human goals they cannot otherwise achieve individually. Through negotiation, debate, legislation and other political structures, politics procures safety, order and general welfare within the state. The question of the precise ends of politics is one of the greatest, and most inconclusive, in philosophy, as manifested by the divisive, heated debates among political parties.
Government is the regulation of human activity, and politics consists of the processes by which a society decides the nature and extent of that regulation. There are many theories concerning the proper role of politics and what aspects of human life should be politicized.
Politics is often involved in prescribing the rules that govern interhuman relationships. It determines laws regarding marriage, parenting, businesses and contracts. It creates laws regulating educational institutions and civil associations. Money always plays a big role in politics. Much time goes into deciding where public money will come from and how resources will be spent.
The activities of government, politics and politicians, however, can go very wrong especially when certain members of a population are underserved or not served at all. An example of this is the cultural genocide of indigenous persons and violation of rights of targeted groups such as non-white persons (example: In USA implementation of voter ID cards that would make it harder for the poor to vote).
This blog has attempted to show financial discrimination of singles. In a financial world where parents and children rule, singles are an invisible minority. This blog has also described how singles are financially excluded in a political world where ‘selective’ social democracy rules (singles). The last decade has been especially financially unkind to singles in which married or coupled persons and parents with children have received the most benefits from the time they are married until the time they are seniors and then widowed (decades).
Politicians and government, both in Canada and the USA, continue to leave singles out of their discussions. Politicians refer mostly to the middle class and families. Singles or individuals are not included in the definition of family. Benefits continue to be targeted more towards families, children, and the middle class, rather than singles and the poor.
Some of the reasons for the financial discrimination of singles are voter entitlements and political parties implementing programs strictly for increasing number of votes. How decisions for these benefits are arrived at are, indeed, a puzzlement as the premises behind these benefits would never work at a business budget level or a family budget level.
Problems with government budgets and formulas include:
- Redistributing monies so that benefits are given to one group (families with children) while another group(singles) is forced to pay for them.
- No continuity of benefits from one year to another or from one political party to another. Benefits may be implemented in one year only to be eliminated in the following year. Over the years, this may result in one group receiving some benefits, while other groups are never able to receive any of the benefits because of the many changes over the years.
- There often appears to be no financial expert consultation on the financial impact or efficacy of the implemented benefits. An example is the ability of family units with children to receive benefits even though they may be quite wealthy and not working. The reason for this is that programs have been implemented without taking into account the net worth and assets of the groups receiving the benefits. As a result of the benefits, these groups may become even wealthier.
- Financial formulas are created in isolation (federal separate from provincial). This creates scenarios where benefits upon benefits upon benefits are doled out allowing some groups to achieve considerable incomes levels that they did not have before receiving the benefits.
- There appears to be no financial accountability to ensure financial fairness for all citizens.
If businesses or families and individuals operated their budgets in this manner where the money cannot be followed, they probably would be considered by financial analysts to be poorly run, face audits from the Canada Revenue Agency and possibly even become bankrupt.
CONCLUSION
So, again the question must be asked: What is the point of politics and politicians when programs are implemented that defy the financial intelligence of basic math, budgeting and common sense financial principles resulting in financial discrimination of certain groups like singles?
(This blog is of a general nature about financial discrimination of individuals/singles. It is not intended to provide personal or financial advice).
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