Building a better social safety net – Winnipeg Free Press

Jan. 30, 2024

There is growing alarm about the gap between income and the cost of living. It is being referred to as an “affordability crisis.” But isn’t it really an inequity crisis?

Isn’t the problem a concentration of wealth, in an economy designed to create winners and losers? And then isn’t the logical solution a redistribution of wealth and reworking of economic and social systems?

It’s not as if suddenly everyone could afford everything, then the problem would be solved.

First, because we live on a finite planet, we can’t all live the lifestyles of the rich and famous, that would take a few more planets. Which means we can’t address poverty and inequity by everyone getting a bigger slice of everything. In community economic development we have a saying, “enough for all, forever.” There is enough, the issue is sharing it more fairly.