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Working hard not getting workers ahead these days

Occupy Victoria, Occupy Wall Street shows people are tired of struggling to make ends meet

Re: Nothing wrong with rewarding hard workers (Letters, Oct. 21)

Obviously the writer doesn’t get it. His examples relate to exactly why people are protesting. For every Jimmy Pattison success story, there are millions who work, and have worked, far harder and are struggling or poor.

The increasing cost of making ends meet and the average person’s overwhelming housing debt load and increasing taxes makes it extremely difficult just to get by.

Governments have contributed to the present situation by using tax dollars for business bailouts, dramatically reducing taxes on corporations and the rich, eroding consumer protections through the elimination of public utility and monopoly laws, then permitting deregulation and amalgamation. Free trade agreements have allowed wholesale outsourcing of jobs and resources to countries that exploit cheap goods and labour.

Politicians must rethink the impact many of their decisions have had on the average Canadian citizen. Government decisions must be based on the health and well being of the Canadian community.

Anthony Mears

Oak Bay