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Originally Posted by rubecube
Well the alternative would be to start demanding fairer waged and better social programs that would allow for Canadians to purchase fair trade/fair labour goods. It's pretty easy to throw your hands up and say "Welp, nothing I can do" and then continue to vote for political parties that encourage wealth disparity, or refuse to get involved on various forms of political advocacy that I might advocate for different lifestyles.
This isn't directed at you, but I'm still amazed that people will harp about how socialism "doesn't work" while still advocating the thoroughly debunked myth of trickle down economics.
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The problem isn't the amount of money they have in their pockets, it is the power that money has to influence and that is not something we can control by demanding they get paid more. As you give them more money, the buying power of that money will decrease and I doubt it would translate to a higher standard of living in the long run. You have to think about it this way... you pay them "fair" wages, product prices increase, people in the west demand more money, and as a result, the overall balance stays the same. Changing the numbers doesn't change the system.
And I would never say that socialism can't work, but it definitely depends on a lot of capital to maintain socialism. Things like universal health care and democracy are extremely expensive to maintain. How many people would be willing to give that up to be more fair to people thousands of miles away?
The problem is that most Westerners live well above their actual labour output (even a lot of our poor do this relatively speaking) . There can't be rich people in the world if there are not poor people. As it is, even the middle-lower classes in Western society take in more than they produce on average. Any type of wealth distribution on a global scale would mean not just a drastic change to the ultra-rich, but also to the middle class. Is the middle class in Canada willing to see a standard of living change to be on par with a place like Mexico, just so a place like Bangladesh can have theirs raised to that level? It's not going to happen.