Comment 89430

By Henry and Joe (anonymous) | Posted June 09, 2013 at 15:51:18 in reply to Comment 89422

I don't think anyone is calling for the abolition of the car industry. People are asking for a hedge against a rise in fuel prices and a dependency on big Oil. Taxes start with ore being pulled out of the ground, but taxpayer subsidies begin there as well. In the last 4 decades of the 20th century, the Canadian government received 150 million in royalties from mining activities, but taxpayer have paid $ 4 billion for clean up costs. Dofasco may have jobs for now, but Stelco jobs have all but disappeared thanks to neo-liberal policies that allow financial corporations to pillage our manufacturing companies and and treat its workers like refuse. We lost 500 000 manufacturing jobs in the 2000s and the US lost close to 3 000 000 jobs. Those jobs have been replaced with the poor ones you mention. That is the unofficial policy of all cities in North America - not just Hamilton. No amount of highway building is going to change that. If corporations are supposed to save the day, I'm a little doubtful. General Electric has paid zero tax in the last 10 years to the US government. Meanwhile, corporations like Amazon, Apple, and Starbucks are strong arming Congress for a reduction in their tax rate to single digits.

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