234) Day 2 -- Reason #2 to revolt against Predatory Capitalism

Our capitalist "masters" tell us that regulations are "bad for business" and "slow down economic growth". Which of course translates into "you won't get jobs and you'll all be poor and suffering, so you should let us do our business without restraint or regulation." Take off the brakes and, as Trump claims, society will "rock". By which he means, of course, succeed wildly, not "be rocked to the core as it falls apart". Little unintentional double entendre there, Mr. Drumpf....

The logic of cutting regulations and being "pro-business," now being trumpeted by Trump, is exhaustingly familiar to Canadians as well. In Ontario, we had the disastrous "common sense revolution" of Mike Harris in the 90s, which was just a less ridiculous version of Trump's societal-wrecking bullshit. And now, we have Doug Ford's literally criminal government, passing laws that EXEMPT Highway 413 from environmental assessment, because of course, no enviro-assessment would EVER pass this utterly insane highway project.

Why is it an insane project? Well, for one, it cuts through already-protected Greenbelt areas, taking Ontario's deeply battered southern ecosystems, and battering them even more. Two, it puts MANY already-at-risk species even further at risk, cutting through sensitive wetlands and already-fractured Southern Ontario forests. Three, it won't make any fucking difference to traffic in Southern Ontario EXCEPT TO MAKE IT WORSE. In the immediate term, it may cut a few minutes out of commuter time, yes. But longer-term, it will encourage MORE development, and therefore, MORE urban sprawl, and therefore MORE commuters on the roads, and therefore, yep, MORE traffic.

Over and over and over, everywhere that Conservative "pro-business" "common-sense" "efficiency" rhetoric takes hold, it means only two things:

1) more $$$ for the people at the top who own the big businesses, big tracts of land, etc., who make their profits by under-paying their workers, and using loopholes to PAY LESS TAX.

2) it axes the environment, takes away workers' FREEDOM and rights, makes public health worse, and kills government programs that provide a safety net to the vulnerable in our society.

"Cutting regulations to grow the economy" is bullshit. Because whatever growth may happen, goes to the top, and causes massive problems that the public, the regular folks, the 99%, suffer from.

The "cut regulations!" mantra is a flat-out lie that, so far, Conservative voters fall for, over and over and over again. Maybe more people will learn from history and stop making the same mistakes in the future? One can hope, at least.

Regulations are there for a reason. They protect us. Cutting them helps only the absurdly-wealthy, get more absurdly wealthy.

Period.