Why poverty is still with us
Vancouver Sun
August 20, 2009
By Gideon Rosenbluth

On Monday's op-ed page, Jean Swanson and Seth Klein ask why Gordon Campbell's B.C. government doesn't spend more money to reduce poverty and homelessness.

The answer is no mystery. The job of corporate executives is to try to increase corporate profits. For that, they need cooperative employees. Hence, their employees have to fear being laid off. The greater the misery of the poor and homeless, the greater is the aversion of corporate employees to being laid off. Hence, the greater their attempts to please their bosses.

Campbell and his ministers … believe the public is best off when the corporate executives who run the economy are well served. So reducing poverty and homelessness would be counter-productive. …