GUEST OPINION – Case for $15/hr Minimum Wage in Manitoba

The People's Voice

WINNIPEG, MB – I could write a long piece on the inequality of wealth distribution, but unless you are living in a closet, it is a well known fact that the top 1% hold the vast majority it.

Personal debt is at a record high, and many people who live on minimum wage have maxed out on their credit cards, just to make ends meet.

Sound like a conspiracy? Well… it is. As George Carlin said, “They’ve got you buy the balls.”

You may be an entrepreneur, and risked everything to “make a go of it”, and succeeded. Congratulations! You’re rich… now what? How much money does one really need? Not much actually.

Talk to old financially influential people in senior care homes. Many lament uncontrollably, because they know their time on this earth is short, and they had the opportunity to make positive change, and neglected to do it.

Making people’s lives hell on earth is cruel, yet death knocks regardless for both rich and poor.

You want to make a difference while you can? Pay those people that slave for you a living wage. They are the one’s that are making you rich in the long run. While you are at it… don’t be an asshole. Life is hard enough without unnecessary power trips.

I hold two degrees, and have hit rock bottom, at no fault of my own at one point in my life. None of us ask to be born. Some are born into wealth, some into poverty. Unless you have felt the scorching, relentless pain of poverty, let me challenge you to live for six months on an Employment and Income Assistance budget. Go ahead… let’s see who’s got the spine.

Depending on how you handle it; wealth can be a wonderful experience, or it can be the road to misery. Most wealthy people I’ve met, are just that. MISERABLE. Why? Because the wealth they have accumulated at the expense of others, is only a short-term high. Subconsciously, those little guilt mites eat away at the back of their minds.

The feeling one gets from sacrificing personal wealth for the benefit of others is a high like no other.

I am an artist, and donate a portion of proceeds to assist in animal welfare. Why have I chosen this path? Because it is what I can afford to do. Everyone can do something. When you’ve got so much wealth and see others suffering, your silence is screaming back at you in the mirror every morning of every day.

Sincerely,

Timothy M. Wall

Artist

Find Timothy on Facebook, click here.

Photo – ibew1003.rog

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