UCL, The Quebec 2015-2016 Budget analyzed by a libertarian Saguenay (fr)

(en) UCL, The Quebec 2015-2016 Budget analyzed by a
libertarian Saguenay (fr) [machine translation]

Unveiled yesterday (26 March), the 2015-2016 provincial budget was announced as a "message 
of confidence" by the Minister of Finance Carlos Leitao. The latter, who was the head of a 
bank before assuming his position as Minister, said at the unveiling of the budget that 
his "hope today becomes reality." Since this is not a trivial exercise book and this 
budget will have very serious impacts on the human level, I offer this libertarian 
analysis of the budget; outline, its impacts and finally, what might look like an 
anarchist budget. ---- A fiscal year is based on the mass of money that enters the system 
(GDP). It is a vision of the economy that excludes all the things we do without 
compromising money. The services that we make in our voisinnages, care that is given to a 
child, good dinners with friend-es ... everything, bounded vision of our economic leaders 
the excluded. Weapons manufacturers, the railway company responsible for the disaster of 
Lac Mégantic, mining who empty the basement ... are seen as participants in GDP. No 
surprise then that, since the financial years are based on GDP, it is these very 
destructive and retrograde companies for Humanity who benefit most rapid succession. In 
short, GDP does not represent the general interest, and one wonders what kind of rich 
elites tell us. The answer may be hiding in their brown envelopes ...!

The shaft government most of his speech on the zero deficit, with the pretext that he 
would think of future generations. The paradox is great from a system that relies on the 
intensive exploitation of natural resources, often until exhausted, and that significantly 
impairs the quality of life for families by the loss. It is hard to believe the government 
in his speeches. For example, how to justify the use of increasingly outsourcing as it is 
demonstrated more expensive? On the other hand, Leitao says there is no new rate increases 
in this budget, APART crowd of rate increases already announced before this one! We silly, 
of course! It even announces a reduction in the corporate tax in 2017. It is understood 
that belt-tightening, it's just not valid for the rich. 54 years old, Thierry Vandal, 
Hydro-Québec CEO is leaving office on May 1 and receive an indexed annuity of $ 452,402 
(an amount close to the salary he earns already). And, it is we who have to pay a hydro 
bill ever growing ...

Women were most affected by the budget. Especially targeting key sectors of Education and 
Health, the government leads an attack that will mean major setbacks in the social status 
of women in Quebec. Recall that this is the same government that absolutely refused to 
analyze the impact on women of the austerity measures he put on the table. In the health 
sector, the budget provides an increase of only 1.4% - the impact will necessarily be very 
large in hospitals and social programs and services. Should we be surprised also that this 
year is 91% of the budget of the ministries of the Government of Quebec that are 
administered by men and only 9% of women?

In education, this is the worst cuts over 20 years. With only 0.2% budget increase, we 
must prepare well for special size cuts. The attack is cowardly and cruel. School boards 
will be placed under impossible cuts will pass on an even larger share of the bill of 
costs to parents. The government announces hypocritically that there will be no service 
interruption (except those already announced, beautiful paradox!), But we can already see 
that services are cut in different institutions. A student general strike is taking shape 
and already the police forces seem to have had the directive of their high command to 
attempt to crush the movement in its germination. As so aptly the poet Pablo Neruda, "they 
can cut all the flowers, but they will never be masters of Spring."

The state wants to negotiate Patron dictatorial mode with the employees of the State that 
then he should be the first to honor the negotiation principles in its labor laws. There 
is already talk in the budget to freeze wages. Working conditions are not supposed to be 
told, this is not normal. The fight is a matter of dignity and resistance to the 
démantellement a very large number of jobs. This system draws us to a precariat market 
sub-normalized (the "bullshit jobs") and does not even allow people to earn above the 
poverty line. This certainly does not help the GDP but contributes to the general tendency 
of capitalism to the accumulation of wealth in fewer and fewer pockets and aggrandizement 
of the gap between the rich and the less affluent es.

In our time, tax solutions put forward by the electoral left and reformist social 
movements are doomed to failure despite all the good intentions. The term comes from the 
Latin tax to describe a basket. Taxation is somehow the money that comes in the common 
basket to redistribute. But today, the year the budget is undermined. It is no longer so 
much to please people, but especially to please the rating firms. After each budget, 
evaluate recent "return of the state" according to profitability for the capitalists cuts 
and privatizations granted by the government. The rating firms change thereafter the 
interest rate charged on the debt according to these "performances". It goes without 
saying that this debt is artificially inflated, that since the 80 Much of the debt is 
illegitimate; it was imposed on us so we can no longer fraudulent. The dominant ideology 
is now trying to make us believe that we should repay all that ... For the same profits, 
big banks and big capitalists, that keep us in this state of slavery. A left government 
would be caught in the throat by such a system.

In addition to the risk of being downgraded, management has the power to drive up 
inflation so as to increase the cost of living if he sees his rate of profits attacked by 
policies. And thirdly, there are the delocalisation. Ultimately, no problems of this 
system can not be solved by tax solutions. It is capitalism that keeps us in this bondage, 
he is to be eliminated. It's a social revolution we need! This perspective calls us to 
build more concrete here and now the foundation of autonomy and popular power; form a 
"power-cons".

It is interesting to think about what could actually be an anarchist budget. First, 
without a government, the budget would be produced collectively by direct democracy and 
respect the autonomy of communities. Rather than taking as a reference the GDP, an 
anarchist society would address the real needs of the population and would work to achieve 
the greatest possible social equality (no classes) and the destruction of patriarchy and 
racism. The sectors of health and education would be among the biggest concerns of an 
anarchist budget. The economy would be based on the maxim: "From each according to his 
ability, to each according to his need." It is much more closer and the basket which the 
term "tax" is derived. Peter Kropotkin also spoke of "taking the job." The expropriation 
and socialization of the means of production and redistribution of agricultural land 
according to the principle of "land that is cultivated" would activate a boss without 
economy, directly in line with the real needs of the population and less alienating. It 
would be a society without unemployment or the right to work is real, as is the right to 
be lazy!

In Leitao quoting Saint-Exupéry at the unveiling of the budget, "this future is not to 
predict but to make it possible," our words of March 20, 2012 remains a glaring news: " 
The power is us ! The black and red of May redound of the most daring acts that changes 
lives, without intermediaries! ".

Darth Vader
Posted ago Yesterday by Collectif Emma Goldman

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