Friday Final Reflection: June 2, 2017
What is wrong with us?
Welcome back to my Final Reflection on the week. Before I get started I have one question: Can we have one normal, quiet week ever? I remember back in the day when months would go by without something weird or controversial happening. Those months have now turned into: Let’s make it through the day! Okay, so this week was a little troubling for several reasons. The big topic in Ontario seems to be our fearless/hapless leader Kathleen Wynne’s plan to raise the minimum wage. The day it was announced was a firestorm of Facebook battles. Friend versus friend. Dad versus son. Dog versus cat. Covfefe versus Covfefe. After that shit storm, I felt jaded and even a little sad. I felt worried that people didn’t agree with me, I mean how could they not? That was a joke, I promise. This debate truly shows how different we all are and that is not necessarily a bad thing. In my post today I am going to go over where I am coming from and why it has shaped my view on this topic. I will admit that I may be wrong in my view and I am not foolish enough to think I am always right.
I am a Financial Advisor. I help people plan their futures. I see all sorts of people and have all sorts of clients. I have clients making minimum wage that cannot afford to save any money, and believe me I know because I crunched the numbers. I also have clients that make 100K plus and save a very good amount of money. I also have clients in the middle that save a little and struggle to do that. The one thing I tell all my clients is that they have to save money, no debate. The problem is for some of them they just can’t. For me to invest $50 of the $100 in leftover money they have every month makes no sense. After rent, bills, and food it is not in their best interest. They have no emergency fund, no savings and usually have debts. I want people to understand what these people are in relation to the greater economy. They pay little taxes, and in turn use more services than they give back in the form of tax revenue. These are not bad people and we can’t speculate why they are where they are.
I mentioned I am a Financial Advisor. I also wait tables and bartend in the restaurant industry on weekends, remember side hustle. The restaurant industry will be one of the industries greatly affected by this wage hike. Restaurant workers stand to get a huge raise from the hike and owners stand to get hit hard. When I bartend I notice that the majority of the clientele is average working folk. It is very rare that McDonald’s, Wal-Mart or other low wage earners come in. Although that isn’t precise enough to determine what it actually is I do have a better example. In the restaurant industry, there are 2 types of workers, Front of House and Back of House. The FOH staff are the servers, bartenders, and managers. The BOH staff is the kitchen workers and maintenance. Generally, the FOH makes more than the BOH due to them receiving tips. When I look back at all the times we had a drink after work, went out to the pub, or any social gathering it was almost always FOH staff. When I look at the other people in the service industry that I serve on a regular basis, the majority of them are FOH. There is a direct correlation between people who make more money, going out and spending more money. Think about if those BOH staff had more income and didn’t have to use the majority of their paycheck to pay bills. They love going out as much as we do believe me.
A strong, robust economy consists of consumers. There are currently 2 economies in Ontario. The first is those who participate by using their wage to buy products and services and then also pay taxes. There is also a sub-economy of those who make a menial wage, pay very little tax and use more resources than their tax money covers. To bring those lower level workers into the middle strata of wage earners that can actively participate in the economy is better for everyone. How they are brought there shouldn’t be on the back of small business. Tax breaks for employers under a certain amount of workers should be proposed as well as other incentives that would make the strain on small business less. This proposal is meant to go after the Wal-Marts of the world so they need to make sure it does that. It needs to be part of a comprehensive plan that allows small business to flourish as well as bring more people into the economy. The people brought in then have to use their money as a weapon and support these local businesses that employ them.
Much of people’s skepticism with the plan centers on the ineptitude of our current government. I could not agree more. They have to make sure this is a solid plan staged over time and not a band-aid solution, something they seem incapable of doing. The important thing we all should take from this is that we are not each other’s enemy. Those making $30 an hour and those making $15 are not uncommon in the grand scheme of things. You and your boss have more in common than you and the CEO of Starbucks. The wealth of the richest 1% is the great dividing factor. It is their wealth that if properly distributed amongst the rest of society would allow for greater social mobility. The rest of us should work together for a solution that works instead of arguing over the crumbs we are given. There is enough juice here to keep us all fat and giggly.
Work Hard. Demand your Worth. Support Local.
For every $100 spent at a local small business, $68 returns back to the community.
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Joseph James Francis is a Financial Advisor. You can find him on various social media platforms and at budgetboss.ca.