In the last few years, many of these RV ghettos have sprung up, mostly behind Home Depots and Canadian Tire stores. For those of you who are non-Canadian, the Canadian Tire stores are one of the oldest and most enduring department stores here in the land of the frozen and home of the hockey puck.
The average price for a condo in Vancouver is $657,000 and the price for a detached home is at $1.58 million. Driven partly by Asian real estate speculation, the escalating cost of a home has made Vancouver the most unaffordable city in Canada and the second most unaffordable city in the world, following closely behind Hong Kong; incidentally earning the city the nickname "Hongcouver."
Local politicians make yearly promises about building affordable housing but what really happens is that older more-affordable buildings are being torn down and replaced with high-end condos. Money talks, low-income people walk. A recent bylaw was passed putting a high tax on vacant condos which has cooled the market a bit.
The average cost of a one-bedroom apartment is $2250 per month. Minimum wage will go up to $13.85/hour in June but even at a 40/hour week, after taxes, a minimum wage job will net about $1700/month, making it impossible to live without roommates and probably a second job.
A recent report has pegged the necessity of a living wage at $20.91/hour to reflect escalating costs of living. Meanwhile CEO's make an average 271 times the average salary of their workforce.
Since 1978, and adjusted for inflation, American workers have seen an 11.2 percent increase in compensation. During that same period, CEO's have seen a 937 percent increase in earnings. That salary growth is even 70 percent faster than the rise in the stock market, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
American presidential candidate, Andrew Yang is currently running on a platform of giving a universal basic income of $1000/month, amid cries of "socialism" by conservatives. It's difficult to justify opposing such policies when the upward transfer of wealth continues unabated.
Wealth inequality is the symptom of a greater and more debilitating disease infecting the world. The cure involves a change of heart. A heartless culture and a ruthless spirit can be cured, healed and transformed. We're all part of the global family and the family needs an intervention - a divine intervention and a confrontation concerning our society's dysfunction and addiction to wealth and power.
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