Economic Update, Alberta, 2021-03

Economic activity in Alberta plummeted to all time low in the last couple of years as a fallout of global capitalism’s crises. The provincial government has not enough income. Less people are paying income taxes due to high unemployment, less taxes are coming in from businesses too. It can not keep up with the higher demand for government services by the population so, it runs deficits.

To alleviate the problem, there are pressures to introduce a sales tax in Alberta. By estimates it would mean 7 billion dollars per year income to the province. Hmmm. A sales tax is a regressive tax. It means that lower income families would feel the pinch more than higher income families, because they pay a larger chunk of their income on goods and services than high income families. Introducing a sales tax would shift the burden onto the larger segment of the population. Touching other progressive taxes, where the amount of taxes to be paid is proportionate to the level of income is out of question for ideological reasons. Albertans should pay attention to all this when voting for the introduction of the sales tax.

Mergers and acquisitions are ever more common in today’s capitalism. The latest attempt, almost fact, is that Rogers Communications buys over Shaw Communications in Calgary for 26B dollars. Advisors and celebrants of capitalism on television even boasting that it will lead to lower prices. They are ignoring the facts and outright misleading you. This merger (and mergers in general) will further cement the already monopolistic position of Rogers. We know it from how capitalism works, is that monopolistic positions keep prices high and drives them up. When there is less options to choose providers from, they jack up the prices. You have nowhere else to go. It is great for the capitalists to reduce competition and not so great for the population. When the government ponders on whether to grant permission to the merger, we all know the end result.