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What is this trash I'm hearing about Toronto only having a middle class? This is twisted semantics at best, although I'd prefer to call it completely retarded. Forest Hill is upper class. Jane/Finch is lower class. The only way you can lump these into the middle class category is if you take the word "middle" to mean 3,999,998 people in Toronto, the other 2 being the very richest and very poorest individuals in the city.
The inability to break out of the middle class is a direct consequence of taxes here and it happens all across Canada. Personal and corporate income tax, property tax, tobacco tax, alcohol tax, CPP, EI, gas tax, environmental tax, airport taxes, air conditioning taxes, customs, liquor taxes, capital gains tax, license tax, and probably a hundred other taxes that I just can't think of right now. And that's not even including the "unofficial" taxes like red light cameras and photo radar and parking tickets.
Government spending here is over 40% of our GDP and that's just the federal government. The reason for middle class never reaching upper class has got nothing to do with business or immigration or jobs or any other economic factors, it's purely government. And it's VERY easy to slip from middle class into lower class, all you have to do is not budget your money properly for a few years and find yourself having to declare bankruptcy.
All of this may not affect the amount of crime on ghetto streets but it sure does affect the amount of white-collar crime here. And the people who are committing crimes are finding legal ways to screw other people because they need to recoup their own losses. It's no wonder why nobody trusts each other here anymore, and the atmosphere of distrust is a breeding ground for all other types of crime, whether it's directly responsible for them or not.
It's a vicious circle and not one that this city is going to pull itself out of any time soon. The city can only do so much - many if not most problems are not Toronto's direct responsibility, they are the responsibility of the provincial and federal governments.
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My party schedule:
2009-02-21 - DJ Attention @ I'm So Popular
2009-06-18 - DJ Annoying @ People Need To Know Where I'll Be
2012-11-32 - DJ Insufferable ɸ Or At Least the Stalkers I Complain About
2048-06-66 - Spastic & Whocares ¶ Although I'm Actually Flattered
9999-45-81 - Tweaker Gimp ☼ I Probably Won't Even Go To This But I Have To Make Sure I Fill Up All The Available Space Here
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