For direction on what sort of society we need, we must look back a half century

As we go through this pandemic and the horrors that it has brought, we should think and rethink many of the societal values that have been in place since the 1980s.

For example, in Canada and the United States during the mid to late 1960s and 1970s we saw a great expansion of the welfare state and a concerted effort by both our nations to care for the sick and the poor. We saw this reflected in the Great Society programs of president Lyndon Johnson, the creation of the Canada Pension Plan and universal medical care under prime minister Lester Pearson among others.

This focus on building a better society, began changing in the early 1980s as concerns were raised about debt levels (governments wouldn’t raise taxes high enough to pay the costs of these programs nor would they reduce other spending to pay for them). There were concerns raised of a culture of dependency being created by very generous programs. For example, in 1971 prime minister Pierre Trudeau changed Unemployment Insurance so it covered 75 per cent of a person’s wages and in some areas of Canada a person only had to work eight weeks to be covered for a year of benefits. Some people would literally work eight weeks and then quit. Ronald Reagan came to office in 1981 supporting ideas of trickle-down economics — cut taxes to the rich and corporations, and as they make more money, some will trickle down to the middle and lower class. He supported the theories of economist Milton Friedman who argued the only duty a corporation has is to its shareholders and from there we saw an explosion of greed not seen since the “gilded age.” Prior to the 1980s, corporations were deemed to have a social duty to actually work toward the betterment of society as well as make money. Then taxes became a bad word and politicians began to slash taxes as well as government benefits. Trickle-down economics and Friedman’s theories simply turned out to mean bloated executive pay and offshoring of manufacturing work without regard to domestic impact.

We have now reaped the whirlwind. As jobs collapse Employment Insurance benefits (if one actually qualifies) are so low it is almost impossible to live on them without resorting to charities and food banks. The disabled are unable to live on the pittance they receive from the government. Health care cuts have given us hospitals unable to cope with this crisis. In the U.S. the desire not to implement universal health care means the poor with no coverage will not/or cannot seek care and thus may spread the virus to all those who can afford care, possibly killing thousands more than if everyone had a good level of health care. What this will mean in the end no one knows.

But I predict when this is over, wise people will say we must look back 50-plus years and once again try and build a “Great Society.” That means having a social safety net in place that is robust enough to ensure people are cared for in a crisis. As companies now stagger on the brink of collapse and are asking for assistance, society must insist that those same corporations reject the shareholder value

Prior to the 1980s, corporations were deemed to have a social duty to actually work toward the betterment of society as well as make money

mantra and adopt the same ideals that ruled the business world up to the late 1970s — that corporations must have a social mandate to help better their communities. And they must make detailed plans to carry that duty out. Governments must then hold executives to a strict accounting.

The idea that taxes are bad must be rejected. Nobody likes paying taxes but as president Franklin Roosevelt once said “taxes are the price we pay for civilization.” To pay for necessary social programs we can’t resort to debt. Once this crisis ends, these programs must be covered by tax revenue — not deficit spending. Taxes will go up and perhaps other programs will be cut to pay for them and that is fine. A higher level of taxation does not mean citizens cannot demand their taxes be used in a cost efficient, wise manner. We need to have those discussions about what government spending is truly necessary and what isn’t. The more frivolous spending that is cut — CBC, multiculturalism, bilingualism are examples — the more money is available to ensure people are educated, cared for, have housing, healthy food, and health care.

Craig Wallace is a Hamilton resident, an author of five books and a student of history. His fifth book “Canada in Pieces” is a dark, apocalyptic vision of the future and is available on Lulu.com, as well as Amazon.ca.