The Good News Journal, Volume XLVIII: The Sensei Sean All Simple Solutions Saturday Edition – Ending Poverty

Good evening, everyone, welcome to the Sensei Sean All ‘Simple Solutions’ Saturday Edition.  One of the reasons I started Calling My Blog ‘The Good News Journal’ was because I wanted to remind the world that there really are a lot of Good things happening and most of Our mainstream media like to focus on the tragedy of Our world, often without offering any kind of reasonable solution to the problems being reported.  So My new ‘Simple Solutions Saturday’ Edition Will be dedicated to offering simple solutions to many of the world’s seemingly complex problems; much like scarcity, most of these problems are manufactured and marketed to seem daunting and impossible to solve but could be remedied reasonably quickly if We simply changed Our perspective.

One would think that considering My determination to put an end to global poverty and homelessness (at least as My first priority), the following video would have been one of the very first to be suggested as recommended viewing in My TED talks exploration.  Despite My determination to watch a TED talks video daily, I had never come across this video or heard of Rutger Bregman until a Friend of mine shared it on My Facebook feed this morning.  No coincidences, I started thing King it would make a perfect first video for My Simple Solutions Saturday Edition.

“We address the symptoms without addressing the underlying cause.” – Rutger Bregman

Rutger Bregman is the author of a book called ‘Utopia for Realists’ and is also a highly respected historian with almost 100k followers on Twitter (including Me).  Something I’ve always struggled to comprehend is why, in a world full of entrepreneurs happy to tell their Success Stories and share their Secrets as to how they’ve made millions from virtually nothing, do People still believe that world Peace is an unrealistic or impossible goal?  The Idea that Peace is impossible, is unrealistic.  It is also claimed (by the U.N. Charter of Universal Rights and Freedoms) that freedom from want and fear is the Highest aspiration of the Common man.  If this is true, then no one has ever accomplished that which We collectively desire most – with so many brilliant Minds in the world, how is that possible?..  And People wonder why I won’t buy into this Idea that My Dream for world Peace is unattainable.  Anyone would tell You that one of the very first steps to successfully marketing any product is identifying a problem in the world and providing a solution.  Rutger Bregman is offering a solution to one of Our world’s greatest problems – guaranteed basic income.

He postulates that basic income (enough money for food, shelter and education) is not a privilege, but a right – and he’s right!  He continues to suggest that this basic income should be unconditional with no requirements to qualify, and no obligations with respect to what One should do with it.  The interesting thing about this philosophy, is that it was tried in a small town called Dauphin which ‘just happens’ (no coincidences) to be right here in Canada.  I like his speech because he also suggests that if government complains that the plan is too costly, We can simply take the money from their salaries and give it to the People they were elected to support in the first place!!!  (I guess You would have to be a Friend in My microcosm to know and appreciate how many times I have suggested this – I don’t believe any real leader would ever take more than the least of their People; that’s not leadership, that’s oppression).

But seriously, elected officials will ‘borrow’ exuberant amounts of money from private, centralized banks for virtually anything and everything except poverty!  I am in no Way, shape or form an advocate for private centralized banks, or suggesting We need to borrow more when every Sovereign nation has the right to mint it’s own currency debt free, I am simply suggesting there is no excuse for poverty.  If We can borrow money to bail out banks, We can certainly borrow money to take care of Our People – that is (or should be) Our [elected officials] first Duty and responsibility.

In fact, I actually have a much better solution, at least for the city of Ottawa, or any other city in Canada that is contracting with emergency shelters to provide basic needs.  We don’t need to borrow any money to provide a basic income for Canada’s impoverished People, We simply need to redirect the funds that are currently going to emergency shelters and place it in the pockets of Canada’s People subject to homelessness.  Here’s how it would work:

1. The Salvation Army receives roughly $1250/month per client for basic shelter
2. The Salvation Army also receives an additional $5 per meal served, 3x daily for a total of $15 per day or $450/month
3. People subject to poverty reliant on social services and emergency shelters receive additional $343/month for basic needs
4. Total cost to the taxpayer and city of Ottawa to contract with emergency shelters; $1250 + $450 + $343 = $2043/month
5. Allowance provided for those subject to emergency shelter to find basic housing, $384/month (virtually impossible without subsidy)
6. Average rental cost for bachelor or one bedroom in city of Ottawa, roughly $750 – $900/month inclusive

So the city of Ottawa could provide a minimum basic income allowance of $2043/month to every person reliant on social services without any additional cost to the taxpayer or city of Ottawa, which would be more than sufficient to find dignified housing.  Let’s presume the individual secures basic shelter at a cost of $900/month, they are still left with $1143/month for food and personal needs.  Because the emergency shelters in the city of Ottawa fail to meet the minimum requirements outlined by the emergency shelter standards they are legally obliged to comply with in order to receive funding in the first place (and why I filed a complaint with the city of Ottawa), the city is also eligible to be reinstated for all money paid to the Salvation Army or other emergency shelters for failing to honour and comply with their contractual agreements, and the emergency shelters are required to have a $5,000,000.00 in liability insurance for every complaint resolution!!!  That’s 5 million dollars per offence per client for every complaint of injury as a result of failing to act in compliance with the emergency shelter standards – and this is Writ directly in their contractual agreement.

The Salvation Army and other emergency shelters that have taken advantage of Canada’s People, trespassed on their rights and dignity, and violated their contractual agreements can foot the bill for a basic income allowance worthy of human dignity.  And I hope You Will watch the video I posted to see just how quickly the city, and more importantly, the People subject to emergency shelters, begin to thrive when provided with an unconditional guaranteed basic income allowance.

This is the main reason city councillors and Ottawa’s dis-Honourable Mayor don’t want to respond to My Letters – because there is no excuse and no One can argue with the logic Presented in this Post.  They just don’t want to admit that it was a homeless man who Presented these solutions.

See how simple changing the world can be if We just change Our perspective?

I hope Sensei Sean has taught Our elected officials a few things today, and that the rest of You are having a Sensational Saturday!!!

Love and Blessings,

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