“Twilight Zone”
The Old Man in the Hat
The New Year. Always a time to reflect on the past and look towards the future. Some would argue that the present is only a creation of our imagination with today being yesterday’s future and tomorrow’s past. Pondering in this twilight zone of the present I have taken to ruminating on the utility of EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. Feeling zombie like, I have tried to wrap my head around EI. We are all familiar with the concept of insurance. Pay a premium now to mitigate an identified risk in the future. We voluntarily purchase all sorts of insurance- car, house, health insurance etc. I suppose companies could market these products differently- wreck insurance, burned out insurance, sickness insurance, for example, but I surmise that the marketing people figured that we wouldn’t be willing consumers of such negative sounding stuff!
So I guess it is not surprising that the civil serpents in Ottawa would want to rebrand pogey with that positive, affirmative moniker, EMPLOYMENT INSURANCE. Now a casual observer, one who had not read the brochure, would assume that the function of the insurance would be to insure that you always have a job. I mean if car insurance means a replacement car, with all four wheels and house insurance means you get a replacement house, including the bathroom, and health insurance means you get a new replacement leg the same length as the old one, shouldn’t employment insurance mean you get a replacement job- just like the one you so recently enjoyed ?
Better yet- EI- is not voluntary. If you are currently employed, you are compelled to pay. If you are an employer, you are compelled to pay. If you don’t pay you are fined, pay an interest penalty and you must pay the premium owed. This is serious stuff. But wait- it gets better- since 1990 there has been no contribution from Government of Canada general revenues into the “employment” fund. The workers/employers pay it all! By 2008, the EI program had accumulated a surplus of 57 Billion ( yes boys and girls that’s billion with a big B ), and then in 2009 our blue friends ( that’s a small b, blue- not to be confused with the now deceased big B, Blue) conveniently changed the rules to disappear 57B ! The new rules created a “ Employment Insurance Operating Account”, which to the surprise of almost no one- you guessed it- is currently running a deficit. So there you have it. Classic neo-conservative Bush-era Harper policy- strangle the beast ( your insurance plan ) by screwing up the money!
(Hey- I don’t watch Oliver Stone movies for nothing!) Now you know. It’s not your imagination. If you need EI- you got screwed. Wait until you see the new unimproved version. The new EI changes started Sunday, January 6, 2013.
The day of rest- but not for the wicked. Happy New Year. Not.
