Occupy Wall Street issue applies to Cdns too: economist

VANCOUVER NEWS1130) – The Occupy Wall Street movement is spreading across the continent and it’s showing no signs of stopping, ahead of Saturday’s protest in Vancouver.

A senior economist with a left-wing think tank believes the financial concerns of Canadians are just as vaild as those of Americans. Armine Yalnizyan with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives also says we have no reason to be smug when it comes to our economic situation:

“With respect to how much the rich take compared to everybody else … In Canada, from 1997 to 2007 – just before the recession hit – the richest one per cent took one-third of all the income growth in the country.”

Yalnizyan also says while everyone needs to be risky to some degree, the Wall Street crowd is generally exempt from any consequences. “For the financial heavyweights, there’s no downside to that risk; heads they win, tales they win.”

“So, even if the market goes south, they get bailed out,” she adds. “If the market does great, they take the money. They never see the downside of the risky choices they make that drag everybody else down.”

Tomorrow’s downtown rally outside the Vancouver Art Gallery is expected to draw thousands of demonstrators.

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