The Liberal Family Care Plan - Another Misguided Socialist Scheme

Harper is a douche, Layton is a moron and I won't even comment on Duceppe. But what about Iggy? This is the rhetoric we're hearing from the Liberal Party:

These are difficult economic times, so that means governments - and Canadians - must choose. Stephen Harper and the Conservatives choose tax breaks for corporations. We choose to help Canadian families

I really don't like this Michael Ignatieff guy.

Before we go on, remember that these aren't tax cuts for the corporations themselves. The tax cuts are for the people who either own shares or work for the corporations. Tax cuts are a good thing. It helps create jobs and keeps private wealth out of the hands of the State, whom just squander it on a mammoth scale.

So like him or not (and I certainly don't) Harper is right. Corporate tax cuts are good. But the Grits oppose it, and since they have a chance at gaining state power, we should cautiously consider what they propose instead.



1. A new six-month Family Care Employment Insurance Benefit, similar to the EI parental leave benefit, to allow more Canadians to care for gravely ill family members at home without having to quit their jobs.

The EI scam works by having deductions taken off our paycheck. Are we to assume this Family Care EI Scam will work the same way? Most of us have parents after all, would that be used as justification for this theft? Or would EI payments just increase to accommodate this new six-month "give me free money" hand-out? What about those who don't have parents or prefer to raise funds privately, are they still obligated to fund this system?

And how would this be different from saving a portion of your paycheck for a rainy day? In this case, the rainy day being taking care of a sick loved one. In serious cases most employers would probably consider allowing their employee take a leave. Especially if there was minimal to no costs to the employer. Instead, EI works by putting everyone's money into a pool where the money is shared according to those who need it. But isn't that what insurance companies are for? If the coercive health-care system was repelled (even just a little bit) this would give insurance companies more leeway to offer programs like this.

Finally, there are the unintended consequences of this policy. My dad, whom may live with me, has the common cold. How easy will it be for me to abuse this system by taking a month off of paid-leave, just so I can go out to the grocery store and buy him chicken noodle soup? Currently one needs a doctor's note, but the Liberals want to change that. How much more money will have to be spent to prevent people from abusing the system? A company based on profit and loss has more of an incentive to deal with these problems than bureaucratic management.

2. A new Family Care Tax Benefit, modeled on the Child Tax Benefit, to help low- and middle-income family caregivers who provide essential care to a family member at home.

Again, the ability to abuse this system – especially when it's new and vulnerable – should be relatively easy to pull off. Hell, even old tax benefits and the current EI are still easy to rip off (not admitting to anything, just saying). Plus, tax benefits ignore the basic problem of taxation itself. Any institution that requires payment by force is criminal and should be treated as such.


And that's it. That's all there is to the Liberal Family Care Plan. A tax benefit and an expansion of EI. Liberals expect this to cost $1 billion a year, or about thirty bucks from every Canadian. Does anyone believe this won't go over-budget? Plus, those thirty bucks add up when you consider some of the other social programs being cooked up by Grit socialists. Needless to say, the Liberal Family Care Plan is gigantic waste of time, money and resources.

What the Liberals want to "help out" with can easily be provided by the market of voluntary exchange.