A U.N. Rapporteur, eh? A U.N. Rapporteur describing hunger AND poverty to whichever delegates happened to be gathered in the sit-down chamber on the day said Rapporteur was scheduled to deliver his or her rapport? I can admit that I know scant little about the structure or machinations of the U.N. All I do know, is that they seem to exist for no other reason than to advance a cryptic agenda by interfering in international politics.
When I hear Libby Davies of the cart-before-the-horse New Democratic Party start to publicly talk about a "food strategy" in conjunction with a "crisis", my inner "Bloggeur" cannot help but think that someone's gotta be pushing to create a crisis where none existed in the first place. Artificial scarcity, redefining poverty... whatever it takes.
It didn't take long for some poverty advocate to worm their way into the exchange after typing in that response to Libby's #Right2FoodCan tagged tweet.
While the 50/50 estimate I responded with was quickly pulled out of thin air, it's probably not too far from the truth in some instances at least. When you see someone emerge from a food bank only to get into the driver's seat of a Lexus, you know something just ain't right. If indeed there is a real hunger crisis in this nation, there's no good excuse for it. I realize food prices are climbing at an alarming rate, and I know rent is astronomical, but is there really a hunger crisis at foot?
What, exactly, is considered to be a state of poverty these days anyway, and is a national strategy really necessary? Whenever an NDP leader says strategy, you can bet your last petrobuck that what they really mean is that they'd like to impose some kind of newfangled wealth redistribution policies: taxes; penalties; beleaguering businesses with duplicitous redundancies and enshrining ridiculous money wasting requisites. Whatever it takes.
You can go to my Twitter channel @moremoreenough and see the exchange in its entirety if you like. Keith Lanthier basically goes on to call me an insensitive ignoramus in so many words. While that may not be untrue in certain instances, I'm not beyond reproach and I'm a staunch believer in self-improvement. I like thinking for myself and working out solutions of my own design.
Here you have a succinctly outlined budget complete with a grocery detail... I cooked it up with a single person earning close to the minimum wage in mind. The numbers seem realistic enough to me. This is essentially how I used to shop when I worked as a service station clerk. Somehow I get the impression that Libby Davies is the sort of shopper you might expect to see dipping into the inside aisles for the rich stuff, and allowing impulse to determine her grocery bill before worrying about the staples! Like I said, she hails from Canada's cart-before-the-horse party politic.
You might have noticed how I cheekily included a $60 bag of weed in with the groceries. Like a kid trying to sneak some flashy high-octane sugar-based cereal into Mom's cart. Obviously it was intended to amuse, but it also effectively illustrates how one little sandwich baggie worth of stuff can account for more than a quarter of an entire monthly personal food budget. It's a discretionary item. You wanna get high this month Mr. Record Store Clerk? Better put that take-out pizza order on hold!
Sure it's a bit of a bleak existence when you're earning such a dismal pittance. You'll likely spend much of your non-working time cooking and cleaning-up. If you're inexperienced when it comes to cooking on a budget, you can turn your new found poverty into a learning opportunity out of necessity. Imagine that!
Unfortunately, with only $51 left over in the kitty, there's not much wiggle room if some unanticipated expense materializes. Still, for $950 / month, you should expect a reasonably decent accommodation in any of Canada's major cities, and you've got a land line telephone to keep your impoverished self amused with on all the long, lonesome nights ahead of you. Have you considered living with a roommate?
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