A New Path

Government and Business; Why are they different?

For the last twenty five years, give or take a few, the mantra of Capitalist Democratic Governments, around the world, has been the de-regulation of the laws and policies which have attempted to protect citizens. Using the catch phrases off ‘Free markets’ and the implementation of running Governments more like ‘businesses’, we have been led to believe that the collective interests of all are better served by a hands off approach. This model has been sold to us a the best way to encourage the growth of the economy and in turn, the growth of the ability of consumers to attain higher levels of comfort, vis a vis the acquisition of consumer goods. We have been told that the business model would allow Governments to function more efficiently and to ‘spread the wealth’ amongst the general public. Groups such as, the Chicago School of Economics, as well as organizations like the Canadian Fraser Institute put this model forward. Through their direct connections to Western Democratic Governments, we were led to believe that the real constraints put on business by Governments, acted against the collective’s best interests. In reality, this was not the case as evidenced by the most recent Global economic crisis sweeping the world.

Governments lapped up this ‘Free Market’ mantra and used it as a shield to deflect any critique of their de- regulation antics. The results were insidious and have caused negative effects far beyond the restriction of Governments to serve the people they were intended to protect. A good example has been the reduction by many western governments, of the very programmes which allowed the lower and developing sectors of the economy, to raise their standards of living and increase their upward mobility. Instead of bringing up the bottom of the economically challenged lower classes, we have seen the emergence of a uber wealthy ‘super class’ whose membership is limited to those in positions of privilege and their rapid ascension to levels beyond anything that is sustainable. All this extra wealth, created by the reduction or removal of Laws and regulations, which were put in place to maintain a balance of fairness in the economy, has not had the desired ‘trickle down effect’. In fact the capital freed up by de-regulation has been used as a weapon against the very people it had sought to protect.

In Canada, the Governments, both Federal and Provincial, have loosened the market controls for the banking and investment sectors , at the same time as the social safety net has been dismantled. The result has been that huge Government surplus which are proudly displayed as a sign of the success of such policies. However, upon closer observation, we see the real costs of such lugubrious planning have eliminated the availability of social programmes for the majority and the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. Moreover these wealthy hands have worked tirelessly to demonize any kind of Government interference in the ‘market’ and to label such interventions as wasteful and counter productive. The result has been that the quality of life for the majority has decreased at the same time the hording of wealth by the minority has increased to the point of obscenity. This new found ‘super rich class’ has been able to acquire wealth at the most amazing rate with out having to actually work for it.

By using the example of a few fortunate individuals, the general public has been sold a line of disingenuous nonsense. With annual executive pay, reaching in some cases, the level of an average workers lifetime earnings, the system is far from free or balanced. We cannot all live the rag to riches story if all that is available is rags.

To add insult to injury, the poor have shouldered the worst effects of cutbacks to Government programmes. The savings realized by the new ‘business modeled’ Governments, have not been returned to the very people whom created them, but rather the have been used to entertain the rich with ridiculous circuses like the Olympic Games, and other mega projects which further enrich the few at the expense of the many.

The peace dividend and the collapse of the free market are two examples of the hypocrisy of the model put forward. With the collapse of the ever present threat of Communist State Growth, a new bogey man had to be found. 9/11 was a perfect match. It allowed the military industrial complex (MIC) to flourish in a new era of pre-emptive warfare. Having learned the follies of adversarial collapse, a new enemy was identified. Terrorism fit the bill perfectly. It was unseen, its threat was mobile and it motives were again, global domination. Conveniently, it had the added bonus of operating everywhere, anytime and without a method of actualization. We cannot defeat an enemy that we are unable to identify or even qualify. Free markets blossomed with their new found access to unlimited Government finance. This unlimited finance has also recently been accessed by the very ‘free marketers’ whom so vehemently denied the funding of global social programmes . Programmes which would have helped to reduce the monumental gap between the haves and the have nots. A gap that has continued to accelerate despite the window dressings offered up by a bullish global stock market and token dispersments of monies to the developing world. A world where the majority finds itself today.

Having driven the economic engine of the world at full tilt, with little or no maintenance, has brought us to our present day situation. The very same groups whom fought every attempt to have a more equitable distribution of wealth now find themselves the recipients of thousands of billions of tax dollars. Having destroyed the very markets they were supposedly freeing from unnecessary regulation, these market mavens see nothing wrong accepting Government or public money to repair the damage they themselves created.
The privatization of profit now has a new paradigm: the socialization of loss.

We are expected to capitulate billions to cover their reckless, and at times criminal behavior. We are told that the markets will collapse without unconditional cash infusions. We are told the Wall Street bailouts will keep us all safe, just as the war on terror has. I say lets try something different. Do not give any more money to these habitual bastards. Invest the money in small scale local initiatives directed by the people who know best how to live with less, the poor, the majority. Let the risk takers fall and bring some civility to the economy and I promise, after the poor are clothed , fed and have access to healthcare and education, we can see what is left to trickle up.
Namaste