Editorial, The Record:
Re: Some things don't need to run like a business, Nov. 22 edition.
I absolutely support what letter writer Kevin Francis had to say about how the government must not be so rigid in looking at the bottom line as it is the duty of all governments to consider the welfare of the citizens. The mania of austerity coming out of the U.S., infecting governments around the world including the Reform/Alliance government of Stephen Harper, is not the way to prosperity as its believers claim.
When I was at university I was taught a better system of economics, the Keynesian. In its simplest form it calls for the government to spend money, and run a deficit if need be, to keep the economy and employment levels healthy — and it worked for generations until the trickle down economy of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan showed up.
Great Britain has followed the same insane, self-defeating austerity policies of the Republicans and has achieved a second recession and growing unemployment for its efforts. Social unrest is spreading across Europe because of the austerity mantra.
Yet people here can still be counted on to vote against their own interests and support the proven folly of austerity and buckling to the demands of the richest CEOs. They buy into the idea that any support from government is somehow misguided entitlement, and that couldn’t be further from the truth.
You want true greed, look at the companies actively working to beggar the middle class on both sides of the border. Those same companies that demand that working people and the poorest among us take cuts while they get billions in government handouts to improve their bottom line at the cost of our impoverishment as a society.
You cannot bring about prosperity for the majority if you impoverish working people. You cannot maintain a fair and equitable society on McJobs, poverty wages, and part-time employment with no benefits. When upward social mobility ends, so does our hope in the future. People used to say they wanted a better future for their children. Who says that anymore? No one I know.
You don't have to be a socialist, just someone like myself with a social conscience and a sense of economic reality who doesn't deal in the falsehoods of austerity and tax-cuts for the wealthiest corporations. But you do have to be aware that Harper is fighting the next campaign now, so don't wait until the next election writ is dropped to get informed and involved. Or only have yourself to blame if you wait.
Robert T. Rock
Mission