The Times They are a-Changin’
There’s a sense of disgust and anger over the way the economic crisis is unfolding. Those who mismanaged the economy but milked it for all they could are being bailed out and those who trusted them to get it right are paying the bill. The question is just how ugly might things get as this anger grows?
The arrest of Bernard Madoff exposed the corruption and greed in the investment industry. Corporations receiving government bailouts still consider it O.K. to pay their executives obscene salaries, bonuses and severance deals. Stephen Harper is bragging that Canada will have the lowest corporate tax rate in the G7 by 2012.
In the meantime, workers are losing their jobs; factories are closing up and moving back to the U.S. The provincial government is reneging on its promise to raise the minimum wage and increasing the tax burden on ordinary citizens by harmonizing the PST with the GST. It’s hard to qualify for EI, and when that runs out, many may lose their homes. The federal government has cut off support for child care spaces, putting more workers out of jobs and making it hard for others to keep theirs.
We watched for years as the rich got rich and the poor got poorer and trusted that the economic experts and the government knew what they were doing. Now that trust is rapidly disappearing and the anger is just beginning. In Europe, people are taking to the streets in protests over government inaction. Here in Ontario, a company rep was barricaded in his office when laid-off workers felt the company’s severance package offer was not satisfactory.
What we need is new type of economy, one that is “motivated directly by our desire to improve the human condition rather than by a hunger for private profit” (Jim Stanford, Economics for Everyone). The questions are where will the leadership come from and will it come in time before things get really ugly?
Katy Austin ,
Simcoe Grey NDP
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