Dear Editor
I was pleased to see that my opinion piece in this newspaper a couple of weeks ago generated some interest, with a couple of letters to this newspaper concerning it. I take the time to do the research on things both social and environmental, because, when you live in what is a right wing community that tends to think and vote along ideological lines, I simply feel the need to remind people that the world has changed, as has the climate around us, and that there is a need to consider other points of view, and to maybe adjust thought processes to reflect new realities.
The letter from Vito Carini, identifying what he considers the source of many of our problems, I agree with wholeheartedly. His quotes from historical figures was fascinating, and proof that those that we elect understand only too well where many of our problems lie, but are unwilling to do anything about it, because their corporate masters won’t let them.
We have allowed bankers and the corporate elite to control our lives. We elect leaders that gut social and environmental programs, and lie to us through their teeth, making pre-election promises that they never keep. I have a long list of broken promises from the current government, and I still see lawn signs for their candidates everywhere. It would seem that we have become immune to their lies and broken promises, or is it simply that many of us just aren’t paying attention? Or maybe don’t take the time to become informed?
I would like to re-quote the piece from Mackenzie King that was in Mr. Carini’s letter. “Until the control of the issue of currency and credit is restored to the government and recognized as its most conspicuous and sacred responsibility, all talk of the sovereignty of Parliament and of democracy is idle and futile”. Well said, indeed, and this observation was made over 80 years ago. Not much seems to have changed.
So what can we do, you might ask? Canada already has its own bank, so instead of paying the interest rates charged by commercial banks, why don’t we simply borrow from ourselves? I’m sure that the Bank of Canada, which we own, would charge us a far lower interest rate than the commercial banks currently do. Here in Kemptville, I’ll wager that we wouldn’t be paying $36 million for a $12 million Municipal building had we been able to borrow our own money.
Then there is our Postal Service, (maybe not the best time to bring this up), which has all the necessary infrastructure to do a lot of the day-to-day needs provided currently by commercial banks. That belongs to us as well. Combining the two systems could be a viable alternative. Certainly food for thought.
So, why do we trust the current banking system? In the 2008/2009 banking crisis, it was us, the public, who bailed these crooks out. Austerity was imposed upon us to help pay the cost of keeping the banks afloat, because they were “too big to fail”. Really? And just who was responsible for this? (As if we didn’t know).
We, the public, had to bear the brunt of their chicanery. They should all have been thrown in jail, just like they did in Iceland. Then we are told that they couldn’t do that, though, because they were needed to get us out of the mess that they got us into. So they keep on going, scarcely missing a beat. If that wasn’t a wake-up call to start doing things differently, I don’t know what was.
While on the subject of money, the other elephant in the room is tax fairness, another Liberal broken promise. Trump has reduced corporate taxes to the same level as Canada, costing his country $1.87 billion over the next 10 years in lost tax revenue. Canada is going to cut corporate taxes again to retain competitive advantage, so they say. Cuts to corporate taxes have helped Canadian corporations amass a hoard of over $700 billion in cash that they are not reinvesting in the economy. We keep handing out money to the rich through tax loopholes and providing opportunities for tax evasion. While we keep buying into the neo-liberal fiscal nonsense practised by the two main parties in this country, we will forever be under the thumb of the rich and privileged.
If we want the society that we deserve, then we have to stop electing those with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo.
Colin Creasey
Kemptville,
