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  • From: Maroc <maroc AT islandnet.com>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] OT Thought Provoking and Has Fish
  • Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 20:18:24 -0800

Hello again Marc,

There's no doubt that we don't get the same news analysis as you do, so I
may be way off base about some things on your side of the border. For
myself I mainly listen to CBC radio (publicly funded, non-commercial radio)
and a bit of TV but we're passed the end of the cable so the TV is very
limited. But it appears that some of the legislation coming from your
national government (like the patriot act) are severely limiting your
freedoms, your options. Your madcap drug policies, especially relating to
pot, fill your jails with lopsided proportions of your population. We
Canadians suffer slightly from your ruthless drug war, we would very likely
have at least decriminalized marijuana long ago if our politicians weren't
so fearful of the US reaction. Instead our police continue to haul people
into the lockup and the courts slap them on the wrist and let them out the
side door.
> Being a control freak has nothing to do with political affilitation Both
> lefties and righties ave their share - unfortunately. So what is the
> behavior you have based your judgement of "control freaks" on?
>
>> These governments were not very socialist but they all consistently
>> increased the freedoms of choice for the lower economic groups.
>
> How did they increase those "choices"?? What was the technique?? What are
> those "choices" you refer to??

Our freedoms have been increased by creating a solid social safety net, one
that is being rapidly eroded by right-wing provincial governments in at
least three of our ten provinces. B.C. is the latest of these
"privatizers". They are the global corporatists. Nothing that has happened
in Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Africa, the Philippines, fazes them. They
know the World Bank, the IMF, the World Trade Organization, deregulation.
privatization. and monopoly corporate capitalism is the right way to go. We
on the left in Canada are generally capitalists also but not of the robber
baron type that we've seen in the last few years in North America. We
believe in BC Hydro, until very recently a completely public Crown
corporation the has provided the residents and industry of our province with
the least expensive electric power in North America. But not we are going
to break it up and sell the pieces to corporations like Calpine and
Accenture, both that gained fame in California. They, the right-wing
government, are in the process of privatizing chunks of our universal
publicly funded medical system (it may prove to be their downfall), just
today they privatized, and are looking for buyers, of our provincial park
system, they've severely cut welfare rates, particularly to single mothers,
while the government and private industry layoff thousands of workers and
cut off any new affordable public housing. The first thing this right-wing
government did on coming into office was decreed a 25 percent
across-the-board income tax decrease. Anyone who can do grade four
arithmatic knows how that works out. They also decreased corporate income
taxes. Then they hit the wall when they righteously legislated that the
budget will have to be balanced by 2004 - fat chance, they're running two to
three billion in the hole right now. They tore up the labour laws, taking
away such basic rights as successorship clauses and the unions are,
predictably, at on anothers' throats trying to sign up new bargaining units
where the government, for instance, laid off hundreds of maintenance and
housekeeping workers in the hospitals and other care facilities, contracted
with outfits like the Compass Group from Britain to privately do the job.
They found a union that would cut wages from $17 per hour to $9, and signed
a yellowdog contract with them. Minimum wage here is $8 per hour (put in
place by a left-leaning government) but the current crowd have cut that back
to $6.50 per hour for some workers. They are selling off a provincially
owned railway and profitable parts of the ferry fleet. They promised to
privatize our low cost government auto insurance plan. And, they tell us,
you ain't seen anything yet.

I hope that gives you an idea of what I'm talking about.
>
>
>> Of course I
>> realize that is not the goal of the global corporatists now in the US
>> driver's seat.
>
> Since you seem to have specific knowledge of sufficient weight to pass
> judgement please share what their goal is.
>
Marc if I have to explain that one there probably isn't much reason for us
to continue this conversation.

Don Maroc
Vancouver Island, Canada





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