THE RECORD
March 28, 2001

Fiat Lux

by Ed Deak

With material pouring into my computer every day from all over the world, it is a very difficult choice to decide what subject is the most important to write about. Yet, nothing of this growing wave of dissent and open revolution appears in our media. This wall of silence, ordered by the corporate media moguls to keep the North American public in dark, reminds me of my youth, when we had to submit our Grade 11 class hand lithographed newsheet to government censors who cut out sentences and paragraphs on the grounds of national security.

The secret to be kept was that we were losing the war and the Russians were coming. Now it is the gradual and accelerating collapse of the capitalist bubble economy, lest some poor suckers may take their life savings out of worthless stocks and spend them.

So, how bad is the situation? Everybody knows that the stock markets have been taking a beating, but most dealers and experts have a thousand excuses that the drop is temporary and the markets will bounce back again, higher than ever. Well, I have seen people shot in the head jumping quite high, but not for very long and I wouldn't bet two bits on the markets.

The figures are very grim and the silly promises of Gordon Campbell won't change the sordid facts over the long run. They may give him an excuse to sell off BC to cut taxes.

We were hit badly when the Asian economies collapsed and with them much of our lumber markets. Blamed, of course, on the BC Government. Lately these markets have started recovering, but with the collapse of the hi-tech NASDAQ stocks the crisis is back again and millions are being fired.
Any politician who promises great profits pouring into BC from hi-tech jobs is either an idiot or a liar, regardless of Party affiliation, because every country on Earth is building on this irresponsible promise. Who is going to buy all that hi-tech junk when the majority of the world is starving?

During the week of March 12-16, the hi-tech NASDAQ stocks fell below 2000 for the first time in three years, losing 63 percent of their value in one year. It was the biggest percentage drop of a major stock since the crash of '29. During the same week the NASDAQ and the New York Exchange losses amounted to $4.6 trillion, or $4.600,000,000,000. That money would have fed the whole world for a long time, but it went up in smoke to the speculators and we all paid for it. In March 2000 the NASDAQ was worth $6.7 trillion, a year later $2.7 trillion, causing major crisis in all the hi-tech industries.

That $4.6 trillion loss that is worth more than all the houses in the USA and ruined the retirement hopes of millions of people. Yet, some of our politicians and economic think tanks demand the tying of pensions to these stock markets. The Reform Party used to have a resolution to this effect, that may now be on the books of the Alliance and it's BC Liberal wing.

Some people may object to my claim that the USA is bankrupt, as they are hoping that we'll be getting rich on our exports to them, or even join up with them. Now I would like to ask people with business experience to please look at following figures with objective eyes: During the last decade US consumer debt doubled to $7.6 trillion, which means $50,000 per household and $25,000 for every person. In 1982 the loans on homes amounted to 30 percent of the overall values. By '99 this rose to 46 percent.

As far as wealth distribution is concerned, the top 10 percent of the population own 70 percent, while the bottom 90 percent who own the remaining 30 percent of wealth also owe 70 percent of the consumer debt and are now beginning to lose their two bit, miserable jobs on account of major layoffs already in progress. Look up the movie Roger and Me for a good example of what has been and will be going on.

So, where are we here in Canada and BC in comparison? Our Alliance MP recently sent out a questionnaire, asking, whether we're worried about the steadily growing prosperity gap between Canada and the USA? Frankly, I would be very worried if we would catch up to them, following the privatization recipes of Stockwell Day, Gordon Campbell and the Fraser Institute.

A study by three US economists, Timothy Smeeding, Lee Rainwater and Gary Burless in Businessweek magazine showed that by counting the values of the cash and similar welfare payments to the poorest, the USA ranked 7th, way below Canada, Sweden and Germany, but beating Britain and Australia. The median income in the USA and in Canada for that matter, hasn't risen for 30 years, while hundreds of billionaires were created by tax cuts and other measures. Meanwhile, the only country in the top ten where people had to live at 40 percent below the median wage level was the USA, with 10.7 percent, in 1997. By the way, the child poverty rate in Ontario rose by 93 percent in the nine years of Harris government, while in BC it is among the lowest, even better than Alberta's.

Meanwhile the US military budget is being raised by 4.6 percent to $324.8 billion, or about seven times that of China's. The seven, so called "rogue nations" so dreaded by the Americans, including China and Russia, are spending $116. billion, or less than half of the USA..

Interesting stuff, but not something likely to get a lot of coverage in the corporate owned media.

Copyright (c) 2001, West's International