Because we have to start somewhere…
For decades, financial leaders have repeatedly told us that the secret to good economic health lies in this simple and uniform recipe, applicable anywhere and at all times:
- privatize
- reduce income tax
- limit the State’s interventions
- leave it to the market and the wealthy to always create more wealth. The wealthy who thus become more wealthy will then be in charge of redistributing the fruits of their hard labour by always creating more jobs and by increasing salaries…
Yes, we know the song. And we know that, in reality, it is in the form of dividends paid to their shareholders that the majority of societies redistribute the wealth; that they don’t hesitate to slash working conditions, even abolishing jobs, when the growth of their profit margin is threatened. In the business plan of these societies, average citizens are only tools among other tools to attain their objective, maximizing profit. The wealthy get wealthier, while the poor get poorer.
However, last December, big news appeared which made little noise, not enough noise to my taste. While food baskets and the woes of our wonderful leaders took up much of the media’s attention, one of the defenders of this all manner of capitalism, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), published a report with surprising conclusions. In this report, the OECD is concerned with the fact that the growth of inequalities threatens economic growth and social cohesion. Essentially, the OECD said we have gone too far.
Consequently, the organization summoned its member countries (the wealthy countries) to urgently adopt measures to address the inequalities, in particular:
- by adopting a progressive tax system (tax the wealthy more);
- by improving direct benefits (unemployment benefits, social welfare, etc);
- by promoting access to education (increasing tuition fees is not conducive to this…)
- by raising the minimum wage and by promoting A GREATER UNION PRESENCE.
These conclusions, largely reaffirmed at the grand event of the financial elite in Davos in January, are more significant in the sense that a consensus among the more leading specialists and experts on the planet is starting to emerge to the effect that austerity is not a good idea and that only a minority profit from it.
Although such unlikely players as the OECD, the IMF and, more recently, Fitch and Moody’s are starting to give us the benefit of the doubt intellectually, the battle is being carried out on a completely different field: the political arena, where the players act more according to their interests than according to reason… talk to the Greeks! So, where do we start? How can our leaders be forced to listen to reason and that there be more sharing of the wealth?
There is a great opportunity this Thursday, during the demonstration by the Coalition opposée à la tarification et la privatisation des services publics.
Therefore, come make sure your voice, along with those of the OECD and the IMF, is heard by those from the trade centre who continue to siphon our collective treasury for their greater profit.
Therefore, come make sure your voice is heard on the fact that the increase in tuition fees, the Hydro-Québec rates and the $200 health tax are all measures now prohibited by the OECD and the IMF.
Because we have to start somewhere…
Come demonstrate on February 16, 2012 at 08:00
Victoria Square, in front of 747 Place du Square-Victoria
Métro Square-Victoria