Once we
acknowledge that the country is in a mess, the next question is... how did
we get there? We are an advanced country with enormous resources, a
skilled, well educated labour force, and an administration reasonably free
of conventional corruption at both bureaucratic and political levels.
With all that we had going for us as a country, how did
we wind up selling our industries and resources to outsiders? And,
as a people, how did we come to make borrowing money our fondest pursuit
and the lending of money our chief industry? I guess the short
answer is we never listened to good advice.
Which brings me to the bitter tale of Cassandra.
Cassandra was the daughter of Priam, the King of
Troy. She was a comely lass, who caught the roving eye of a
wandering God. Armed with more than the usual bag of tricks in the
seduction game, the Olympian cad lured the modest maiden with the promise
of the gift of prophecy. Ahhh, to see the future. Everyone
dreams of that power. And so did Cassandra.
But the celestial philanderer overplayed his hand.
Now that she could see the future, Cassandra realized the gift was not
entirely altruistic, and so politely declined to join in any further
adventures. The god, a sore loser, made the poor girl miserable for
the rest of her life. He left her the priceless gift of
prophecy. But the mean spirited so and so ruined his gift, not by
recalling it, or making it defective, but by imposing a curse that ensured
she would never be believed. To always be right, but never believed.
What, you may well ask, has this to do with the loss of
the Crow rate, and the sale of the Montreal Canadiens? It seems
Cassandra's curse is alive and well in Canada. From David Lewis to
David Orchard, good advice has been ignored. It almost appears that
what my daddy called "the first law of perversity" reigns
supreme.
Let's look at what has happened in the last thirty
years.
In the 1970's we cut taxes, both corporate and personal.
That became a problem because it ended a stream of surpluses. Those surpluses
had reduced our national debt and were paying for advanced social
programs. David Lewis and James Laxer, a pair of pinko prophets of
the left, rightly protested, and went unheard.
The tax cuts hurt far more than they should. That
is because, in step with the tax cuts, we changed the direction of the
Central Bank. We replaced Rasminsky, a progressive banker, with
Bouey, a bankers banker. Now, when the country borrowed, it borrowed
not from its own bank, but from the money lenders. That meant paying interest on
an increasing amount of debt. It actually meant the start of the
long retreat. Harry Pope, among other economists, protested, was
right, and went unheard.
By the 1980's we had more debt. Thinking quickly,
we jacked up the interest rate, and borrowed a lot more to pay the higher
rates. All this caused a first class depression, and more
debt. We said the devil made us do it. Linda McQuaig, a really
good Cassandra, pointed out that was not true, and as is traditional, was
not believed. (She was right, too.) Just to show how little
attention is paid to good advice we switched Bouey, the bankers banker,
for Crow, a BANKER'S BANKER.
In the 1980's we got "Free Trade." In
the 90's we almost got the MAI and did get the NAFTA. David Orchard
and Maude Barlow warned us. Two more Cassandras. To be correct
and not be heard. That is truly an Olympian tragedy.
Can you stand a little more bad news? During the
90's tax cuts were back, bigger and better than even. Medicare was
going sideways and Shirley Douglas was playing the part of (who else?)
Cassandra. Must nearly drive her nuts when no one listens.
That is about enough of that. Any reasonable
person would have quit reading already. Who wants bad news?
Cassandra found that out long ago.
But there is still a point to be made. The people
who really run the country -- the BCNI and their apologists at the Howe
and Fraser Institutes, are not stupid. Refusal to accept well meant,
logical advice over a long period of time means those who refuse it have a
different agenda. Since the persons offering the ignored advice are
mostly decent, socially aware individuals who want a better world, it
follows that those who ignore them have different objectives.
I don't mean that in 1970 some group said "we
want a huge debt that will scare people into cutting social
spending," or "we want large numbers of unemployed so we
can hold down wages," or "we want to force tax cuts that
will enrich a few and leave many poor," or "we will bleed
the treasury to the point where Agriculture, and Health, and Housing, and
Education will be left with empty hands." Maybe it wasn't quite
that cold blooded and greedy, but that is what happened. There was
money for tax cuts and benefits for the super rich, but none for building
a better country.
Decision after decision, from Trudeau through Mulroney,
up to Chretien, during the rule of six PM's and two parties, Government
has abdicated is responsibility to citizens and catered to cloud
dwellers. We have seen business change from a symbiote that benefited
the society from which it drew life, into a parasite whose greed will
destroy its host.
So there is still a curse operating. But it
is not the curse of Greek mythology. Cassandra's curse was to not be
believed. Today, the curse is that those in power do not
want to believe. Taking good advice might slow the acquisition
of wealth. The curse that is ruining lives is nothing more than good
old plain greed. Are we really going to let a few avaricious
individuals ruin our country?
Listening to our prophets might be prophetable.
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