I think that everyone in the world is aware that something is drastically wrong with our worldly western democratic system.
Corporations, governments, firms and individuals business are cutting staff and wages wherever they can in order to increase their bottom line on their balance sheet. To them it seems only logical; to generate the greatest amount of profit and actually no one can blame them for doing so. To accomplish this, they cut on their expenses. As the employers cut salaries and cut on staff, the purchasing power diminishes and the former staff will not be able to purchase the goods that their previous employer produces.
Those in charge seem to be deluded in creating a world in which no one works but everyone only consumes, without having any money to do so. If workers are replaced by machines and no one works, who is paying the taxes, who consumes and who feeds all those people that have no income, if the general public has no money.
The focus for this dilemma, are the multinational corporations, gigantic department stores and consolidating government departments. It seems it is not the 99 per cent of the people having a problem, but the one per cent at the top of the food chain has a major problem. I have my suspicions; the top brass is at a loss what to do about this dilemma and they are scared that the public will rise against them.
On top of their problem comes the financial mess. The financial gurus act like chickens with their head cut off, looking for solutions. They fix one problem by creating a larger problem. How can you borrow your way out of mortgages that stick out of the chimney?
For things to change for the better there must be a complete reversal of what got the world into this mess. We have to buy, produce and work locally in many small individual shops. Shipping products from one place on the globe to the other side of the world is just sheer madness. This is a waste of energy and resources. Having unemployed people is also a waste of productive resources. Using all those unemployed as cannon fodder, as they did in the Second World War to get rid of them, is no longer an option.
Otto Sturhahn
Penticton
