12/5/09 Opinion
It will take far more money than Stephen Harper is providing to get the hundreds of thousands who have lost their jobs back to work. Money is needed for more nurses, teachers, doctors, engineers, construction workers, business managers, researchers, office personnel, factory workers and others. Hiring these people, or providing a stipend so that they can take the training they need, immediately puts the money they receive in circulation in the community. Businesses will sell their services or products and hire others.
In addition to hiring personnel, money is needed for affordable housing, schools, colleges, infrastructure, roads, bridges, equipment and support to help new businesses get started to replace those which have closed down.
Where is all this money to come from? The government is already forecasting a deficit of $63-B to be added to the existing debt of about $500-B. Many are concerned about the huge debt being passed on to future generations, and the government has used the debt and interest as an excuse for not doing more. Interest on public debt in Canada already amounts to $2000 for every man, woman and child, or $10,000 a year for a family of five.
As things stand, the money will be borrowed from the private sector. If that is not changed we won’t have enough money to do what needs to be done and we will spend more of our income on public debt interest. More importantly, it adds to the control that lenders have over government decisions. As we all know, he who pays the piper calls the tune.
The government has its own bank, the Bank of Canada where it can borrow effectively interest free. Not only would this lower taxes for Canadians and Canadian business, it would also reduce the control of lenders and make it possible to do what needs to be done to get people back to work.
Only with massive investment will the goals outlined by Ken Georgetti and the CLC be achieved, but this won't happen if the government does not borrow from its own Bank to finance this investment. This means significantly increasing the share of government debt held by the Bank of Canada and reducing the share held by the private sector. No government is going to go down this road without a very angry and well informed electorate pushing them to do it – whether it be Conservative, Liberal or NDP. That is why the CLC initiative to hold meetings all across the country is so important.
The message is very simple. Borrow from our own bank, not the commercial banks.
See the video on "How to fix the economy" by Michael Hudson - renegade economist! Some of you may have seen it already. If not, it is a must see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pwAFohWBL4
Richard Priestman
Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform, Kingston Chapter
It will take far more money than Stephen Harper is providing to get the hundreds of thousands who have lost their jobs back to work. Money is needed for more nurses, teachers, doctors, engineers, construction workers, business managers, researchers, office personnel, factory workers and others. Hiring these people, or providing a stipend so that they can take the training they need, immediately puts the money they receive in circulation in the community. Businesses will sell their services or products and hire others.
In addition to hiring personnel, money is needed for affordable housing, schools, colleges, infrastructure, roads, bridges, equipment and support to help new businesses get started to replace those which have closed down.
Where is all this money to come from? The government is already forecasting a deficit of $63-B to be added to the existing debt of about $500-B. Many are concerned about the huge debt being passed on to future generations, and the government has used the debt and interest as an excuse for not doing more. Interest on public debt in Canada already amounts to $2000 for every man, woman and child, or $10,000 a year for a family of five.
As things stand, the money will be borrowed from the private sector. If that is not changed we won’t have enough money to do what needs to be done and we will spend more of our income on public debt interest. More importantly, it adds to the control that lenders have over government decisions. As we all know, he who pays the piper calls the tune.
The government has its own bank, the Bank of Canada where it can borrow effectively interest free. Not only would this lower taxes for Canadians and Canadian business, it would also reduce the control of lenders and make it possible to do what needs to be done to get people back to work.
Only with massive investment will the goals outlined by Ken Georgetti and the CLC be achieved, but this won't happen if the government does not borrow from its own Bank to finance this investment. This means significantly increasing the share of government debt held by the Bank of Canada and reducing the share held by the private sector. No government is going to go down this road without a very angry and well informed electorate pushing them to do it – whether it be Conservative, Liberal or NDP. That is why the CLC initiative to hold meetings all across the country is so important.
The message is very simple. Borrow from our own bank, not the commercial banks.
See the video on "How to fix the economy" by Michael Hudson - renegade economist! Some of you may have seen it already. If not, it is a must see.
http://www.youtube.com/wat
Richard Priestman
Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform, Kingston Chapter
No comments:
Post a Comment