Austerity appears to be the mantra of all those that worship the god of money and for those who control government finances.
But, austerity for whom? It is certainly not the narrow band of people who control most of the world’s fiscal wealth. Neither is it for the politicians of the governments whom these wealthy people control.
Austerity is for the middle classes and those lacking or without.
The parallels of what is happening in the advanced countries of the world are very visible, whether we look at Europe, Canada or the US. It is evident in individual states and provinces as well.
Austerity, we are told, is what will save us from ourselves; so say those who preach this gospel. Less is once again more.
Unfortunately, most of us didn’t realize that we needed to be saved until the fiscal collapse of 2008 caused by those promoting themselves as financial wizards.
Obviously, the wealthiest are not satisfied with the 90% they control; they want it all. Such is the disease of greed.
This is happening at a time when the wealthiest corporations are afloat with cash, financial institutions are still increasing the bonuses of their high flyers, adding to their already multi-million dollar salaries, and corporate welfare is at its peak in order to “secure jobs”.
Austerity is the cry.
It is the ultimate Ponzi scheme and it appears many political leaders have bought into it. These politicians adhere to this ideology, because they know that their re-election depends on the contributions of these corporate masters.
In Europe, the countries of Greece, Ireland, Spain and Italy are being economically gutted. Their sin apparently was to take advantage of what was on offer from the financial institutions mandated to provide fair and honest banking. Then, when they couldn’t meet their payments, they were bailed out with more loans to fulfill obligations already beyond their means. Default was imminent.
The United States is being held to ransom by an ideology that suggests the rich should have unfettered access to resources and services, avoid taxation and should be paid huge amounts of government subsidy to stay solvent in order to aid the economy.
In Canada the same ideology is at work at both the federal level and in many of the provinces including our own. Huge subsidies are provided for industry, tax concessions for corporations and the rich, but austerity is prescribed for the rest of us.
Austerity, as defined by these governments, means cut backs in social support, services, education and health care.
As a result people are being made redundant, after being encouraged for years to borrow beyond their means, incomes and homes are lost and everyone suffers; except those who control the levers of finance and government.
Economic collapse is imminent under such a misguided approach to the economy.
Thus austerity, as it is being defined, is not austerity at all. It is a tax on the middle class, the poor and the marginalized, in order to shift more of the economic wealth to those in control.
This myth proliferates because people have been convinced that the real crisis in the world is lack of money. The fact is that there is more money available in the world than ever before in the history of humankind. This appears lost on most, as the fear of impoverishment has grown.
The real crisis is one of democratic disorder, moral decline and the lack of any sense of human compassion by those who would control.
True austerity lies within the moral and social fabric that makes up the societies that we inhabit. It is an austerity of the heart, of human compassion and of economic fairness.
This austerity myth is being perpetrated by a small number of sociopathic corporate and political leaders who control the vast majority of economic wealth and subsequently political power.
Fortunately, there are still some countries, corporations and political leaders who do not share this philosophy, who maintain a basis of moral values base and who have compassion as part of their beliefs.
The challenge for all is to survive this hype of austerity that has been created and inflated beyond any sense of reality.
Written by Bill Pardy
March 17, 2013
