2 Points; While driving

2 Points; While driving around yesterday I heard Michael Campbell blathering on and comparing the Vancouver Stanley Cup riots to what is happening now in GB. What a bunch of Cods Wallop. I have been reading for about the last 30 years how the young males in the UK are being disenfranchised because there are no traditional jobs that they can get into like their fathers did. Those "traditional" jobs have been exported. Every item that I read over the years on the subject had the same ending; look out the shit is going to hit the fan.

This is what happens when

This is what happens when faith based, artificial, imaginary values replace realities. As always have in history, destroying civilizations,

Happened in Rome. Not to the same extent with imports, as we have now, but with the importation of slaves, today's automation and "free trade", who have replaced the productive instincts and potentials of citizens, by "panem et circenses" "bread and circuses" we now have in the forms of fast foods and video games, etc. to take people's attention away from realities.

We're paying a heavy price already and the worst is still to come, unless humanity wakes up and start asking questions.

Any hope ? I don't know, but sure hope there's no such thing as reincarnation.

Ed Deak.

broken promises!

When automation began, we were assurred that this would free up mankind from tedious, repetitive jobs and allows us all more sparetime to enjoy life.

It would seem that promise has been conveniently forgotten, and instead the saved wages goes directly into the pockets of a few rich people.

Meanwhile the rest of us have to pay more taxes to help support all the people who now are without work as a result of this automation.

Yes, we have bread and circuses!

And we have voters who are so brainwashed they think the country is in a crisis, when all that is happening is that the rich are figthing over who shall be the richest!

The Meek Do Not Inherit The Earth...

One man's profit is another's looting. In class warfare the same principle applies: No respect for the working class and its poor begets no respect for the ruling class and those who serve and otherwise get a bigger share from its rule.

Some will rob you, out of rage and desperation, as on the streets of England and all Europe right now, while others in higher and wealthier places rob the lower orders with their pc's and ballpoint pens. Disrespect and treating with contempt begets the same... sooner or later, as is now occurring on these mean streets of England. No peace for the working class and its poor begets class warfare, and no peace for the ruling class and their friends.

You can put your money down on that sure bet.

We are in a new stage of capitalism everywhere globally, ushered in by the neo-liberal economics and political extremist conservatism of the ruling class and its minions since the late 1970's. Suck it up. As ye sow, now shall ye reap.

A new direction to society and the economy, and our notions of "democracy", what it really is and is not, is desperately needed. And rather than more political elites through new vanguard parties, what is needed is... the power of the people to be organized and set in motion, and self directed to rooting the ruling class out of their positions of privilege. And as part of that, the laying down as we go of a new, more co-operative, equal, and truly democratic order of things within the economy and across all the levels of human societies.

What is has returned to this same place one too many times across its history, since its 18th century founding. And it won't go easily, without a little heavy lifting, pushing and shoving by the masses. :-) The meek do not inherit the earth, they get used as doormats by the ruling class. :-)

This isn't a popular uprising.

It's just something to do between soccer matches.

Good One Crawford.

It was dead on and provocative.

Judging Character

I've always found that people's characters can be judged by their actions while unencumbered by any restrictions. Certainly not by the lame excuses for unacceptable behavior that is trundled out by do-gooders. Just how "mis-treated and mis-understood" can a rioter/looter/thief/violent assault perputrator be?

And the consequences are...

cb044 your comment is just lame and sounds character judging. You should really think before you speak.

Behind every action there is history.

People don't become looters, rioters and thieves by birth. Many of them are desperate and they expressing themselves the way they learned it from their drugged, alcoholic parents. Society gives little thoughts to those lesser fortunate. And is also quick to pass judgement.

Society will reap what they sow.

Baby bommers wanted freedom - now their kids have it - they are the ones rioting on the streets of Europe and North America. These kids learned a lot about self-esteem - they are full of it - and learned nothing about respect, moral and ethics. What society did is raised a bunch of narcissistic young adults - the worts kind really. Inequality has grown exponentially, hope for a better future, better lives for many is simply out of reach.

This is something that the older generation has created for the younger generation. Society is slowly dismantling itself unless people wake up and demand equal rights, clean up the criminals from parliament and brings back democracy. A society of very rich and very poor with no middle class will only create revolution. It is just a matter of time.

Deep inequality is brewing in England for years. Along with inefficient government policies and immigration that seems is without any plans whatsoever. But there is a Queen - living in luxury while the rest suffers.

The riot should be no surprise to anyone really.

a working class hero is something to be

i am ok with burning automobiles, i hate these things
class warfare has been save happenin for eons
advertisers create the need for all the loot
god save the Queen

Unacceptable Behavior Incorporated

Quote:

"Just how "mis-treated and mis-understood" can a rioter/looter/thief/violent assault perputrator be?" ~cboo44

Why, cboo44, surely you know, looting, thievery, violent assault has been made legal through corporate-biased legislation all over the world? The historical territory of kings, queens and the powerful elite has just been modernized and updated, that's all. When the elite riot now, they use public relations firms. It's all done on the grandest hush-hush scale, conducted as surreptitiously as possible, so that the thief and the assaulter are not easily identified.

Their riots are made of sneaky, deregulated stuff ...and "unencumbered by any restrictions" these elitist corporate cat burglars - quietly, quietly, nicely, nicely, screw us all. Sometimes not so nicely. In those cases not wanting to get their suits wrinkled, they contract out the dirty stuff, the really violent physical thuggery to police, military and mercenary forces alike.

We live in a a global corporate culture of legalized unacceptable/corrupt behavior - legalized theft, legalized thuggery, legalized murder.

The banality and invisibility of this kind of real evil leaves the disenfranchised nothing to openly fight against day after day.

It's deeply felt but it can't be clearly seen or identified.

Until one day something breaks the phantom fortress open.....

Darcus Howes take on the UK riots (and a disrespectful BBC newscaster is put in her place):

http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver/video/metrotube/939452--one-man-s-take-on-the-u-k-riots

Rioting for ‘justice’ in London

From Al Jazeera:
"Broken windows and looted stores across London after a police killing became a tipping point for disenfranchised youth.

On Saturday, hundreds of people gathered outside the Tottenham police station, peacefully calling for “justice” for Mark Duggan, a man killed by officers three days prior.

Police stood in formation, separating the community members from the station they were guarding, until a 16-year-old woman reportedly approached an officer to find out what was going on.

According to a witness account, some officers pushed the young woman and drew their batons.

“And that’s when the people started to retaliate. Now I think in all circumstances, having seen that, most people retaliate,” said the witness.

The “retaliation”, from peaceful chants of “justice” in front of the police station, have since turned into massive groups of Londoners in numerous parts of the city who seem unafraid of breaking windows, looting stores, and burning buildings, doubtless causing millions of pounds’ worth of damage."

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/08/10/guardian-aljazeera-set-straight-corporate-media-lies-london-riots-53711/

So, the riots were sparked by a police murder of an unarmed Black man and the brutalization of a white female sixteen year old protester.
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/08/08/scrubbed-explosive-bbc-london-riots-interview-violence-sparked-by-police-beating-girl-52682/

"So, the riots were sparked

"So, the riots were sparked by a police murder of an unarmed Black man and the brutalization of a white female sixteen year old protester." mopled.

And thus it is, that a social firestorm is so easily lit, when the fuel is already well present and the sparking event is struck.

Get ready for it all around the world, throughout capitalism. .. the creation of such coming events. Though each will, of course, have its own specifics. It has all been being prepared by developments within capitalism since Margie Thatcher, Reagan, Bill Bennet and Mike Harris.

Now, it is time to reap the whirlwind.

The tension fuel is there and being added to constantly in these days throughout the social order. It's bursting into flame, here and then there, and is virtually unavoidable. The "excuses" will be legion, as the system seeks to shift the blame from itself to its victims.

But the ruling classes of England, all Europe, and in good time here, are all now beginning to sound like the despots of the Middle East attacking their own. We will all be just criminals and thugs in our rage... to them.

The sad part of it is... while I understand its roots, it is not enough to burn and loot. Though it seems that this is a stage it will all have to pass through, more or less. But in the end, "the people", and it seems particularly "their young", will have to organize their own power and direct it against ruling power structures and their institutions/enterprises, in a way that transforms, democratizes and rebuilds anew, rather than merely destroys. A "negative" that stays simply so overlong, burns itself out too, or is extinguished by even more brutal oppression. It takes a negative linked with a positive for a more creative energy charge to send through society and its economy. (It is NOT "their" economy. They, the ruling class, would only have you think that it is.) This is the next stage of it all... the people organizing their power "positively".

Meanwhile, this is simply unavoidable for now. Positive only in the sense that it is the beginning, foretelling what is coming.

All ruling classes in

All ruling classes in history received their stealing and mass murdering rights from religious, ideological and economic theories, licencing their criminal actions.

All on record, but conveniently forgotten by following generations and their priesthoods, incl. now the Priesthood of the Almighty Money God, who exists in and gives His orders in computer figures, licencing the biggest crime wave in history.

What the reports never mention is that many billionaires and the corporate mafia have been and are causing far more destruction of properties, lives every day, than the hooligans shown on TV.

That's because our great "conservative" economic accounting system has no debit, only benefit columns and so the public is being led by the nose to follow them to hell.

Ed Deak.

Will Canadians take to the streets?

There is plenty of changes coming Canadians way as the times are going to be harder than every before. Harper's got hard times in the works.
Someone has to pay the price and of course it is those who can least afford to pay at all.
As Flathead messes with the books.

Yes, hard times are a coming

Especially for those out of work. And if your counting on big corporations to come along and hire you all back to work you are sure to be disappointed after the fall.

Similar fractures

I really don't think there is very much difference between the different riots we are seeing proliferate across the globe. Mr. Deak describes the process of ruining a currency, Jerry Munroe describes a likely result

In Africa, deeply entrenched cultural corruption, baksheesh and it's equivalent have become so well concentrated in the hands of the puppets, that little of the fruits of the corporatized industries that have created that concentration remains in circulation.

The money there is, and there is a lot of it, sticks to the hands of high officials, fails to create new industry accessible to ordinary families, who find themselves completely unable to build improving lives with hope and decency and a secure future for coming generations.

The hopeless, see clearly exactly where their hope is going, and feel quite justified to take unruly action at will.

The British riots seem to have exactly the same origin. Thatcher gave away the public infrastructure the society depended upon to bind the people together in common causes. The 'political donation' type of bribe, which permits the wholesale looting, the economic "bailouts" intednded to replace the looted funds are themselves looted in their turn. Deeply corrupt public servants who leave office much richer than they entered it,

Meanwhile thousands and thousands live without the hope all that concentrated currency might have funded, if it hadn't moved to Switzerland or Barbados and taken up residence there under assumed names.

Even the American rioting in the 60s was only about race because the disenfranchised here were largely of one race. A coincidence of history. Any group left so completely out of the hopeful future in a time of truly Nixonian corruption would have behaved exactly the same.

The British events of the last week seem to prove the point.

History repeats with tweaks (maybe tweets)

Somehow "Class" & associated conflicts disappeared from the common dialogue, especially in the mainstream media & the education system, over the past 40 years. Just politically incorrect & swept under the rug..

(Fortunately people like Jerry & Ed, or if you prefer, Naomi K. & the folks at Canadian Dimension, among others, have kept the term alive for the betterment of social analysis & progress.)

At the same time as class dialogue vanished, the disparity between the uber wealthy & the working poor expanded to near intolerable levels.

Bread & Circuses - Fast food & TV Sports - keep most of the "rabble" content, for a while, maybe years or even decades, but not very long.

So then the police & ultimately the military, Praetorian Guard or Gestapo & SS, move in, covertly or in full force, to "disappear" or make examples of the boldest opponents & terrorize the rest.

Even the French Revolution was not just made up of workers, but also lower ranking nobility & bourgeoisie, even as today's discontented include some analytic financiers & small business owners opposed to big corporate activities.

The British outburst is not just racial, religious or class driven, but unemployment & a general malaise, whether driven by false entitlement or a hopelessness of future prospects, stirs, mostly young people, to lash out periodically for change.

Suppressed rebellion or uncertain revolution, both hurt badly in the short term, some create improvements over time, while others create a backlash that make things worse.

Perhaps the wildcard is the rapidly changing technology. Flash mobs on various media make policing near impossible without the use of Orwellian tactics.

But even more significant, as people see how others live, is the need & desire for egalitarian justice.

Some starve while others live in obscene opulence, and as Lynn pointed out, football hooligans, drug users and petty criminals go to prison for a long time, while much very harmful corporate malfeasance goes undetected, unchecked or even cheered on.

Riots grow out of essentially unfocused frustration and discontent, alcohol or testosterone catalyzed or not, and tougher laws or sentences do little except to postpone solving the essential problems.

But they look good to audiences that want simple & quick fixes, like so many dead gladiators.

The wild card is bank

The wild card is bank deregulation that permits banks to "create" money from the air, licencing colonization, extortion, grossly overcapitalizing the economy, depriving people from making decent living, plus , at the same time, get into deep debt.

The credit limits on credit cards increase every year, without any attempt to find out whether they can pay?

Overcapitalization was strongly warned against in old economics textbooks, when we still had some form of democracy, and the general advice was 1 wage year investment in a job. Today we have, even in the forest industry, 70-80 wage years invested in a job, necessitating huge resource waste to pay for it.

What the "ruling class"- yes there is one and always has been- controlling the media and governments never mention is that all forms of investments are debts and liabilities the public has to pay back and foreign investment is a foreign debt, depriving people from legitimate earnings.

The $1.3 trillion private debt reported in Canada should also be accounted into the national debt, because on the long run we all have to pay for it in various forms.

Everybody pays for everybody else on the long run. There are no such persons as the "users", as claimed by ideologues and miseducated economists.

Also, the gap between the highest and lowest paid has been debated for thousands of years, even by Plato, and usually set at 10 times, which was, more or less the norm also here in Canada until the 70s, but now has become an obscenity, ignored and even supported by so called "economists", who should know a bit about history and the inevitable, often repeated consequences, including the French and Russian revolutions, that caused great damage and bloodshed , but solved nothing.

"Cogito ergo sum" "I think therefore I am", as stated by Descartes almost 400 years ago, but still has to be comprehended by our politicians and economists, licking the feet of criminal "ruling classes", regardless of the colour of the flags they happen to be waving as matters of convenience.

And I have lived under all of them and spent a lifetime recognizing them for the predators they are.

Give them the licence offered by any ideology, and the same people will come up to the top every time, which is simple psychology and nothing else.

Ed Deak.

Democracy I

"Riots grow out of essentially unfocused frustration and discontent, alcohol or testosterone catalyzed or not, and tougher laws or sentences do little except to postpone solving the essential problems.

But they look good to audiences that want simple & quick fixes, like so many dead gladiators." Owlrol

First, excellent analyses by Owlrol, Bailey and Ed Deak. But it is a very important issue raised by Ed that I most want to address... this issue of "the same people rising to the top", historically certainly true under every class social form known to me... Which includes the old Soviet and current Red Chinese regime models no less.

Though because Ed is correct, and this has been true, I am not convinced that it follows necessarily as inevitable. At least I disagree that this "need" be true in its "out of control" form, as has indeed been the case in all hitherto "class based" socio-economic models, including current capitalism.

While it may seem painfully slow to some of us, the fact is, "the working masses" do learn, both in technical and labour proficiency terms , and in their understanding of society and their particular condition within it. (Though we in our greater numbers doubtless do feel some hopelessness around what can be really done about it.) About which it is also necessary to keep in mind, that the ruling class, through its control over all the material and "ideas" elements of our lives, works mightily and with fear driven dedication, to ensure that the "average" level of understanding remains low, in terms of the issues of philosophy, economics and power. At the same time, keeping us most focused on issues of obedience, reading, writing and arithmetic at strict levels that best serve "specifically" the needs of the work place or capitalist enterprise. We of the working class are treated as and encourage to remain simply a "tool", an arms, legs and brain processor extension of the production and services needs of the ruling class controlled economy.

But which need not necessarily remain so, in my view, given true democracy within the economy and the political structures of society. organized specifically to include us, of the Great Unwashed. And it is such a democracy, that everywhere and at each stage includes a veto power to the people, the right to elect and recall our own at majority levels, and decide all the "major" issues of the economy and society, that is the best guarantee that these "same types" as do indeed keep tending to rise to the top, will be firmly controlled. Which must include serious means of popular control over them, and speedy removal where required.

Continued next post...

Again Democracy...

Continuing from previous post...

In any case, "risk" is and will likely ever remain with us, no matter what. Aberrant behaviour is a fact of life, hopefully diminished over what is now. People will need ever to remain vigilant against them, there is no way around it, and have the democratic means to speedily and firmly deal with them, as they become exposed. There are no "absolute" guarantees in life however. It is mostly a matter of raising our working class level of understanding enough, that we can be our own ruling class.

Intelligent and strong people are likely needed in the economy and other levels of society... allowing that the firm means and structures are in place for quickly dealing with them, when, if and as they get off the rails, and over serving their own interests.

In any case, a real and seriously widespread and "all inclusive" democracy, including we of the working class as its pivotal authority and power, is the key to such a "different" future, from all that has gone before. Which must be rooted both within all the enterprises of the economy, and the other political superstructure elements. Without which, Ed is indeed right, about the hopelessness of real change. Though about which, I disagree with him. It need not be as bleak as he portrays... in my view.

Democracy. Again, democracy is the key.

Jerry... I grew up as an

Jerry... I grew up as an ultra conservative fascist, so I know how and what they think and work, but woke up to the crime waves of history, when I was lying in bed for 3 months as an 18 year old wounded "veteran", and then stood by an operating table, holding the legs of about 100 victims, as they were amputated and reamputated, often covered with blood from head to toe.

Never stopped since then to fight against all forms of dictatorships and all would be ruling classes.

The only way democracy and global cooperation, not competition, can work is by a knowledgeable public, interested in maintaining their independence and against all forms of oppression. Especially economic.

The purpose of "competitiveness" is the legalization of colonization, enslavement and destruction, rewarding the winners.

The degree of ignorance within our society is not only astonishing, but frightening, because people like dictators as they free them from thinking a decision making, leaving them time for "having fun".

At the same time, I also happen to be a perennial optimist, not only hoping, but absolutely certain of a worldwide awakening.

It may happen tomorrow, or 10 years down the line, the timetable of such events is unpredictable.

A friend just sent me the enclosed, showing which way the world is heading, all over, on every continent. Of course Europe has little or none democratic traditions, but what is the excuse in Canada ? Just watch what Harper has in mind.

Ed Deak.

Subject: Authoritarian regime takes shape in Hungary

The ideological basis for these reactionary measures can be found in the new constitution, which Parliament adopted in April. God, Christianity, king, crown and pride in the thousand years of Hungarian history are all rooted in its legally binding statutes.

The text refers to the “historic” heritage of Hungary. This “historical” heritage clearly refers to the dictatorship of Regent Miklos Horthy from 1920 to 1945. In a speech to the nation, Orban declared that the new constitution would end the period in which “Hungarians were systematically oppressed”.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/aug2011/hung-a11.shtml

Real Life

"But in the end, "the people", and it seems particularly "their young", will have to organize their own power and direct it against ruling power structures and their institutions/enterprises, in a way that transforms, democratizes and rebuilds anew, rather than merely destroys. A "negative" that stays simply so overlong, burns itself out too, or is extinguished by even more brutal oppression. It takes a negative linked with a positive for a more creative energy charge to send through society and its economy. " ~ Jerry Munro

An important point. Certainly no positive 'solutions' will be found in capitalism where self-interest consistently trumps community.

Northumberland Park in Tottenham is known to be one of the most deprived areas in all of Europe - and to make it worse under the austerity program their council plans to cut 41 million pounds over the next three years with vast effects on public infrastructure.

In relation to the kind of sense of loss and hopelessness generated by these choices, it is amusing to watch our own media and economic pundits tip-toeing around any discussion of the fall of the stock market - so in fear are they of upsetting their imaginary beast of a god any further and setting their precious stocks and comfortable world tumbling once again. The words coming from their ever sophisticated mouths are "this is scary", "so upsetting", "we don't know what to expect next", "we are living in fear of what tomorrow will bring", "be careful what you say we don't want to start a stampede of withdrawal"

This is all said from their rather cushy seats in the gallery, with little awareness that for the disenfranchised this is daily life as they know it, only ramped up with much more personal danger, and more filled with risk and widespread hopelessness over what tomorrow will bring than any of these people could ever imagine on one of their imaginary stock-market-based 'bad' days.

We need solutions based on real practical life instead of the imaginary/funnymoney created by banks (as Ed Deak astutely comments on above). I couldn't believe it, I heard Allan Greenspan the other day saying again... and with utter confidence that the US's economic solution was an easy one - just create more money! I guess he didn't learn a thing while in exile.....)

Enough of imaginary solutions based on conveniently-imagined worth - we need real housing, real education, real and decent jobs with real benefits - a real sense of community that is there for people, especially in times of need.

Great article and discussion.

Estote Parati!

"The only way democracy and global cooperation, not competition, can work is by a knowledgeable public, interested in maintaining their independence and against all forms of oppression. Especially economic." Ed Deak.

And around this above statement of yours, I am fundamentally agreed with you, Ed. You say it in a nutshell better than I.

I hope Tyee actually has the cajones to keep the piece by firefox007 up, directly above here... unedited. It demonstates the full fascist nature of what we are up against here. Their hate of us. And they will more and more come out of the woodwork, and be more threatening.

You are a good man, Ed. A thoroughly honest and capable one. And Lynn, my sister, also above.

"Enough of imaginary solutions based on conveniently-imagined worth - we need real housing, real education, real and decent jobs with real benefits - a real sense of community that is there for people, especially in times of need."

We are all going to need courage and a growing sense of solidarity going forward here, as the crisis of the ruling order rapidly approaches critical mass. As their system fails, they are going to become scared and filled with a sense of hopelessness themselves... such that even the wealthy will be afraid. Which will tend to make them unbelievably dangerous.

Estote Parati!

The Consequence of technology is unemployment.

Pure and simple. At the base of virtually all the demonstrations and riots is unemployment. What did the Egyptians demand when Hosni Mubarak was sacked? It was jobs. Years earlier, when Hamas was first elected in Gaza, one of the first demonstrations against the new government was the demand for jobs. The riots in England are no different.

Not too long ago, it was possible to make a living with a pick and shovel. Then along came the backhoe, where one person replaced 50 people and more. The pick-and-shovel crowd had to learn to build backhoes if they wanted work. Then the construction of backhoes became largely automated.

And so it goes. And so it will continue to go.

Who Pays?

We will be paying no matter what. Many insurance costs are ultimately spread through international syndication.

Stop Making Excuses

I grew up in an impoverished UK housing estate similar to the ones at the centre of the UK riots. The majority of the adults there were on welfare even though they were able-bodied and (at that time) there were many jobs to be had. Both of my parents worked hard, sometimes two jobs, even though many of their neighbours told them they were crazy to go to work when they could just live off the government. That was 30 years ago and while it's convenient to blame cuts, austerity measures, closing of youth centres, manufacturing moving to China, etc. for the current troubles, parents need to take at least some of the blame. My parents taught us that the world doesn't owe us a living, that life will always be unfair, there is no such thing as true equality, there will always be people richer than us, and we need to take responsibility for our own success or failure. Most importantly, they taught us that two wrongs never make a right and even if people are committing crimes all around us, we needed to comport ourselves with integrity and rise above it. Many of the kids who participated in rioting and looting have not been taught any of these lessons. Instead they have been raised in a culture of entitlement with parents who have told them from day one they don't have to take responsibility and it's foolish to work hard for prosperity. They believe that if they see a TV ad for a plasma screen then they deserve to have it by any means necessary. They believe that just because someone else has something, then they deserve it too. It's not that I don't understand their frustration. As a small business owner, I suffered greatly during the recent economic recession and seethed as the Wall Street bankers who caused it received bailouts. But that's life. It doesn't mean I'm going to go to New York and burn a bank or go steal some sweaters from H&M to get my revenge. I've read many interviews with the rioters/looters and not one has taken so much as an ounce of responsibility. Instead they just give a long list of excuses for their behaviour.

ChelseaToronto

You nailed it mate!

There's very little

There's very little difference between the mentalities of the looters and the multinational corporate mafia going around the world, destroying local economies, communities and humanity with their insatiable greed and demands for unlimited power, handed to them by the priesthood of economists and corrupt governments.

When I was carpentering on the building of our local elementary school, in 1988, it was built for about 45 kids. Today it has 20, in danger of being closed down, that may force our local kids to sit in schoolbuses 3 hours a day .

Likely, up the road, used to have a thriving community, with a junior high. Now , I believe, they have 15 kids in the school.

Some 14 schools were closed in the Prince George area last year, for the lack of students, with people being forced out of their homes and into city dumps.

For the controllers of the economy to remain "competitive", of course, which means faster down the garden path to enslavement and self destruction.

What is the difference between professional welfare recipients and stockmarket gamblers "selling short", to steal more from more ?

What's the difference between capitalist "boards of directors" and communist "politbureaus", both set up to control and exploit people's lives ?

Ed Deak.

Ed Deak.

Gordon Campbell

The reason they're rioting in the streets is because Harper sent them Gordon Campbell as high commissioner to the UK. ;=)

All kidding aside it won't be long until we see seniors rioting in the streets. They are about to made the scapegoats for all the debt problems. Can you imagine the imagery of young soldiers and riot cops shooting and beating elderly people with guns and batons?