Dear Editor
One thing that economists of all political stripes agree on is the fact the main driving force of modern economies is the consumer. As the consumer goes, so goes the economy. If no one buys the goods and services being produced, the economy will collapse. Realistically, there is a minimal amount of production that will always be needed, but the degree of strength of an economy depends on the degree of economic strength of the majority of its citizens.
At the end of the Second World War, Europe, and much of the rest of the world, was in ruins. Nations which were still reasonably intact, such as the United States and Canada, were deeply in debt. If leaders at that time had followed the philosophy presently held by right-wing parties throughout the world - the policy of reducing the debt by austerity for the masses and low-to-no taxes for the rich and powerful - the amazing eventual resurgence of most of Europe and defeated nations such as Japan, and the robust growth of the middle class in Canada, the United States and elsewhere could not have happened.
I was born during the Great Depression and was entering high school just as the Second World War ended. It was a time when it was understood as a given that we would have greater chances for prosperity than our parents, and that our children would have it even better. That was true for several decades. Although our economies have continued to grow, prosperity for the vast majority of citizens in the United States, and Canada, has stagnated for the past three or four decades, and now we face a future which seems to indicate today's children face a bleaker economic future than their parents. Meanwhile, the gap between the very rich and the rest of us keeps getting wider.
Coincidently, the rise of extreme right-wing economic ideology had its roots a few decades ago in the United States with politicians such as Barry Goldwater, whose solution to poverty could be summed up as ordering the down-and-out to "Stop being poor," and well-financed political organizations, such as the John Birch Society, fighting the idea of progressive taxation in the 1960s. Since then, right-wing ideology - well-financed by the rich - has become an increasingly dominant part of the political scene, especially in the United States, but here in Canada as well. Part of that right-wing movement has been an attack on all organized labour, as evidenced by the passing of "right-to-work" (anti-union) legislation, at first in most of the Â鶹´«Ã½AVern states, where wages and other conditions have continued to be generally below the rest of the country, and lately even in states such as Wisconsin.
Here in Canada, our ultra-conservative federal Conservative has jumped on the anti-union bandwagon with unprecedented interference in collective bargaining rights of unionized workers, making postal workers, Air Canada pilots andother unionized workers toe the company line. In the process, these Conservatives are striking at the very heart of the union movement: the ability of unions to bargain in good faith with the employers for the well-being of their workers.
In Saskatchewan, Brad Wall has eagerly jumped aboard that anti-union bandwagon, passing four anti-union bills in his first administration. Now he is in the process of "consulting" with some groups regarding how they might feel about 15 or more ways to further restrict the unions' ability to stand up for the workers. Of course this gesture towards consultation is one which is aimed only towards those who may already agree with the idea of crippling the unions. Most citizens are probably unaware of the whole charade. All this "consulting" will be done quietly, without fanfare, and in secrecy as to who is saying or writing what. Wall says the concepts to be discussed are too "complex" for the public.
Perhaps Wall should check the labour scene in long-established "right-to-work" states like Mississippi to see how their anti-union legislation has affected workers and the general public there over the years. But then, he probably already knows.
Russell Lahti
Battleford
