As the world turns...the Young and Restless...send opponents to General Hospital

The above title is not exactly a political addict attention catcher, but it might attract the attention of soap opera followers that need to become aware of the changing world. The current deposing of some of the world’s longest reining dictator-despots is history making. It isn’t that the world might change, it will change and the lifestyle North Americans and for that matter most people in the western hemisphere enjoys is about to become unrecognizable. Predicted food shortages unaffordable gasoline for our vehicles and escalating costs in every sector of the economy tell an untold story.

Solar flare happening as we continue our daily existence might not have much impact. That is for science to determine. The, uprisings, wars and instability in the Mid-East will have an impact and political leaders already know the expected outcome. In other words, how can people massing in the streets throwing rocks and carrying wooden clubs suddenly have rifles over their collective shoulders and challenge heavily armed soldiers loyal to the regimes without outside help? Will the insurrection topple only the handful of dictatorships with some of the Arabian oil supplies the entire world depends upon or will it eventually encompass Saudi Arabia and that nation’s strategic oil resources. Much is probably going on behind the scenes that the public watching the new multi-faceted media is not aware is happening. Maybe Mother Nature and angry pulsing sun flares will change the direction of history differently than humankind imposing inhumanities upon less powerful citizens of the planet. If religious doctrines are correct, God will put an end to man’s pursuit of the good things in life for the elite with divine intervention. What would be a better way for a supreme power to create a display of anger than to using the power of the sun? Maybe people should remember what the bible says about what happened in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Getting back to reality, what about the need for every level of government to control spending and reduce deficits. One method raising its ugly head is an all-out attack on unionized workers and accumulated benefits from health care to retirement pensions of all unionized workers. Many American states are already battling unionized employees from police officers to firefighters and teachers by reducing employment figures with massive layoffs. The need for reduced spending according to news reports is affecting the average person’s security let alone the future of their children with class sizes doubling and in some cases tripling.

We don’t have to go as far as the United States to find similarities happening or about to happen in Canada. The City of Toronto wants to declare transit workers an essential service. Legal action would then bring bus, streetcar and subway workers under control in the event of a strike. It is difficult to believe that unions would agree to contract concessions without a major fight breaking out between the union and politicians.

The control of transit workers is only the thin edge of the issue. Macleans magazine recently announced the Ontario Government is considering reducing the province’s civil service by 1000 jobs. The magazine article states the number is one-eighteenth of the 180,000 civil servants hired since the Liberals came to power in the province. Where will the money come from to pay the wages and lucrative benefits to the other 179,000 newly hired employees while full-filling election promises bound to come once the October 2012 election nears?

The issues mentioned are only the tip of the iceberg floating in the seas of debt the entire world faces if news reports are true.

Canada stands still while the world changes

The world is changing and Canada is standing still watching history evolve. The reason is without a doubt that the government wants to cater to major corporations after getting away with losing of billions of shareholder dollars during the 2006 recession. Wanting to support the corporate greed is not all bad according to the free world’s influential media since only when the stock markets soar do jobs multiply. The scenario is undoubtedly the vicious circle that it appears to be.

The corporate sector wants to Globalize. Globalization is attractive to both have-not and developing nations because it allows access to the resources and services of developed nations like Canada. Globalization also allows unprecedented profit for investing in the resource, manufacturing and technology sectors of a developed economy.

Greed is the undisputed motivation for globalization that will lead to more unrest as reported at the cost of many lives in the Arab world. In the Middle East and Northern Africa nations enduring years of dictatorship face rebellion. It can only end with a significant loss of life and unexpected, even unheralded change. Can we do anything more than watch, wonder and maybe worry as that part of the world changes so dramatically?

The Canadian media appears mired in indecision as to its role in the modern world. As major newspapers die a slow death many respected journalists seem to be allowing payoffs such as pensions, appointments, and fringe benefits for following the party line supplant opposition to injustice. An example is the February 28th 2011 issue of Canada’s Macleans news magazine. The lead unaccredited editorial disputes the reasoning of hundreds of thousands of Canadians petitioning the elected minority government to reverse the decision of the Canadian Radio Television Commission (a government supported regulatory body) allowing major corporations to increase the cost of internet usage to the average user. The editorial argues it is unfair that internet use will not allow price increases making certain investors realize the highest possible returns. The former Ontario Hydro is a good example of runaway pricing leading to high costs. The Ontario government added the unpaid cost of past indebtedness to current invoicing after spending user money without regard to consequences. The consumer does not have a choice since the utility can practice the pay up or do without philosophy..

Maclean’s national editor followed the internet user column with another article titled “Why Canada has nothing to fear but itself” espousing support for Canadian resource and services takeover in the name of globalization. The writer criticizes government for not allowing the potash industry to fall into foreign ownership after Canadians and the Saskatchewan government reacted to the takeover attempt. The editor then gives full support to the merger of Canada’s premier stock market with the London Stock market  justifying the merger by stating smaller provincial stock markets would still be around. Common sense dictates that the lesser markets would become less attractive to investors once the country’s major market and its investors are  conducting the nation’s financial business offshore.

There is little doubt Rogers Media and its publishing subsidiary influences the neutrality of its major editorialists. It is difficult to argue that large salaries and skyrocketing investment income doesn’t offset personal belief that might need stating. The people of Canada have lost a great deal of say in governing the country now that the ruling party’s deep money pockets are used to determine the next form of government ruling the country by insighting hatred of an opposition leader. Can the Mid East scenario be far from happening in Canada?