How reassuring to hear the advice of The Dean of University of British Columbia School of Business and Royal Bank of Canada Financial Group professor of entrepreneurship in the morning paper today.I am simply glowing with relief and happiness. Thank you sir.
In a item entitled "Finding Balance in Our Lives and in Our Budgets" he blames the working class consumer for "our part" in the economic meltdown - "Our persistent overconsumption created an untenable situation" and spins this venomous garbage in the sentimental language of opportunity and "time for self-improvement and enjoyment of life."
Saying we must be "more self-disciplined about our needs and the the collateral damage -we are inducing by trying to fuel them" he rails on about how we reckless ordinary people have failed to live within our budgets, stopped saving money and relied on credit. Hearkening back to the days of our "parents and grandparents" he encourages working people to welcome the fact that "the shock of our societies new reality has refocused people to rely on themselves and their families for resources -and to "undertake their own due diligence."
On and on he goes -this hack of the capitalist class eager, to sugar coat reduced expectations for unemployed workers, workers forced into concessions by the trade union leadership and the bosses -read lay-offs, paycuts, shorter work hours at less pay per hour, reduced pensions and leisure time -paints idyllic scenarios of the happy times we can spend together as families and friends now that we no longer have jobs and money to spend .
Bad workers, living beyond our means now have an opportunity to redeem ourselves as we exercise forced constraint on our spending and can no longer irresponsibly overextend ourselves with credit that is not longer available to us. Wonderful now we have the opportunity to be more self-reliant and enjoy our leisure time-lots of that coming up when the jobs bottom out.
How wonderful that I no longer have to worry about paying my rent and buy groceries. After all I have the chance now to exercise "due dilegence" on myself and my neighbours and family, save money and what the hell my kid doesn't need a loan for university or college-he can wait 10 or 12 years while I pack it away under my mattress. Perhaps while he is waiting for a minimum wage job to crop up, after all the laid off workers have exhausted their unemployment insurance and been forced into whatever low wage jobs are left over he may find some work.
Oh yes I forgot, living here in Canada, that maybe my American neighbours and friends now have the opportunity to delay getting that health care, that treatment they need because - no job-no health care plan-no credit-no surgery, no medicine, no tests-who wants those awful things anyway. What an opportunity to please Mr Obama , make him so happy that we fibnally realize we are all in this together and can reach out to our neighbours and give up our working hours so our neighbour can have a job.
And we must remember to exercise that due diligence on our co-workers as well.
I would not want to sacrifice for a wastrel co-worker after all that might go out a buy a new washer and dryer.
And then there are those self-indulgent teachers who rail against education cuts. After all we need to become more self-reliant say the gurus of the capitalist crooks.
Hark these words of wisdom-"It is simply not possible to sustain the old patterns of government expenditure." Lets just pack those kids into the classrooms.
Soon we will reach a happy equilibrium they say - a "balance" and harmony will prevail.
Hold on a minute though - greedy as I am , I wonder why the bank would have issued me a credit card at all. I wonder why they did not tell us all this before-that we need to save-not spend. Could it have anything to do with the fact that ordinary working people simply do not make enough money to buy back all the products we make and services we provide? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that if we do not have the wealth then we simply cannot consume all the vast amounts of products those good capitalists offer us-just maybe? Perhaps if we cannot buy back what we make -their profits will fall. That would be abhorent -maybe that is why they issued me a credit card , or a sub-prime mortgage-to unload all those homes and goods. I wonder if they would mind waiting for me to buy those goods till I have socked enough money away under my lumpy mattress again.
To round this rosy picture out for us this professor/entrepreneur writes "The rich will remain different . They will likely consume many of the same things, though with some apparent caution as to where they consume and how they display their consumption." What a relief-I don't have to watch those good rich consumers because they will have consume out of sight of all us greedy workers.
Thanks to those good rich big spenders for sparing me the pain and my belt tightens and I can hardly breathe.
Well I am happy now, knowing harmony and equilibrium is just within my reach-spring is here maybe I will join my neigbours in the garden as we talk about how to collectively exercise more due diligence. But then again I cannot afford a new hoe -so I better put that one off and answer the bill collector who keeps ringing.
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