Learning Stories
by
Mario deSantis

mariodesantis@hotmail.com

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I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, and free to choose those who shall govern my country.” - -The Rt. Hon. John Diefenbaker, Canadian Bill of Rights, 1960

The whole judicial system is at issue, it's worth more than one person.”--Serge Kujawa, Saskatchewan Crown Prosecutor, 1991

The system is not more worth than one person's rights.”--Mario deSantis, 2002


Ensign Stories © Mario deSantis and Ensign

 


"
It is past time ... for Americans to consider why we have created an empire - a word from which we shy away - and what the consequences of our imperial stance may be for the rest of the world and for ourselves."
--Chalmers Johnson (author of the book Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire)

We have been debunking the neoclassical economics doctrine to understand social and economic development as rationally dependent on the forces of the unregulated Free Market (or corporate globalization). We have found out how this Free Market has disconnected our social and economic development from needed goods and services and how this Free Market has become an oligopolistic cartel of the multinational corporations of the world's richest countries.

In particular, we have described how the endemic speculation of making money with money has created financial bubbles and false expectation of wealth. Classical economics started with an understanding of supply and demand of goods and services and how prices would drive the perceived equilibrium between supply and demand of goods and services.

Neoclassical economics took off from the understanding of classical economics and put the unregulated Free Market at the center of economic development along with the gospel of making money with money preached by the Chicago School of Economics headed by Nobel Prize winner economist Milton Friedman.

We must understand that an unregulated Free Market, on the average, makes people with power have more power through the exercise of their power. Also, we must understand that when we make money with money we create a further disconnect between the needs we want to satisfy and the goods and services provided by the market place (this disconnect causes the economic fluctuation), and this disconnect inflates the GDP number without corresponding real wealth. Therefore, our neoclassical economists, conscious of this disconnect between needs and goods/services, have been covering up the intrinsic faults of the Free Market to become an oligopolistic gambling casino with the 'irrelevant' social notion of productivity along with the mantra of increasing productivity through new technologies.

Now we understand why our neoclassical politicians are peddling the Free Market, are peddling the economic measurement of the GDP number, are peddling the notion of ever increasing productivity and the associated false notion of better standard of living and freedom, are peddling new research and new technologies, are peddling more money into new technologies to weaponize our skies, lands and waters. Some time ago I raised the prospect that the Free Market was a conspiracy, and yes now I believe that it is a conspiracy, a conspiracy which has been legalized as people have been losing their individual rights and as our governments have become the instruments of the few and powerful, corporations and fortunate sons.

The Free Market (or corporate globalization) has caused the concentration of power in the multinational corporations, it has caused the widening gap between the rich and the poor, and therefore the Free Market has diluted our democracies and it has contributed to make our world more violent. I have described in my past articles how the Bush administration has pushed the Free Market to become a New World Order enforced by the super power of the U.S. military. This super power of the U.S. military has become now the absolute hyper military power throughout the world. The United States has become the new 'Uber Alles.'

Some time ago, I expressed my intention to write on the environment of secrecy, economic speculation and unilateralism of the United States to show the flaws of the Bush Administration. Today, I realize there is no need for me to do any research in this regard as social activist Tina Staik has just published a diatribe against President George W. Bush Jr. and against the neoclassical radical conservatives who have been peddling the Free Market for the last some 30 years.

The Baltimore Chronicle introduces Staik's philippic denunciation as "Then, Emile Zola Wrote His J'Accuse; Now, Tina Staik Asks, "Is it a coincidence...?" Emile Zola was a French novelist who wrote J'Accuse, an article in which he openly accused high officials, military staffers and handwriting experts of meddling with the truth in the 1894 conviction of Captain Dreyfus for treason. Zola was sued for libel, was found guilty, was trashed by the media, and mob threw spit, rocks and rotten tomatoes at him. In spite of the military cover up the Truth prevailed and Dreyfus was cleared in 1906. Zola died on September 29, 1902 of carbon monoxide poisoning, following a probably criminal tampering of his chimney.

The courageous Tina Staik begins her denunciation against American policies with this sentence:

"If ever there was a time to examine what is happening in our country and world--step back and look at the big picture, think, ask, question, reflect, even consider a conspiracy theory or two--this is it." She goes on to say "It is time for Americans to think what has been done to our country, its people and government--in the name of oil, war and drug profiteering. Then we must also think what the same forces have done to other countries, nations, governments, and peoples of the world in the name of the same."

Staik's denunciation is quite long to read but her article is extremely important for reflecting on the historical events of our New World Order commandeered by our radical conservatives (neoclassical leadership also associated with neoliberalism). I must say that our future doesn't depend on our managing stress, on our managing money, on our managing success, on our managing education, on our managing the upbringing of our children, on our managing wars, on our managing new technologies, on our managing the GDP, on our managing anything else. Staik says that

"Our lives and world may depend on using our critical thinking skills, and inviting leaders and citizens throughout the world to do the same."

So I conclude this story inviting you to wake up, think and read at your own speed Staik's commendable article.

References:
Pertinent articles published in Ensign

Quotations from the book Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire, by Chalmers Johnson, Henry Holt, 2000 http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blowback_CJohnson/Quotations_BCJ.html

The American empire: The US has structured the world economy to enrich itself. It cannot last, Robert Hunter Wade, January 5, 2002 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,627921,00.html

Neoliberalism defined. Neoliberalism is a philosophy in which the existence and operation of a market are valued in themselves, separately from any previous relationship with the production of goods and services, and without any attempt to justify them in terms of their effect on the production of goods and services; and where the operation of a market or market-like structure is seen as an ethic in itself, capable of acting as a guide for all human action, and substituting for all previously existing ethical beliefs. http://web.inter.nl.net/users/Paul.Treanor/neoliberalism.html

The Georgetown Audio-Visual Electronic Library project for the Study of Emile Zola and the Dreyfus Case http://www.georgetown.edu/guieu/libproj.htm

Another Salvo for the New Year: Then, Emile Zola Wrote His "J'Accuse"; Now, Tina Staik Asks, "Is it a coincidence...?" January 2, 2002 http://baltimorechronicle.com/coincidence_jan02.shtml

Additional Information and Material by Tina Staik: Act Today to Restor Our Democracy, Fringefolk web site , Tina Staik's call to action http://www.fringefolk.com/tstaik.html

Wake Up and Take Back America , essay in Fringefolk http://www.fringefolk.com/fsTS1.html

Tina Staik Essay from Journal Online