Learning Stories
by
Mario deSantis
mariodesantis@hotmail.com
“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
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Our Free Market is only free for people who are rich and powerful. The Free Market is not conducive to satisfy the need of global exchanges of goods and services, as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. And it is not true that the competition within the Free Market produces equilibrium prices for the best allocation of resources. What we found out in our Free Market is the phenomenon of oligopolistic convergence among the transnational corporations, that is the convergence of technologies, the convergence of consolidating corporations to become bigger and control the markets, the convergence of people with money and power against the exclusion of the poor and the powerless. Governments have become alienated from the people as their constitutional social contract with the people is being replaced with their private contracts with their big corporations. And that is why we have budgetary tax cuts for rich people and corporations, and that is why we have welfare for the corporations and now higher unemployment, more work and more sacrifices for people at large. The Federal Court of Canada has just fined Pfizer Inc. $1.5-million after the drug giant pleaded guilty to fixing prices of the food preservative sodium erythorbate with Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. Therefore, this is the way price is determined in our oligopolistic Free Market, it is called price fixing, and if there is a fine, that is the cost of carrying business. And now that our pharmaceutical companies have copy rights on our own lives, they are in the position to set their own monopolistic prices, unless they are penalized and forced to negotiate vis-a-vis with governments. And this has been the case for the Canadian and US governments as they have been lately negotiating with Bayer Corporation for the price of the drug cipro. The Free Market is not a competitive market, it is becoming more and more either a fixed market or a monopoly and this is not right for the people, for our governments, and for our democracies. References "Challenging a paradigm is not a part-time job. It is not sufficient to make your point once and then blame the world for not getting it. The world has a vested interest in, a commitment to, not getting it. The point has to be made patiently and repeatedly, day after day after day"-- Donella Meadows, author of The Limits to Growth References Pertinent articles in Ensign Pfizer pleads guilty in price-fixing case, By Leonard Zehr, The Globe and Mail, October 25, 2001 |
