There is so much corruption around and again I have a subtle smile, as I recall the business gurus telling us how to learn to live with ambiguities while these same gurus along with their corporate and political friends would make the tough decisions at the right time and at the right place and at the right price, and in a cyclical and inconsistent never ending fashion. Where is consistency anymore? These gurus have erased the word 'consistency' from our vocabulary and now we must all live with the ever changing ambiguities dictated by the gurus, corporate people, politicians.

We have guru Jim Rivait, vice-president of the Insurance Bureau of Canada, telling us that the auto-insurance industry cannot afford a Tort system and therefore he strongly supports No Fault Insurance with no regard for the faulty party and with no regard of pain and suffering. But the role of insurance is to satisfy consistently a social need and not to satisfy the interest of the corporate industry.

Lorie Terry, spokesperson for the Saskatchewan Coalition Against No Fault, rebuts Rivait's contention that the Tort system would create a financial crisis and referring to the Saskatchewan insurance experience she says that the industry is fudging the books

"It's a financial crisis of their own making. They are basically claiming the sky is falling, yet that was, and is, not the case at all. They won't open their books to prove their statements, but they expect us to believe they are in (a state of) crisis."

Health care gurus have been maintaining that health care is underfunded and this would be a reasonable justification when we consider the level of downsizing and privatization of governments. But we have been following the management of health care in Saskatchewan for some years and we have been always of the opinion that health care was run by a bunch of incompetent tin pot dictators and inconsequential boards serving the interest of their business friends rather than the health of people.

As our federal government downsized to greatness so health care tin pot dictators along with the provincial governments were able to hide their incompetence and shout that the health care was underfunded. Again, the 'sky is not falling' in health care and a recent study conducted by University of Waterloo political scientist Gerard Boychuk concludes that

"the existence of a fiscal crisis of health care in Canada is not evident in current expenditure patterns; however, public beliefs that there is a funding crisis in health care are, nonetheless, real."

 Who are the worst enemy of health care? They are our own governments, their corporate friends and health care tin pot dictators.

Two and half years ago I realized the many lies being told by then Saskatchewan Economic Development Minister Janice MacKinnon and I concluded that

"we can only trust ourselves, and in this state of social confusion and deception it is even hard in doing that."

Friday, Linda Williamson of the Toronto Star reaches the same conclusion "trust no one" as she refers to

• the invoking of the Fifth Amendment by Canadian Bernard Ebbers, former CEO of WorldCom, while asked to testify to a US Congressional committee in regard to the fraudulent accounting of some $4 billion assets by WorldCom; and
• our Canadian civil servant Chuck Guite who refused to answer questions to members of parliament while being questioned in regard to his involvement in dispersing millions of public dollars to friendly advertising agencies.

The sky is truly falling, and we are talking about the highest ever level of corruption of Corporate (North) America. Listen to these few stories.

• President George Bush gets a loan from Harken Energy, uses this loan to buy shares of this same corporation, and sells these shares before Harken's shares collapse;
• Vice-President Dick Cheney is accused of corporate fraud and Judicial Watch launches a lawsuit against him;
• and aspirant Canadian Liberal leader Frank McKenna preaches peace on earth and joins the Carlyle Group, an extension of the Bush family and one of the world's largest investment firms making a mint inside "the iron triangle" of defense, government, and industry.

References

Pertinent article published in Ensign

Insurers warn of soaring premiums: Tort system will result in runaway costs, industry says Scott Foster, The StarPhoenix, Saskatoon, July 09, 2002

Health crisis 'not evident,' study suggests Brian Laghi, July 10, 2002, The Globe and Mail

Don't trust statistics, don't trust Honourable MacKinnon, trust yourself Mario deSantis, February 11, 2000

A modern mantra: Trust no one Linda Williamson, July 11, 2002, Toronto Sun

Bush: Don't do as I did. President's proposals would bar type of loans he got from Harken Energy, reports say. CNN/Money, July 11, 2002 http://money.cnn.com/2002/07/11/news/bush_loan/index.htm

Memos: Bush knew of Harken's problems Contrary to the president's statements, company memos show he knew the firm was headed for trouble. Anthony York, July 12, 2002, Salon http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2002/07/12/harken/index_np.html

The Insider Game Paul Krugman, July 12, 2002 The New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/12/opinion/12KRUG.html

Cheney accused of corporate fraud BBC News, July 10, 2002 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_2119000/2119981.stm

Fraud Inc. CNN/Money http ://money.cnn.com/news/specials/corruption/

McKenna fetes business elite, Moncton, N.B.: George Bush Sr. keynote speaker as investors meet entrepreneurs Richard Foot, National Post, July 10, 2002

Carlyle's way: Making a mint inside "the iron triangle" of defense, government, and industry Dan Briody, January 8, 2002 Red Herring Magazine http://www.redherring.com/vc/2002/0111/947.html

The Axis of Corporate Evil In what appears to be an attempted corporate takeover of America, the same names keep coming up time and again. HereInReality.com http://www.hereinreality.com/news/axis.html