We conduct business within the flawed Free Market environment and therefore I continue to be skeptical about our economic and social progress. I repeat, the Free Market is flawed as the Free Market is the BIG LIE of the elitist uppercrust.

If the Free Market is a fair market, can anyone explain to me why bigger corporations continue to merge and further the consolidation of a monopolistic market?

Can anyone tell me why new technologies are always touted as increasing productivity even in the presence of quasi economic stagnation and higher unemployment or underemployment?

Can anyone tell me why labour must be flexible and why the social uppercrust must be sustainable?

We live in dangerous times caused by the BIG LIE of the Free Market and yet we are cheating ourselves in dealing with the details of our social and economic issues. Canada is fortunate to have a universal health system and yet we have political posturing for a higher degree of privatization of health care.

A few days ago I referred to what has been happening in our globalized world and I mentioned the global problems of "trickle down economy" and "trickle down corruption." Recently we have had a strike in Saskatchewan as a group of health workers are settling for a 21.8% increase of their wage over three years, and then we came to know that Jim Fergusson, President of the Saskatoon Health District, got the governmental second step blessing toward adequate health care funding and increased his salary by some 33% to $250,000 per year.

We have public health care wages for health workers and privately negotiated swinish compensation packages for the elitist uppercrust; in turn we are more victimized as this same elitist uppercrust litigates over different proposed health care changes originating from expensive studies contracted out by this same elitist uppercrust.

We have had a corrupt experience with big information technology implementations including the Saskatchewan Health Information Network (SHIN) and now Saskatchewan is contemplating to outsource its information technology business to the very big corporation Electronic Data Systems (EDS) of Texas.

Now the big question for the people who make the big dollar to make the big health care decisions: who is right in the proposed health care changes? Commissioner Romanow or Senator Kirby?

References

Pertinent articles published by Ensign

Professional health workers strike drags on by Timothy Shire, October 2, 2002 

The Impact of the Saskatchewan health care system by Stu Innes, October 3, 2002 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/editorials/LTE/Innes/healthcare/healthcareimpact.html

Strikers point to $250,000 salary for President of Health Region , October 1, 2002 CBC Regina http://sask.cbc.ca/template/servlet/View?filename=ceo021001