Wednesday, February 04, 2009

We stand at a crossroads

One thing this whole economic mess should have taught us is that the current free market system doesn’t work. Self-regulation results in no regulation at all, and I don’t need to go over what’s happened again.

And yet our politicians seem to think the solution to this problem is to take taxpayers’ money and bail out the super-rich, the kind of people who specialise in paying as little tax as possible. Gordon Brown cannot see beyond the misguided belief that if he can spend Britain back into 2007 the world will someone right itself and we can go on with our spiralling debts and unfettered consumerism forever.

There has to be a better way. It requires a small leap of faith from most people – that the life they’ve been told to live for the past 10 years isn’t actually the only way to live, that long working hours in return for excessive debts just so you can compensate for being away from home by purchasing expensive gadgets and holidays isn’t necessarily the nirvana we’ve all been looking for. But once you realise that the current system exists purely to concentrate as much wealth as possible into the hands of a few people you can start to appreciate that what we’re told is good for everyone doesn’t actually ring true.

If you can accept this, and you’re also wondering what can be done about it, then take a trip to here, and join the rest of us in deciding to do something about it. It won’t be easy, but the end result - a democracy where special interests don’t get more access to government than the people who employ them through voting and paying taxes – has to be worth it, doesn’t it?

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