From 10,000 Feet

There has been a lot of talk about growth in Wilmot Township recently with many references to the province’s  “Places to Grow” policy. The foundational principles of the document are to restrict growth in agricultural areas and to intensify growth in urban areas. There is abundant evidence that this policy is highly flawed and is neither sustainable nor will accommodate long term growth.
The National Film Board of Canada has been charged with telling “The Canadian Story” and they do a very good job of it. One of their most powerful documentary films is “Waterlife” (2009). It is the story of the Great Lakes. The film documents the flow of water from its head-water to the mouth of the St. Lawrence. It also exposes how this most important source of fresh water is being polluted to new levels by cities like Chicago, Detroit, and of course, Toronto.
Some cities do relatively little to treat their sewage and others do more, but all are far from leaving the water chemical free. Treatment plants were never designed to remove industrial chemicals and the huge amounts of therapeutic treatments which people are taking for medical reasons. For example, more and more fish are being found to be a-sexual (neither male nor female). Scientists speculate that estrogen in the urine of women taking birth control pills goes untreated into the lakes and is the cause of the problem. Heart and other medications pass through the body and end up in our water supply. There is no treatment process for medications and there are literally thousands of drugs and industrial chemicals being dumped in high concentration into our lakes.
When I drive though rural south western Ontario, most of what I see growing in the fields is corn. Very little of our land is being used for the production of vegetables. Most of the crops we grow are used for feed to produce meat. These crops are grown with chemical fertilizers and herbicides. The producers of these chemicals claim that they are far more efficient than organic farming and they are not a problem for our water supply; however, this is clearly untrue on several fronts. Organic farmers now claim that their yields are comparable and the costs for equivalent production are far less without the use of chemicals.
Are there answers to these difficult problems or are we doomed to self-destruction? For centuries people lived on a small patch of land, grew their own food, and ran their own sewage treatment plants (septic systems) and the water remained pure. Then we all moved to the city and became dependent on others to do for us what we had always done for ourselves and that is when the problems got out of control. Moving more people into less space only intensifies the problem. The “Places to Grow” policy grows cities which are unsustainable and prevents people from moving back to the land. We need un-intensive living and intensive farming (Google it) which are both sustainable. That takes vision and courageous leadership. It isn’t easy making monumental changes but we have no choice – we are racing down a dead end street. “Places to Grow” is a policy which has no future. It prevents people from taking control of their lives, providing for themselves, and building their future on the wisdom of the past.

The Senate is trying to figure out a way to avoid the collapse of the financial system. Lenders are leveraging for a bail out. But Americans are angry, as they well should be. They don’t want the perpetrators of the problem to “walk” while they take the “fall”.

“Excerpt from (LA Times, April 25, 2008)
Frank’s committee this week approved a Republican proposal to give lenders and loan servicers protection against such lawsuits. But powerful industry groups, such as the Mortgage Bankers Assn., have scorned the proposal.

“It makes me concerned [that] lenders and servicers really aren’t interested in sitting down and negotiating a resolution to these problems,” said Rep. Michael N. Castle (R-Del.), chief author of the GOP proposal.

“Maybe they figure the government will get desperate enough at some point, it’ll throw money at the problem and they can come out with no write-down of these mortgages,” he mused.

“There is no sympathy for anything that smacks of bailout,” said Allen Sinai, chief economist of Decision Economics Inc., who recently testified in favor of the Frank bill. “The outrage has shown up very quickly, and means that at this point the government can only go so far.” (End Quote)

People are aware that the problems they now face were caused by uncontrolled and blinding greed in the financial markets. They want control of their lives back. They shouldn’t have to worry about deals being made on Wall Street that will take from them everything they have worked for most of their lives. They want their Government to act on THEIR behalf.

The lack of government intervention in these areas have stolen hundreds of thousands of average American’s lifetime of work and savings. If it was done with a gun there would be a war. Freedom, is worth defending but some freedom or lack of government control takes other people’s freedom away. The media (the agents of Corporations – proport freedom of the markets) There isn’t freedom of the market. If there was there wouldn’t be a collapse. We wouldn’t pay 3.50/gallon for gas. We wouldn’t pay $150,000 for a gallbladder operation. Prices are controlled not by the market but by a handful of people who profit from their control. There is no free market where the consumer can shop and compare prices in a competitive market. Oil is priced not by the consumer supply and demand but by a handful of people in New York who profit from its rising price. The system we have is not free market – it is tyranny wrapped in idealism.

The government has allowed speculators and financial institutions to gain at the expense of the people, effectively turning the entire country into a labor camp. Housing and oil isn’t the only areas where the balance of power has been allowed to shift far in favor of company’s shareholders and market profiteers. Powerful groups control medical services in American which can transfer the wealth of an entire family into its hands simple by having one medical need in your lifetime. How many family’s have been left with nothing. How free is that?

The system is flawed and no American is immune of being robbed of their saving and financial future as long as the system continues to give certain people more freedom at the expense of others. The people with the authority to intervene didn’t – even when they knew what the outcome would be. That is a breach of trust and crime against the people. The repercussions of the collapse of the housing market has effectively syphoned off billions of dollars from the economy which are now in the hands of the greedy. If the government bails these institutions out, then it will be using your money to further rob you of everything you have worked for. This crisis could have been avoided. But that would have taken someone to stand tall and strong against the corruption. Apparently there was no one. People knew what was going on and did nothing. That is a crime against you and me. The corruption has weakened America and could destroy it if it doesn’t get leaders that will not bow to the power brokers who are destroying our freedom and stealing our wealth.