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EE EE et A Sr PL RO (RL A AD Ef SS RAE SSR Ol Bl 00 0 Ue MS MR LN An Ey rT SRC TR hy ae As ACRE Warring Ce BL AR PIR EOP LB hg AL NAA EN LA AE Phy PN AJFLRE CLR AVA ASNE REA CU SRERS OA A A I RR AL TD HE DW LA CH rs HN E10 D QQ rt O --, fo} OO O = = MD -- -- Who really is fighting inflation in this country? Finance Minister Allan MacEachen was in fine form during a radio broadcast we heard last week. Questioned on record-high interest rates, the finance minister explained that these soaring rates are the only way to keep inflation in check. If the money supply is tightened up, people will stop buying more than they can afford and things will slow down, he said, spouting traditional Liberal economic policy. The interview then got to the point: "That's a nice theory, Mr. Minister, but what advice do you have for the farmers who are going bankrupt as a result of this quick upturn in interest rates? What do you have to say to small businessmen who will have to shut down because they can no longer afford the carrying charges. What about the homeowner who finds he cannot adjust to an increase of 12 per cent to ns " wie 18 per cent in his mortgage and has to lose his home?' pra A few sputters and sighs later, MacEachen went into another philosophical frenzy about how such conditions would make people more aware of the economic situation. Yes, it certainly will. And it will also make them painfully aware that this country is being run in the, interests of the monied classes instead of the working people who built it with their blood, sweat and tears. It was only about five years ago that the government was making grants available to encourage people to buy homes. Many individuals responded to this EIS AN ad EBX borrow more money or stop buying the product. If he does the former, it will only fuel inflation. If he does $07 the latter, we will have a depression. A government incentive and invested their futures at 10 The only people who come out winners are those ah to 12 per cent. Now that these families'are snuggly ith money. MacEachen has protected their } 2% tucked in and their mortgages coming due, that same |, estment by ensuring they have ample return on f 2 federal government has adopted a policy to throw their money to offset inflation. The farmer and small 3 them out of their homes. - J businessman can go broke, as far as MacEachen is concerned, and the homeowner can sell-out, as long as bankers are safe. It's the old story: Those who have much, will have more. Those who have little, will have even less. Instead of protecting money, the government should be protecting people: Money without workers is useless. One of these days we should all just put down our tools and stop working. Then let the MacEachen's of the nation see how much good their money does them. Maybe it's time the working people in this country The only factor left out of Liberal economic policy is people. The strategists quote percentages. They show statistics. They talk decimal points. MacEachen's argument that high interest rates will curb consumer credit buying and bring matters under control are absolute nonsense. Many small businesses, including farms, must rely on financing. Homeowners are already locked into mortgages. These people have to borrow whether they like it or not. In the case of small business, the increase in carrying charges will have to be passed on to the * GIMME A SECOND TO WIPE MY HANDS HERE AND I'LL FIND YOUR BILL." customer. The customer In turn, will either have to stopped being takep for granted. Courtesy Alexandria-Glengarry News. - HOORAY FOR CANADA Hope you had a good Thanksgiving, even though my message is a bit belated. Ours wasn't so hot. Under the burden of a heavy cold, rotten weather (what ever happened to Indian summer?), and plain procrastination, I'm going to let some of my readers write this column. Apparently I wrote a column a few months ago about Canadians, despite all the gloom and doom, never having had it so good. I meant it, as far as material things go. Here are a couple of responses. Mrs. Koleen Garland (nice name that, Koleen) of R.R. 2 Cargill, Ont., says she usually agrees with me, but not on that occasion. I'll quote bits: "This week's column had my dander up before I got to the third line. : , "So we never had it so good, huh? Maybe the consumers never had it so good ... but some of us are producers as well ... we have nearly $90,000 worth of debt. It's called a small farm. I call it the great Canadian freebee. We cannot get firm mortgage loans ... too small to merit help. So we are stuck with paying $20,000 per year in interest. "Last year I cut our living level. My husband has an excellent job, yet Be we still managed to take a $5,000 loss on the 4 year." Yes, mam, but how much income 37 , tax did you pay, with a loss like that? Were you hungry, cold, hopeless? I know all about paying interest. I've been doing it all my life. Mrs. Garland ends with the emphasis I wish I could instill in my students' writings: expenses down to $7,000 ... a bit below the poverty bill smile "Maybe we never had it so good? Listen, Sonny (thank you, mam). I'm a farmer! I've worked by backside off providing those never-had-it-so-good, so don't include me in them." Well said, lady. But maybe you should have taken a course in plumbing or SAesiiy Wish I had. You wouldn't be in ebt. : ; At the other end of the knotted rope, Bill Francis of Moncton, N.B., agrees with me. "It is a relief to know that there is still someone around who realizes that in the bulk we are a greedy lot; even, alas, senior citizens who never had it so good. As for the young, they now expect to celebrate Christ- mas in June. "In our early years, hard-nosed bank managers may have slowed us down, but nothing ever dimmed our hope. I soon learned to pay cash or do without. Started out in 1914 working a 12 hour week, six days week ... earning $60 a month and paying $15 dollars for board, consisting mainly of cod and moose meat ... 80 many had it a lot worse during those depression years." Amen to that, Bill. I'm about half way between these two writers, in age, and in opinion. But I still think, even with our sick dollar, inflation, - and unemployment we still have something to have a happy Thanksgiving about. Now, about censorship. Hilda Sibthorpe, of Wyebridge, Ont., supports my stand against the minority who would like to ban certain books in our schools: ; "I express my concern to trustees, friends and neighbours that this is a situation they should speak out about. But it's frustrating to meet indifference ..." Mrs. Sibthorpe is an occasional correspon- dent, a successful politician, and the mother of two girls I taught back in what seems like the 1880s. She is also deeply concerned about the subject of abortion: I still believe there - should be a choice for women ...,""" but that's another topic, not for this column. Though I agree with her, : Somebody else, from Vancouver (can't "find the danged letter), agrees with my opinions on censorhip, but berates me for mentioning the Bible as an example of some pretty straight talk that would probably be banned by some rural school boards in this country, if it had been published last year. This writer claims that the Bible contains these lurid passenges only to display God's anger with man's folly and to warn him about it. Well, that may be, but in my ~ opinion, a lot of it is straight history, and some of it pretty lurid. Thank goodness, our local school board has some guts. A few zealots on the board had drawn up a list of seven books considered questionable for teaching. There was a big flap, but in the end, only one book was left on the banned list. Ironically, it was a play, same play to be presented in the . country soon by a drama group. A final touch of unintentional irony occurred when a local radio announcer said the book had been banned because one of the characters was a religious bigot. I wonder what kind of people began the list in the first place. ' I have lots more interesting correspon- dence, but not much more room. Let's go back to our reason for giving thanks. Inflation and interest rates are killing us, along with ever-higher taxes. But that's only paper, and can't kill our spirit. _ We have bumbling governments that talk like lions and act like mice. A heck of a lot of people are living below the so-called poverty line. Farmers and small businessmen and people with mortgages to renew are hurting. But who is dying of starvation or for lack of medicine, as in much of the rest of the world? We may be cold, but we aren't freezing to death. They don't pick corpses off the streets every morning. Our children have an excellent chance of surviving. Some of us, at some time, may have had it better. But for the Canadian people, as a mass, I still say we never had it so good. . a &" F, BN