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Page THE HERALD Wednesday December 1 1M0 Who is to blame by DIANNE Business Analyst Thomson News Service A new sort of optimist is emerging from the economic gloom that surrounds us the recession- denyer Now people who deny what is happening or what has happened have a curious turn of mind One suspects their motives if not their mental stability Well it turns out have an ulterior motive Usually they are business people who have something to sell Or they are politicians who want to be returned to office next election Lately though some ordinary sensible people have been joining their camp This is what they say They say recession is a self- fulfilling prophecy They say if we believe we are in recession we will not spend Since consumer spending comprises about twothirds of the North American economy we will precipitate the recession we dread On the surface this sounds true even obvious Yet this line of argument is not as sound as it seems One could say the same of many other things the stock market the bond market the real estate market any place where things are bought and sold In doing so one would be saying nothing really Let me explain Look at the stock market for exam ple True when most people decide to abandon it it drops The herd mentality makes the situation worse but it does not cause it Indeed markets tend to crack just at the point whenihost people believe they have nowhere to go but up To say doomsayers caused the drop is like explaining it by saying there were more sellers than buyers not very informative Usually markets crack because they have become overheated that is prices have risen too high and the bubble bursts Economies too can become overheated The economy is like a big marketplace subject to the same boom and bust cycles Optimists do not like this point of view It smacks of determinism which makes them feel helpless En trepreneurs do not like to feel helpless If we did not cause the recession who did What recession the denyers quip This is a read justment Those who went broke deserved it They did not know how to manage their business they argue- Shake out the deadbeats and things will get back to normal if only people would stop talking about the recession What about the people who have been laid off one might ask Did they deserve it as well Of course not the say impatiently But their workplaces were overstaffed Again these guys did not know how to manage their business Perhaps the denyers are on to something here Perhaps recession is not inevitable Perhaps it is caused by the failure of corporate executives to properly manage their business and of politicians to police them Be that as it may we are still in recession Two quarters of a year of shrinking output and more to come Must we sit here helplessly The decision is not ours We must do what we can to protect ourselves and our families We are not fools As long as the future looks bleak we are not going to go out and spend spend spend Let the recessiondenyers spend the first dollar Let companies dip into their retained earnings if they have to keep workers working Let the politicians persuade us that times are not tough Then we can look at each other and say Perhaps we are not in recession after all Perhaps we should buy a car or a house In the mean time lets remember that we did not cause the recession and we cannot make it go away Editorial Points worth pondering Dear Mr Editor The heartrending story of the old couple stranded in the Royal Ascot raises a few points worth pondering 1 Every high rise building is a potential trap During a power- failure a fire an equipment malfunction an act of vandalism or terrorism every floor above the fourth floor becomes a possi ble disaster area In a low rise building these events can be dealt with through selfhelp In a high rise building the inhabitant becomes a victim Maybe everybody but a sky diver should think twice before moving one of them When a high rise project gets the goahead has the developer been investigated as to his finan cial ability to complete the pro ject It seems to me the Royal Ascot was m trouble almost from the start Could the present dif ficulties have been avoided It will not do for a government to simply blame a higherup government for a nightmare like that 3 That a business tries to pro tect its interests by discontinu ing unpaid services is something we should be prepared for Businesses are not charitable enterprises as we all know nor should they be Sincerely John Sommer The Halton Hills HERALD Home Newspaper of Hills Established A Division of Canadian Newspaper Company Limited Street Georgetown Ontario L7G 3Z6 K ROBERT Publisher and General Manager 8772201 CLASSIFIED Joan Minnall CIRCULATION Mrla Shadboll ACCOUNTING Jannla Accountant and Shlar SUBSCRIPTION RATES lx month alx month month yaar I all month thraa month Harald claim copyright on all original nan and malarial craatad by It amploy and publlahad In nawtpapat National Adiartltlng Thadartiair that not ba I labia lor a ting out of anor In advartlsa- bayond amount paid lor tha apaca actually by that portion the advartltamant In which arror la to tha nagllganca It or and thai no liability lor any tha amount paid lor Duignan responds to editorial Dear Editor I am writing this letter in response to your editorial of December re Nightmare situation You are correct in calling it a Nightmare but the problems for the residents of the Ascot Condominium began back at the beginning of 1990 In early October I first attend ed a residents committee meeting with Mayor Miller and Councillor Marilyn Ser- jeanston The committee brought me up to date with the details of their long ordeal I was shocked by their plight On February 1990 they had written a letter to Hugh Hagen President of Can terra detailing a list of grievances including complaints about the elevator service or more correctly the lack of ser vice The other grievances dealt with such things as noisy and in adequate heaters lack of hot water parking facilities payment of maintenance fees for services not received and complaints about the Phantom Mortgage Miller Ron Shettell Director of the Towns Building Department Garth Turner MP and the On tario New Home Warranty Pro gram received copies of the com plaints and also of the replies from Hugh Another meeting was held June 1990 in the Georgetown Police Station In attendance were Russ Miller Councillors Marilyn Serjeanston Cook and Joe Hewitt Ron Shettell Building Department Directors Howard Borlack laywer Sam Diamond VP of Canterra and owners in the Ascot Club Twenty complaints were tabled at this meeting including the fact that only one elevator was working Another meeting was held on August 1990 with Miller Gerry Town Staff Walt Elliot and residents of the condo Since October my constituency assistant Bill Chard has attend ed various meetings with those involved including the meeting of November at the Halton Hills Civic Centre where Jocelyn Delaney of Trust and Sam Diamond of Canterra fielded questions from Bill Miller Marilyn Serjeanston Ron and Dan Costea Town Administrator It had snowed the previous day and voicing the concerns of the residents Bill asked why the present building superintendent did not even have a shovel to clear the snow in front Your editorial did not mention this digracefui long term situa tion it was the horrendous loss of the only elevator which culminated in Russs comments and your editorial Let me say firstly that I and my assistants were as frustrated as anyone ex cept of course the residents of the Royal Ascot who are in a perilous and very frightening position It has been exasperating for myself and my assistant try ing to get this situation rectified but contrary to what Russ said I did phone him Monday the llth and Tuesday the 12th leaving messages at his office or with the answering service concerning a meeting on Wednesday with the Minister of Consumers and Com mercial Affairs states that he and the councillors dont have the authority to immediately resolve the crisis but they could have passed a town bytaw in keeping with other municipalities con cerning mandatory operation of elevators Passing the buck has gone on far too long concerning the Royal Ascot Some homeowners on Hall Road are also extremely upset with the way the site has been developed I have done and will continue to do my utmost to resolve the Royal Ascot situation for the couple in their eighties for all the residents of the Royal Ascot and for the affected homeowners on Hall Road I am not being forced to take shelter in the shadow of Mr Rae I was in the forefront when I wrote to Ruth Grier demanding a complete environmental assessment on the Hungry Hollow Wetlands much to the dismay of certain individuals in the community In regards to my absence from certain functions let me make myself very clear my atten dance at Queens Park is re quired Monday morning till Thursday evening when the House is in Session Friday Saturday and Sunday I am in e riding and I attend as many func tions as I possibly can as numerous constituents can attest to In the event I am unable to at tend a function one of my assistants usually goes to the event as my representative The articles I write will continue to in form my constituentts o the pro posed legislative changes as they are debated and made law The editorial states in closing that we may win some battles yet lose the war This is very true There are indeed some bat tles coming up in the municipal elections next year that will cer tainly be interesting The people of Halton North and in particular the people of Georgetown are saddened to see developments like Lilac Way Stewarttown Georgetown South and the Royal Ascot Those who have purchased homes in these problem areas are angry and frightened These are precisely ihe kind of developments which are unwanted and in to the people of North Yours sincerely Noel Duignan MPP North New Democratic Party