BEST C the HERALD Aits St Ideas Wednesday July 10 1991 Brilliant theories have never put food on table ByJOHNSOMER Ah capitalism What a won drous thing it is It puts food on the table of the ones that can pay for it It does it at the expense of good and responsible farmers but what the heck let future generations think of something to return fertility to impoverished soils Right now we have plenty The tables in our socalled developed West are groaning with food Capitalism seems to have solved the problem of want right And yet there is poverty in our countries No matter what we do the poor are always with us The crudest propaganda ex plains it with laziness and faulty genes Only the fittest must sur- Ideas and The Arts by John Summer vive Who doesnt work shall not eat either Lets sterilize poor un married mothers and get them off the welfare rolls This hateful propaganda never explains why there are so many without work Are there really that many jobs out there that go begging and never get filled The truth is that the bestrun economies in the Western World have unemployment Without a labor pool a euphemism for chronic unemployment wages would go through the roof and all profits would vanish There was a time when the poor were left to rot Most modern states however desire a good press internationally and therefore have devised ways and means to give handouts to the poor to not have them begging the streets at least not in the bel ter parts of town But when a recession hits a recession is the capitalist Tony Meers exhibit opens A gala evening is planned tonight for the official opening of an exhibition of drawing and painting by Toronto artist Tony being featured at the Halton Hills LibraryCultural Centre The collection of 25 years of drawing and painting by the suc cessful commercial artist will hang in the gallery in July and August with the artist and his wife and a number of dignitaries attending tonights opening sponsored by the Friends of the Halton Hills Libraries The show will be composed of a Artists budget increases The Ontario that y for the Artists program has Last allocated to thiaj Norman WJtf Director of Council said has been Ontario gova OACs approj year We are recognize the tists and the in this tangiM Walford we are able to for professional the same op portunities for of the trade union to become involved in and development of aits projects he added Since the program was in troduced in a total of has been awarded by to projects throughout Ontario with participating unions contribution at least Further information and ap plication forms for this juried program can be obtained from the Community Arts Develop ment Office of the Ontario Arts Council 151 Bloor Street West Toronto 1T6 or by calling or tollfree in On tario 18003870058 Mostly Bath Bed and Table Linens Preferred Bridal Registry Service 246 Main Street East I MILTON selection of original work created for the covers of Canadian romance and adventure paper back novels Also included in the exhibition and sale will be a number of portraits drawings and sketches Tony The Making of a Working Artist to will be officially opened by Mayor Russell Miller and will hang the gallery from July 10th to August The artist grew up m Georgetown attending Wrig- Public and Georgetown High Schools Tak ing part in the opening will be his former High School instructor Terry McDonald of Streetsville and John Somer local gallery owner and early mentor also a columnist with the Halton Hills Herald Former school chums of the ar tist and the public are invited to attend the Opening Gala between 7 and m Refreshments will be served by The Friends Following the opening the Library Gallery Church Street will be open to the public during library summer hours including Tuesday through Thursday even ings until 9 pm There is no ad mission charge Status of artist studied by province The Ontario Ministry of Culture and Communications has now begun comprehensive consulta tions with the arts community to develop a provincial policy on the status of the artist Minister Marchese announced Throughout June ministry staff met with representatives from the Ontario arts communi ty as well as other provincial ministries with legislation andor policies that affect the socioeconomic status of the pro fessional artist Artists make an important contribution to our collective identity and our economy said Marchese They are among the most highly trained profes sionals yet their average in comes hover on the poverty line The current system severely limits their access to benefits and labour relations standards Among the areas of concern that the province will address at the meetings are labour rela tions including collective bargaining employment stan dards workers compensation and health and safety concerns fiscal compensation such as pen sion plans tax deductions and credits training and professional development housing and workspace availability and public awareness and arts and education Recentlyintroduced federal legislation proposed the extension of labour rights under federal jurisdiction The meetings have been struc tured on an issuebyissue basis and are designed to stimulate discussion of the alternatives available to the Ontario govern ment in addressing the concerns of the artist A discussion paper outlining policy options is ex pected to be completed by September continued I am committed to working with the arts community and my col leagues other ministries to develop a strong and effective status of the artist policy in On tario These consultations repre sent a significant step forward in achieving that goal HAYDNS music SHOP Pianos Lowrey Keyboards Music Books Music Lessons 115 Mam SIS Ate McCllHf Room equivalent of a famine in a third- world country we try to save money by cutting the handouts to the poor Its far more glamorous to help famine victims than your own people Yet every penny a poor prson gets is spent at once and becomes fuel to the economy while the rich hoard their money in foreign accounts and use every tax shelter imaginable We humans are strange How quick we are to accuse the poor of not working enough as if all the rich are selfmade How many of them are How many of them were born into riches and brought up by servants and went to the best schools and eventually got daddys millions It is not work so much that is needed to make or to keep a person wealthy but op portunities and opportunities in this world are always limited Division of labor an absolute must in a civilization like ours limits opportunities Not everybody can be a boss no mat ter how hard you work To say that everybody can make a million is as much nonsense as to say that everybody can win in a lottery Unfortunately the poor instead of rebelling believe this nonsense and spend too much of their money on lottery tickets At the moment there seems to be no substitute for capitalism and as long as it is linked with democracy we can live with it But it is not a perfect system and never will be We have found out that communism because of its lack of counterbalancing forces private property free press op position parties etc is deadly In small communities in par ticular if they are based on a religious code some forms of PHOTO SPECIAL communism seem to work as for instance with the Shakers and the In larger organizations religion is no protection against repression Think of the armies of former Popes waging wars all over Europe think of the people burned at the stake all in the name of our compassionate savior What caused the present reces sion It is ironic to hear business leaders say governments should be run more like businesses God forbid We are in this recession because big business with the help of President Reagan gambl ed as if there was no tomorrow The 80s saw the biggest spending spree in all history Big banks and big business engaged in fren zied speculations that were positively obscene Apart from the small indepen dent businessman and woman few remained sober millions thought they could spend themselves rich Now the whole irresponsible mess has come down like a house of cards and promptly the very people who got us into it start preaching With many thousands of people thrown out of their jobs big business says no rescue opera tions no more money for re education for these poor wret ches We need the money from the governments to bail out our overextended enterprises If we dont get this cash from the governments the taxpayer we will go somewhere else Neat Ap parently the poor are now to pay for the follies of the rich Its a farce of the blackest kind and anybody who is becoming a part of it should be deeply asham ed HOUR SAME NEXT DAY Passport Photos ln3Mln WE RENT VIDEO CAMERAS Mill in f mi STEVEN C FOSTER BA LLB BARRISTER SOLICITOR 37 MAIN ST SOUTH GEORGETOWN L7G 3G2 8734961 fax 8734962 THE OPTIMRS BABY CAR SEAT RENTAL SALE 25 35 RENT tor 9 months with of S10 upon return Call 8770267 or 8776457 SUPPORT YOUR HOME TEAM ir local merchants try their best every day to provide quality merchandise and services at the lowest possible prices These merchants deserve our support and our business Sup port your home team and every one here will be a winner Keep the dollars you spend in HALTON HILLS