By Mel Wilde
Even a quick look at history can provide us with glaring examples of failed economic experiments. That is if we take even a little time to look and learn with an open mind.
I was listening to a very able speaker the other night and he raised some realities that I can’t stop thinking about. Here’s a few of his thoughts as I remember them.
If we look at North Korea and South Korea, why is it that people in South Korea have lives that are free, have the liberty to achieve and they have built one of the worlds best economies. Yet, the other Korea has ugly poverty, no freedom and if one disagrees with anything, off to the hoosegow or worse.
These folks have the same heritage, once had the same culture, have the same language and there are families who are split apart by the border.
Think about East and West Germany. Again, one people, a common language, and folks inter-related on both sides of that border. Yet, for all the time East Germany existed, the living conditions, the economy and every day freedoms just were plain abhorrent.
We have seen the creation of some huge socialist empires and none of them have survived. Some would argue that we are talking degrees of socialism, but even today, those countries whose masses embrace warm fuzzy degrees of creeping socialism are failing.
From Greece to Ireland and on to Iceland, country after country has failed because they couldn’t pay for huge social programs, so they went broke.
Again, critics would say look at America, they are not socialist. It was the American government’s intervention into the housing market that caused the housing bubble to burst.
The message went out from Washington that everyone has a right to a home, even if they have no job to pay the mortgage with. Push the loans became the buzzword and new financial derivatives were created.
The crash came and the suffering under trillions of debt dollars is just beginning.
Yesterday the International Monetary Fund indicated that Greece will probably default on its debt payment. The average Greek citizen is living under draconian financial burdens and now it will get worse.
I went home after listening to this speech wondering why we have not learned the lessons of history. The experiment in socialist economics has failed in every instance in which a country had to stand on its own two feet.
Every experiment with socialism from dictatorial North Korea to the warm fuzzy socialism of Europe has caused suffering for the average person.
Next week we will decide the direction our country will take for the many years ahead. Will we heed the lessons of history or will we give in to charisma and campaign promises?
Will we agree that the only way to prosperity is by working for it, or do we choose to believe that government is the source of wealth?
The final test is up to the Canadian people. I pray that we have the wisdom to choose well.
These ideas and proven examples were part of a speech given by retiring Federal Cabinet Minister, Stockwell Day. After twenty-five years of public service he is moving on to the next chapter in his book of life.
Please join with me in thanking him and his family for all the years of hard work and dedication he gave to all Canadians.
Mel is a retired Director of Operations for a large Canadian Corporation. He is a noted world traveller and has studied geopolitical issues for many years. His most noticeable interest is in the effects of different types of governance and organizational behaviour.