Letters: Dec 12/13

Dec 11, 2013

Re: socialism and capitalism, Norm Hart

Re: socialism and capitalism, Marie Anne Collier

Cell Towers and Night Skies, Steve Fryer

Hydro One, Glen Pearce

Re: Socialism & Capitalism

It’s not quite that simple - Ms. Wallace’s letter (The Difference between socialism and capitalism, Letters, Nov 28/13), has overlooked several points:

There really are no pure examples of Ms. Wallace’s concept of either socialism or capitalism working in the world. There are some examples of extreme examples of governments claiming to be one or the other, and there are also examples where countries have a mixture of both.

A basic philosophy of each form of government could be the following catch phrases: for socialism – “the common good” and for capitalism –“the individual good”. If we had pure capitalism we would not have some of our services, such as roads, police, fire, ambulance, schools, and hospitals, to name a few. That is called laissez faire/fascism, and was prevalent during the “Robber Barons” era in the United States around the 1850s - 1920s. If we had pure socialism we would not have some other services, such as choice of doctor, choice of consumer goods, choice of voter preference. That is called communalism/communism dictatorship such as North Korea.

The fall of the Berlin Wall was not the failure of socialism, but more the collapse of the paranoid military dictatorial Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Ms. Wallace also failed to mention the two most recent great failures of capitalism: the Great Depression of 1929 to 1939 and the almost virtual economic collapse of the United States in 2008 and the ensuing economic depression, both caused by individual greed and lack of government regulation.

A capitalist may rail against wages and pension/benefits paid out to the employees, while a socialist may decry the large salaries paid to heads of corporations, when, in fact, there is a meeting place somewhere in the middle.

To keep our country from falling into either of these two extremes, we need to hear more voices in the middle, not just shrill narrow voices at the extreme. According to the most recent Ekos poll the countries that are living better have a mixture of social and entrepreneurial programs. Our standard of living is “now 17th [in the world] or something like that. When our standard of living was No. 1 or 2 in the world, we had much higher tax rates and much more active government. We had universal social programs, we had trust in government and democracy, we had a very different relationship between citizens and public institutions.” Frank Graves, president of Ekos Research, Toronto Star, 7/12/13, s.IN p.2.

A change in our voting system to a more proportional system would allow us to hear more than one voice who receives only 39 percent of the country’s votes.

The measure of a country is not only its economic growth, but also how we treat the least among us. It can be really this simple.

Norm Hart

Re: Socialism & Capitalism

This response to the letter about socialism and capitalism  (The Difference between socialism and capitalism, Letters, Nov 28/13), will probably be as confusing as the original stimulus. A good response would require at least one book…

Capitalism, as practised in Canada and the U.S. is more likely to promote inequality; children of the wealthy wind up wealthy themselves, without working for it, and children of the poor who “make it” are rare, exceptional, and often lucky. Our present society rewards a few people, usually males, with literally millions per year. Equality of opportunity in hockey does not apply to kids who can’t afford equipment or ice time. For every kid who makes it, there are hundreds of wanna-bees. Every year.

Actually the “overtaxing” of the rich goes mainly to the middle class – if nothing else, the salaries of all those who distribute the money, teach the kids, minister to the sick and handicapped, and check to see that the money is spent lawfully. It adds up.

Capitalism in essence rewards the boss, who does little work, but reaps the benefits. Ask any farmer.

Dependency might be the result of the welfare state, whose cumbersome ways promote discouragement.

Rewarding people for their efforts just might promote the money-hungry, materialistic society which we seem to be burdened with now, to the disgust of truly religious people.

We have a socialist government in half our provinces, and the universe has not collapsed, and the unemployed are still screaming for work.

Duncan Meikle

Cell phone towers and night skies

Up here in North Frontenac we have a number of people who have worked hard to create a "Dark Sky Preserve" in the county, and that finally came about this past summer. A brand new observing pad was built with electrical supply and its own washrooms. We are told this will be a draw for tourists and astronomers to come to our county. Terrific!
We have also waited years and pushed hard to get half decent cell coverage. This past summer cell towers have sprung up like mushrooms all over the place. The one in Plevna dominates the skyline near the hardware store. One of them is within direct line of sight with the new observing pad. Now those who need to be in touch are just days away from much improved service. Great!

Unfortunately, each of those new cell towers has the brightest, most piercing strobe light you have ever seen blasting away into the night skies of our lovely "Dark Sky Preserve". Isn't it ironic?

Steve Fryer

Hydro One

Our attempts to have Hydro One correct our bills since they last read our meter in April continue to be stymied by their absolute refusal to accept the actual meter readings in place of their grossly inaccurate “estimates”. Since April, on each monthly bill, they have charged us for twice as much electricity as we actually used, so the differences and penalties are considerable. We have had Hydro One agents hang up on us when we tried to give them actual readings. Calls to Hydro One are very stressful; you feel as if you have somehow blundered into a Monty Python skit.

In direct contrast to their propaganda, the reality is that Hydro One punishes those who practise conserving electricity, who become, in effect, square pegs they persist on pounding into their system's round holes.

Glen Pearce