It is now evident to even the most optimistic observers that the world economy is moving back into a recession that could result in another financial meltdown.
It is obvious that austerity measures including, cuts in public spending, wage cuts and job losses are making matters worse.
The decision to employ quantative easing (printing money) will inevitably lead to high levels of inflation and is an indication of the malaise of the present system.
In the field of economics the panaceas of the professional politicians and their economists are seen to be failing; in reality they have no idea of how to get out of the present crises.
This is not lost on the populace; it is leading to widespread skepticism and increasing interest as to what is really going on.
Workers trying to defend themselves from the cuts by exercising their hard-won democratic right to strike are prevented from doing so by governments who simply change the law or use the force of the state.
This tactic is working in the short term but at the cost of building up tremendous anger and frustration that will at some stage burst to the surface.
It is a process that has been demonstrated by recent events in Quebec with the mass protests of the workers and students, and also events such as the strikes in Wisconsin in the USA.
For decades working people have been encouraged to regard politics as something that they are involved in only at election time, something for professional politicians, recent events indicate that this attitude is changing.
People will increasingly become active in political parties and from now on politics will be no longer the prerogative of the professionals.
Keith Norman Wyatt
Innisfail NDP (personal capacity)
