LETTER: Langley letter writer lays out the ‘dry’ background of Canadian economics

Dear Editor,

Re: [LETTER: Getting too costly to be Canadian, Langley Advance Times, June 2]

Here are three economic realities that might at least be partly responsible:

1. Debt-based currency (contradictory term?)

According to economic and political author Michael Rowbotham: “It is actually not in the least surprising that nations are chronically in debt, governments have inadequate public resources, public services are underfunded, and people are beset by mortgages and overdrafts. The reason for all this monetary scarcity and insolvency is that the financial system used by all national economies worldwide is actually founded on debt. To be direct and precise, modern money is created in parallel with debt.”

2. What were the consequences of the 1974 role change of the Canadian Central Bank?

A brief article by John Ryan in 2018 describes the massive impact this event has had on Canadians and the Canadian economy. The title reads “The Bank of Canada should be reinstated to its original mandated purposes – Few people understand the Canadian government’s relationship with the Bank of Canada or its original purpose”.

3. Capitalist monopolies

One thing they are not is your neighbourhood butcher, baker and brewer which Adam Smith refers to in his 1776 Wealth of Nations. It has been said that monopolies and big money crush competition creating a dangerous false capitalism that is harmful to the consumer and the worker. Their leverage and influence over government should not override the will of the voters, the everyday people.

Although these factors are rather unexciting and a bit dry, they are immensely relevant to the health of our nation’s economy. It is unfortunate (and puzzling) that these paramount dynamics don’t get the warranted coverage they deserve or play a bigger role in public conversation.

Michelle Matich, South Langley

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• READ MORE: Stagflation – a combination of high inflation and a weak job market

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