Allard Laprès Delmar Les dernières L’affaire Burns-Rafay et le The ‘Shit Happens’ contestations terrorisme islamiste factor de la loi 101 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Ensemble et libres Together and free 5 FEBRUARY 2009 • VOL. 2, NO 5 THE BILINGUAL JOURNAL OF REFLECTION, OPINION AND THE ARTS • LE JOURNAL BILINGUE DE RÉFLEXION, OPINIONS ET LES ARTS WWW.THEMETROPOLITAIN.CA Beryl Wajsman Editor & Publisher
[email protected] Stimulate this! Let’s help real people, not fund fake profits he current frenzy of economic stimulus packages sweeping around us like so many forest fires will not — and more Timportantly, should not — work. The reasons are threefold. First, they are stimulating the perpetuation of a false economy that has caused nightmares for tens of millions. Second, the packages are based on outdated Depression-era models without taking into consideration today’s much different realities. And third, they provide insufficient protection to get people through the tough three to seven years that are to come. Through the funny-money years of the eighties and the go-go years of the nineties, the money hustle industry created a new vocabulary. The fictional Gordon Gekko in the movie “Wall Street” set the tone. “Greed is good,” Gekko proclaimed. “Greed built America!” The money hustlers put a twist on that. “Debt is good,” they proclaimed. “Never ending growth will pay the bills. Don’t worry. Be happy. Spend.” They lied. Too many bought into the lie. Home ownership became a “right.” As did the second car, the third vacation, the boat and the country cottage.