November 02, 2007

a global chinese curse!

When people think about welfare they think about the unemployed,single mothers, the disabled and the aged but Ellissa points out that by far the biggest slice of taxpayer funds is spent on corporate welfare, and with the Global New World Order coming into existence these hidden welfare recipients are going to be shaken out of their comfort zones and forced to compete on the open market.

"In its free trade agreements, the USA seeks to remove all barriers to government purchasing markets," says Ellissa, "and what this means is that corporations which have enjoyed a crony relationship with governments are going to lose their preferential treatment (their corporate welfare payments) and their God-given right to be baled out of occasional financial difficulties."

"Look at it this way," explains Ellissa. "Single mothers receive an allowance for raising children that one day will become productive members of society, and unemployed people receive an allowance to assist them to find productive work."

"Nobody who works and pays tax likes the idea of their money going into supporting these so-called parasites," says Ellissa, "but if they knew how much of their tax money was going towards supporting the corporate parasites there would be a revolution."

"Corporate welfare is money paid to individuals who run companies that organize the provision of goods and services to governments," says Ellissa. "It is welfare because these individuals are middle-men. The government could just as easily deal directly with the primary producer of goods and services but because the middle-man is a crony, part of the Old Boys' Network,he gets the contract and is kept off the unemployment queues."

"Anyone can set up one of these corporations," says Ellissa, "but without a close relationship with someone in government you won't get anywhere. Even if government purchasing projects are sent to Tender, they always go to the Old Boys. The whole system is rigged."

"I know all this because I worked for a guy who ran one of these corporations,"confides Ellissa. "He and I worked out of a poky little downtown office and you'd never believe the dodgy deals he did, the fat government checks he received and the thin tax he paid. When I worked out that I was paying more in tax from my wage than he was paying in total, I moved on in disgust. It gives me great pleasure to know that he, and guys like him, will soon lose their preferential status."

"In the new world order, this preferential treatment in government purchasing deals is going to be abolished," says Ellissa. "A free trade agreement means the abolition of all corporate welfare, and no signatory nation to a free trade agreement can ban competition on any grounds."

"As Canada is already discovering in its legal battles with Ethyl (a US chemical company) and United Parcel Service (UPS, a US corporation) even publicly owned services are under fire," says Ellissa, "and if a national postal service can be seen as a violating monopoly because it uses its public infrastructure to cross-subsidize services then it's not just the small welfare corporations that are at risk but the whole public infrastructure of education, health, electricity, roads and water."

"Free trade guarantees competition and, flowing on from this, more efficient and cheaper goods and services," says Ellissa. "The cosy partnerships governments have traditionally had with their preferred corporations -- the ones receiving welfare -- are being eroded, and this is a very good thing."

"Perhaps what is not good about free trade is that it will lead to the privatisation of essential services, such as health and water, that most of us believe are better managed by us (the government) than by a private company,"says Ellissa. "However, in that we have elected some very strange people to lead us and there is no guarantee that our electoral system is 100%foolproof, perhaps privatization will prove to be far better in the long run -- as long as it comes with plenty of competition."

"All of these changes mean that we will be paying less tax -- at least I hope so!" laughs Ellissa, "but paying more for services that will be provided directly by private companies in competition with each other rather than subsidized by taxpayer money as they are now."

"So, along with the corporate welfare guys, like the one I once worked for, all of our public servants now in lifelong taxpayer provided jobs, will soon be seeking work in the private sector," says Ellissa. "It's going to be interesting times ahead we'll be living in!"

"And that, if you didn't know already, is a Chinese curse!"


Ellissa's story first appeared as hello free trade, goodbye corporate welfare and is reprinted with permission.

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