Never in the history of the world has man seen a bigger swindle as the recent bank and economic collapse originating in the United States of America and cascading rapidly to other economies worldwide.

Why a swindle, one may ask? It is a most scandalous swindle because people in the know chose, for whatever reason, to ignore the signs of an impending catastrophe and others cleverly hid the obvious.

It is not that banks failed, it is not that the stock markets tumbled, it is not that GM, Ford and Chrysler lost their shirts – it is because innocent investors like those who toiled all their lives and methodically set money aside and invested in what they were led to believe that although there were risks involved, they would be much farther ahead if they invested in ‘blue chip’ companies such as banks and auto manufacturers. Problem is that these blue chip companies are the primary contributors to making the average investor sing the proverbial blues.

One can blame these

mismanaged entities till the cows come home, but one must not let the government administrations off the hook. It is them, after all, who enact legislation outlining the parameters

within which these companies can operate. The domino effect started under the very nose of the dying Bush administration which for the previous eight years had ample time to realise that all was not well with American banks and the auto industry in particular. The banks could very well hide their shortcomings but the “Big Three” (not any more) had been losing their traditional market share for years – a clear sign of mismanagement, poor product and failing to keep their ears to the ground in order to assess the buyers’ wants, needs and the desire of obtaining ‘green’ products in line with the crusade for less energy consumption and for cleaner environment.

The swindle is being further exasperated by a smoke screen called the “economic stimulus package” consisting of an excess of a trillion American dollars just for bailing out banks and the auto industry in America alone. Add to this enormous sum, the other billions being thrown at various economies by Britain, Germany and other EU countries and others like the Chinese, who are not about to publicly declare what monetary measures they are taking in order to prevent the Chinese economy from sliding into oblivion. China, however has significant advantages not the least being cheap labour.

All this freshly printed money, with not much backing it, and throwing it in the hope of solving this disaster we find ourselves in, may end up creating a larger pain in the long run without providing the least hint of a guarantee that it will solve the problem in the short term for as long as it takes to put the economies back on the right track.

Speaking of China’s cheap labour, and after blaming both governments and industry, we must not forget that for decades, unions pressed forward with arrogant boldness pushing companies to pay their workers wages which far exceeded reasonable compensation compared to their skills. Why I ask, should an auto worker in the USA earn a total of $60+ per hour (wages and benefits) while his counterpart in Mexico earns $30 and in China $10 per hour or less? Experts will point out that living expenses and standards are not alike and that is true. But if the final product is comparable, I ask, why not? But that is another long, hot and debatable issue which requires an analysis of its own.

While chief executives find their new abode behind bars (not of the imbibing type), the millions of retired workers who took the advice of their bankers and brokers and for many years did without the little extras in the hope that in their “golden years” they will have enough to fall back on, suddenly find their back to the wall having lost up to half of their investments in a few short weeks. While the culprits receive their bailouts, these pensioners and other bona-fide investors are left whistling the blues.

Has any government raised its concerns or taken into account that some of these trillions should go into the pockets which were effectively robbed by unscrupulous bank and industry officials? Of course not. It is much easier to throw a billion here and a billion there rather than doling handouts to the little men in the street.

In the meantime, CEOs of failing companies are losing their jobs, but before emptying their desks, they are receiving envelopes as part of the “golden handshake”, containing hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars.

If this is not a scam, a scandal and a swindle, what is?

J. Martinelli

London, Ontario

Canada