We chose this financial mess

George Orwell's book "1984" foretells about all-knowing, all seeing totalitarian government exerting total control over its people. The terms, "big brother" and "Orwellian" were inspired by this work. Perhaps the date was wrong - perhaps it should have been 2008. And who's our greatest enemy in this mess but ourselves!

We chose this. We have allowed ourselves to be thankful to for allowing it in. Governments, and particularly the US government under George W Bush, have taken us on a giant step closer to totalitarian rule. As the largest economy on earth the US exerts enormous influence and they know it. Around the world the financial industry has followed the "wild west" approach of the US financial industry. Assets didn't matter - money made money. And now it has fallen down like a house of cards.

Bush has been behaving like some sort of reincarnation of Hitler, but much craftier if indeed the ideas are his. Brutality isn't needed this time - at least not on home turf (but look where he uses it elsewhere). Where financial turmoil won't work, brutality and aggression is a good proxy. A good old fashioned financial crisis (like those globally in the 1930's) really stirs up fear and leads to fear based choices in our developed world. Make no mistake about it, our current financial markets crisis was manufactured and fueled by our fears.

And I doubt that it is mere coincidence that it happens at a time when large parts of the developing world are embroiled in military or other violent crises. This situation we are in was manufactured by those who stand to gain the most - our governments. And if you think they are "democratic" - then think again. Once elected, our governments tend to act for their own best interests. Here in Canada for instance, we "elect our dictators". The election that takes place today (14 Oct 08) is all about an egotistical and controlling minority leader (Stephen Harper) who wants a majority so he can control even more. This is clearly his election.

The US election is a bit different because the incumbent (Bush) can't run, but what are his successors looking for? We may be fortunate enough to see his successor in the Republican party go down to defeat. The hope of that gives me some reason to feel that the political system can work - at least a bit, but for how long? Never-the-less, the winner in the US will be faced with enormous challenges, perhaps even perceived as unsolvable without government intervention. A right leaning government (Republican) would just grab control as that's what they do - for big money interests. A more liberal (Democratic) government will feel compelled to control in the best interests of those who need help the most. Two objectives, same trigger, same result. It may not matter who wins. Government gets more control.

The "rules" of the financial games allowed a great deal of very complex risk taking and gamesmanship to occur. The financial industry got caught up in its games while the rest of us watched from the sidelines, not really knowing what was going on. The complex house of cards that was created eventually collapsed because there was nothing of value underlying all the investing. The money was backed by no real assets. But dig a bit
deeper. The "rules" allowed us enough rope to hang ourselves.

Collectively we got into trouble - the financial sector simply played the leading role in a well orchestrated game. Look at who makes the rules - the governments at various levels and their various agencies set up to "protect" us all. Of course most of them didn't have a clue what they were doing and they merely followed the rules as set by those who appeared to be doing the best at the game. In Canada we've followed the US lead. The financial leaders in the US, UK, France, Germany and a few other countries were masters at the games. Others followed suit through greed - fear of not doing as well as the other "leaders". And over time, the various financial systems all became entrained in the same dangerous game to varying degrees. And then it collapses.

The US sub-prime mortgage situation was the last straw. With no real value underlying the investments the investments were abandoned. That began a chain reaction - like dominos. So now there's a mess to clean up. Who do we look to for a solution? Who do we demand help from? Who steps in with the bailouts?

Of course it's the very governments that set this whole system up to fail in the first place. Brilliant! Governments are now investing in the banks and bailing out failed financial institutions. Of course a few were allowed to collapse as examples in order to really underscore the gravity of the situation. Those sacrifices demonstrated that the current system (all playing by the governments' rules) was inadequate. The case is made for more government action. They softened us up for a power grab.

Governments are now stepping in with the argument that the entire economy depends on the health of those financial institutions. They cannot be allowed to fail and more - there have already been too many. There is truth in that, but look how we got there.

By carefully crafting the rules of the game the failure was manufactured. The solution puts greater control in the hands of the very governments that created the problem. And to make matters worse, they are doing it with our money - or rather, what's left of it.

I see this taking us down the path of creating more government. More of what got us into this mess in the first place. The wolves are in charge of the chicken coup and we're the chickens! Orwell's prophecy may come true yet! Why are we allowing that to happen?

Many of us would say we want less government, yet we allow more. Many others want more government. I argue that they have virtually abdicated their free will - they no longer choose for themselves, they let others do it for them. They are not even leaders in their own lives. Jack Welch (former CEO of GM) once said, "control your own destiny or someone else will" - by failing to choose for ourselves we allow that control over our destiny.

Collectively we are choosing more government. We are, through our actions and inaction, allowing our governments to grow at our own expense. And it's happening on a grand scale globally. The global scale suggests that global consciousness is very consistent - and it's all acting out of fear. While individuals and even large groups may disagree with the direction the "fixes" are taking, they are far outnumbered by the majority who either don't understand, don't know it's happening, don't care or worse, actually support what the governments are doing. Typically those supporters will be those who depend on government most heavily. Out of fear they won't bite the hand that feeds them. They don't take responsibility for their own choices.

Taxes and social programs, while seemingly well meaning, promote this mediocrity in the masses of people in our society. What we earn isn't really our own any more - government can just grab what it wants – and we let it! And sadly, many don't even realize what's going on. They are not consciously aware of just how little free will they are choosing to exercise. They don't allow it themselves.

And others advocate less government and less tax. Let the free market reign. That's just another extreme and we have seen recently that it doesn't necessarily work unless the rules make sense. But who makes the rules?

Historically the world's peoples have revolted against their governments when the governments went too far. These revolutions were led by those who truly saw the big picture of what was going on. The American Revolution is a great example of how this happens. It wasn't a political coup by some military or other popular leader - it was a genuine revolution by the people against a government that was exerting too much control over them. Is it time for another revolution - this time against our governments globally? Perhaps its time to up the ante.

Do we really want a big brother as Orwell so aptly described? The choice is ours - and in choosing as we have, we are presently our own worst enemies.

Choose consciously