Sir, – John Waters (Opinion, July 27th) touches on a very interesting point in highlighting the irony of public glee and excitement over the fate of the Quinns. He correctly highlights it as a distraction from facing up to a reality we generally choose to ignore regarding how our society is run.
We have allowed our lives to become completely entwined with the vagaries of the market. Deregulation in the 1980s and corporate personhood, as enshrined in the US constitution, have allowed global governance to become a tools of global private finance and their growth agenda. The concept of social dividend has become a postwar relic looked upon with nostalgia by our older generation.
Resolution of global issues such as climate change, food and energy security, are stymied by corporate interests as the solutions are usually long-term, equitable and economically sustainable. These concepts don’t fit the current economic model. Even recently the Tax Justice Network reported that as much as $21 trillion has been squirrelled away by the super-rich in tax avoidance using tax loopholes and facilitated by private finance houses.
It seems society now works in reverse, where instead of being the beneficiaries of a social dividend we are perpetual debtors to feed the next bubble. Sadly we continue to elect politicians, who through ignorance or fear, refuse to face up this reality and the upcoming US election is in essence a corporate bidding war. – Yours, etc,