Money © by AaronPatterson

There is an old saying money doesn’t grow on trees, but sometimes we live like that. We have been living like it sprouts from the ground for years. We have taken on personal debt, provincial debt and country debt..we are a globe in crisis, really. We are on the brink.

Canadians really have had it lucky in the overall scheme of things but we have not been unscathed. The Occupy protests that began on Wall Street in New York have a reason, and as much as we may not want our downtown core disrupted we actually do need the wake up call.

Having lived in both the United States and Canada, I have seen some differences but here too we have the corporate draining our system. These protests will not go away for a long time nor should they in my opinion and here is why we need them- We need more accountability in place.

Having been amongst the poorest in this country for many years, I learned it is important not to just give a bail out like we did with the corporate world in 2008, and then we turned around and threw money into the economy that was literally coming out of no where. So now there needs to be a day of reckoning. If I spend money I don’t have, or write a check for money that is not in my account it is called fraud. We have overextended ourselves and there has been no day of reckoning, no accountability. That is what has really been missing.

Along with the accountability, we need to get back to when it was good to help your neighbour succeed, instead of giving hand outs, give skills, educate, teach, share,in that way we can make better communities. Banks need to get back to helping the little guy. Small businesses globally make sense. Buying in your community makes sense, sharing makes sense. Lets start using some good old fashion common sense and look at the hard issues.