Commentary economy. and takeovers rather than growing debt is one of the consequences. Much of the expansion by the corporate giants has come about through mergers through investment in new plants and equipment. This in turn has acted to reduce competi- tion and slow economic growth. Canada’s Between 1975 and 1986 the rate of profit for Canada’s 25 largest non- financial conglomerates grew by over 5.9 per cent per annum on average. This far outstripped profits and the rate of growth rons Corporate grip on wealth tightening While the Business Council on National Issues calls for cutting the deficit, what it fails to mention is that the 25 largest con- glomerates are rapidly expanding their wealth and control over the Canadian Dave Wallis for all other corporations. What is equally significant is that on average, the next 975 largest corporations lost ground. _ For all other corporations the increase in profits was less than half of the rate NEWS ANALYSIS accumulated by the top 25. At the same time, the increase in assets for these corpo- rations came to only 0.8 per cent, com- pared to 7.6 per cent for the next 25 largest conglomerates. This trend is even more dramatically expressed by the fact that profits for the top 25 grew over this 12-year period by 190 per cent compared to just 95 per cent for all other corporations. The result has been a rapid growth in the wealth of these 25 corporations. In 1975, they owned 29 per cent of total corporate assets. By 1985 this had climbed to over 35 per cent. Similarly, in 1975 these 25 corporations raked in 22 per cent of all (non-financial) profits; by 1984 this figure had jumped to 35 per cent. When we consider that 350,000 corpo- rations or companies filed tax returns in 1985, the concentration of so much of the country’s wealth in the hands of a few is overwhelming. More fiscal quackery from Dr. Crow It is a bit over 50 years since the Van- couver Sun featured an article and spon- sored a well-attended address by a medical doctor who rejoiced in the name of Stan- ford Kingsley Claunch. Claunch had his own theory of medicine. In brief, it was that man’s best friend was the disease germ. The purpose of germs was to not to cause ill health but to produce the diseases that cured illness, He was especially fond of malaria which, so he said, was gua- ranteed to burn up all the poisons that make people sick — provided only that some ignorant doctor didn’t prescribe medicines - that would interrupt the fever before it had done its job. People too young to remember the Claunch Revelation might be forgiven for imagining that I invented the above account were it not for the fact that last week we were all witnesses to a precisely analogous performance by a doctor of economics. The chap in question, Dr. John Crow, is, for reasons best known to Brian Mulroney, the governor of the Bank of Canada. He has Pro-lifers should target arms costs We read and hear much about abortion these days and no doubt it is a very serious matter. But so is the manufacturing and selling of arms. If abortion is regarded as murder, then the making of weapons is to be regarded as mass murder. Therefore, pro-lifers would do well to lobby the government to use the funds allotted for military purposes to create security for pregnant women. For isn’t financial insecurity the main factor which often forces women to have an abortion? If women could have the assurance that they could raise a child without deprivation, there would be fewer abortions. So, pro-lifers, get to work and get to the root of the problem! Demon- strate in Ottawa for better mother and child care. Joe Jachimow, Enderby made it known to all and sundry that in his opinion the best cure for our economic ills is a healthy dose of unemployment. He is greatly alarmed by the fact that the latest statistics show that officially mea- sured unemployment amounts to only 7.6 per cent of the labour force. What a rotten catastrophe, he says. It seems we can’t pos- sibly have a healthy, inflation-free economy unless at least eight per cent of the people are Out of work. But be of good cheer! Dr. Crow has other remedies in his medicine bag. He assures us that a good-sized dose of high interest rates will fix it. High interest rates will curb the growth of the economy and business. That will throw a few hundred thousand people out of work. The extra unemployed com- peting for jobs will bring down the wage level and in keeping with their well-known spirit of generosity, businessmen will hasten to reduce prices, thus putting an end to inflation. What Dr. Crow fails to explain is how Canada can avoid inflation when the dis- ease is rampant in all of our trading partners. When their prices rise, will we stop importing their goods (and therefore start growing our own coffee and bananas, for instance) and stop accepting their high pri- ces for our exports to prevent our country being plagued by excess demand? In point of fact, Canada’s inflation rate, averaged over the past 10 years, has been within a tenth of matching the average rate for the seven leading capitalist countries. One government after another has started its career with the determination to “wrestle inflation to the ground” only to find that in the context of international inflation, attempts to cure domestic infla- tion by monetary monkeying only produce side effects that are worse than the disease. Poor old Claunch had, in practice, no power to do other than entertain us with his absurdities. Crow, unfortunately, has vir- tual control over the economy and there is precious little we can do about it. Emil Bjarnason, Vancouver —— Safty’s article welcomed A friend of mine has passed along a recent issue of your paper. I read with great interest the article “Uprising is forcing Israel to confront its own his- tory” by Dr. Adel Safty (Tribune, Feb. 6, 1989) on the Palestinian issue. Congratulations on getting him to write for you such a critical and pene- trating analysis. And also congratula- tions for the courage it takes to write and publish facts that are not com- monly published because they are so unpleasant. I shall recommend your paper to my friends. Denise Maultsaid, Vancouver Soviet magazines’ openness needs balance Rita Hoppe’s letter from Berlin (““Con- troversy lingers over GDR censorship of Soviet magazine,” Tribune Jan. 30, 1989) was a welcome explanation for the Sputnik incident. I find her quotations from the article by Soviet writer Julian Semenov simply astounding. That his distortions of history regarding the German Communist Party were carried by Sputnik is even more astounding. Appearing as fair comment is to give them credibility, which is unworthy of a serious journal. Those of us who came through the pre- war world events of the 1930s, know they did their best to rally German public opin- ion and work for unity against rising fas- cism in Germany. It is true they led the fight against fascism and lost. As a consequence, they suffered terrible brutality. In fact, they were the first to occupy the infamous con- centration camps. German Communists were the least responsible for the Nazi fact. The Nazi organization, in the first instance, was the product of unbridled Teu- tonic racism. It owed its continued existence to support from German big business and encouragement by world reaction. It was lal ti eS aS lea aR aS the latter which consciously gave Hitler the industrial resources of Europe to build a super war machine. That began with the annexation of the Saar in 1935, which was soon followed by Nazi occupation of Austria and Czechoslo- via. British Prime Minister Chamber- lain’s sellout of Czechoslovakia at Munich guaranteed World War II. The infamous Munich Pact was-signed on Sept. 29, 1938. A year later, the Nazi armies invaded Poland. The only surprising element was when Hitler decided to clean up the rest of Europe before embarking on the colossal task of invading the Soviet Union, which began in 1941. Those are facts which most members of the “old left” know from their personal involvement in the complex struggles against fascism and war. For them, those facts are etched in stone. In my view, it’s one thing for journalists like Semenov to engage in sensationalist, fanciful speculation. It is quite another for the editors of Sputnik to take them seriously and promote their views in the name of “openness.” That is irresponsible nonsense that contributes nothing toward the search for truth and democratic methods. German Communists have probably been the most maligned labour leaders in history. During the war it was the fashion to underestimate and distort their role here. I learned since, they led the anti-fascist resist- ance in Germany all through the war. They were also a big factor in the anti-fascist movement in the Nazi-occupied countries in Europe, where many were assigned to do underground work. Of all those who learned lessons from the struggles against fascism, the Communists of Germany take a back seat to nobody. The German Democratic Republic, with all its working class, socialist institutions, is ample testimony to clear-headed Marxist thinking. As far as I’m concerned, Semenov should be free to fly his journalistic kite wherever he can get space. I do not think it should appear in any responsible labour journal without balanced rebuttal. Falsifiers of his- tory have a ready market south of the 49th parallel. We don’t need them here. Jim Tester, Sudbury Pacific Tribune, February 27, 1989 e 5 | | )