END GOUGE OF PUBLIC Take over car insurance now SEASON'S GREETINGS TO OUR READERS Th VOL. 30, NO. 51. s? OK. SON a TAKE WHATEVER SLICE YOu WANT! - forcing motorists By NIGEL MORGAN Premier Bennett’s stick- Waving at labor on his return from Ottawa last week is an attempt to sound out new _ grounds to press monopoly’s Offensive against the working People. .Wage freezing and replacement of present social Security provisions by his phoney “guaranteed’’ income scheme _ are simply gimmicks to ensure ‘that the lion’s share of the Wealth produced by the people 80es to the corporate interests. Instead of halting inflation - interfering with collective bargaining (as Bill 33 has done), Imposing wage guidelines and Slowing down the economy by Cutting back school, housing and hospital construction has brought increased unemployment and a scandalous ‘Tise in rent, food, clothing and Medical costs. Such policies have little if anything to do with bringing prices down. If that was Mr. Bennett’s real aim, he would be curbing monopoly -- taking effective measures against the auto insurance racket, using the powers left on the statutes since World War 2 to stop and roll- back exhorbitant rents, and regain control of our economy by halting the massive exports of raw materials and jobs. Premier Bennett knows only too well that a wage price policy could never be effective in an economy largely controlled by big foreign monopolies and conglomerates, and one so dependent on imported manu- factures. This policy of making wages the focus of attack, as in Britain and other capitalist countries, invariably ends up with regulation of wages in the interest of monopoly profits. Obviously our present problem of rising living costs stems from a rapid upward thrust in corporate profits and interest rates aggravated by the insatiable demands of a cruel and disastrous war in Vietnam. The Econmic Council of Canada reported last year that “corporate profits per unit of out put increased by 20%. Wages rose by an average of only 7.5%, and if allowance was made for rising prices and taxes, the actual inerease-was- not. more than 2.5%. Productivity rose much more increasing the gap and degree of capitalist exploitation of labor. Today’s contradiction stems from the fact that the fruits of automation and_ the technological revolution are accumulating in the hands of those who ‘“‘own for a living ” instead of ‘‘those whose sweat . creates the wealth.” Wage increases are continually being - sustain balanced Bennett waves big stick at labor eroded by inflationary prices, rents interest rates and taxes. Monopoly capitalism is a sick and inhumane system-unable. to industrial development, full employment and a stable economy. : Wage freezing. would only further distort the economy, increase the impoverishment of the great majority of Canadians and stimulate the growing unemployment trend. Closely linked with such austerity measures is Premier Bennett’s other scheme for replacing the social security and welfare system by what he cunningly attempts to call a- ‘‘suaranteed income.” It is a concept that is based on aiding the needy instead of being the right of all Canadians to enjoy — of replacing universality by selectivity and the means test. See BENNETT, pg. 12 _ment-operated EDITORIAL The only way to stop the gouge of B.C.’s one million motorists by the 188 private car insurance com- panies is for the provin- — cial government to immediately announce it will set up a non-profit government __ operated scheme which will sell insurance at cost. The government now has that power in the present legislation. With the Legislature due to open ~ in late January, now is the time to act. Public opinion should compel the government to make such announcement immedi- ~ately, before the present legisla- tion comes into effect on January 1. The new discredited car insurance scheme is a giant hoax of the public. Instead of doing what the Socred government ‘said it would — give more protection and cut rates — it is upping insurance rates and into the clutches of the giant insurance corporations. When the new auto insurance scheme was pushed through the legislature, Attorney General Peterson promised the public it would cut rates by about $25. - Instead, the public is now faced with a premium increase of $21.90 plus a six-percent increase in rates for normal coverage. The new legislation and other factors means that about $40 has been tacked on to premiums. Merely wrapping the knuckles of the insurance monopolies and ~ telling them to “be good’’ will not stop the wholesale gouge facing the public. Nor will another royal commission to probe the insurance company rates. What is needed is a change in policy. What is needed is a non- profit. government operated scheme. The present exhorbitant rates are due to the vast structure maintained by 188 insurance companies and the millions they make from exploiting the public. B.C.’s motorists cannot continue to carry this burden. A govern- scheme could give full protection, including the ‘‘no fault’’ principle, at about one third the cost of present premiums. - Auto insurance in B.C. has always been a racket. Under the new legislation it is a bigger racket than ever before. Only a public run insurance scheme can end this fraud of the motoring public.