The Rural Voice, 1988-12, Page 15government's Financial Protection
Plan, McCall doesn't think farmers
should lose one cent from this
situation. The banks are morally
wrong to make the guiltless farmers
pay the cost of their own mistakes.
Again in this case, a bank has
demonstrated that "looking out for
number one" is the theme song of
business. To hell with everybody else,
to hell with honesty and fairness as
long as we cover our own ass.
The lack of morality on the part
of business leaders is one of the most
troubling developments of this decade.
We came out of the 1960s and 1970s,
when business leaders were looked
down upon, ready to be shown, as the
plaintive cry went, that "profit is not a
dirty word." But business seems to be
proving that the 1960s radicals were
right all along.
The business community wants
deregulation of the marketplace, but
then turns around and proves that
when it comes right down to it, they
will take advantage of any reduction
in rules. The only way there can be
fewer rules is if people police them-
selves, but too many big business
leaders today seem to reject that. The
only discipline they'll answer to is the
marketplace. The only responsibility
they have is to maximize profits.
I can think of no faster way to
undermine the free enterprise system
than this kind of behaviour. Without
morality, without consideration for
fairness and responsibility to the
community and the environment we
all live in, business is just a greedy
grab and business leaders are demon-
strating that the only way ordinary
people can get a break is through
government intervention. The way
things are going, it's only a matter of
time before the pendulum swings back
to the side of those who want more,
not fewer, regulations on business.
Playing with the letter of the
law, not the spirit, provides the kind
of moral vacuum that turns a Bruce
McCall into an unlikely activist fight-
ing the system. More of us should
join him.0
Keith Roulston, a newspaper publisher
and playwright who lives near Blyth,
is the originator and past publisher of
The Rural Voice.
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Pete Rowntree
DECEMBER 1988 13