HAPPENING

Occupy Vancouver.

Occupy Seattle.

Wall Street protests.

HST.

Smart Meters.

Something's happening over here.

Everybody in the western world could readily understand the riots and revolutions in Cairo and Tehran, but many of the same people are mystified by the wave of discontent spreading across North American communities.

I am not an anti-capitalist or anti-materialist. I appreciate the crucial role of business and I love my stupid toys as much as the next sucker. (These days I am obsessive about my Android phone. I love it. I can't live without it. I want to marry it and have its children.)

But.

The unemployment rate in the USA is not 9.7% - which would be alarming enough.

The true unemployment rate in the country self-announced to be the greatest in the world is 20%.

Productivity and jobs are the urgent priorities in both America and Canada, and except for Obama, who is getting nowhere fast on these issues, no known political leaders on ether sides of the border is even talking about these essentials, let alone doing anything remotely useful or encouraging.

Meanwhile, back at the 500,000 acre ranch and the Park Avenue penthouse, hedge fund managers, whose products are losing 45% of their value, are stealing billions in personal bonuses yearly.

The iniquities have always been here before our eyes. But rarely before have these economic divides been so stark, so disparate and so ugly.

Bank foreclosures on private dwelling places called HOMES are practically sinful. Where was the oversight? Where were the rules?

When people are simply walking out the front door and heading into the scrub, you know something is terribly wrong with the status quo.

The protestors are making an important point, whether you like it or not.

They cannot be easily dismissed. The message is significant.

Government and business that turns away, orders another drink and laughs does so not only at its own peril, but at mine and yours.

Attention must be paid.