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Government and corporate executives were responsible and accountable and not just overpaid fat cats. (The final amount will likely be a lot more. It's diffith to fathom such a large number, but consider that one trillion seconds is about 32,000 years.) To top it off, most of the details are secret; we don't really know what the money is being used for â€" although it probably hasn’t stopped your retirement savings funds from plummeting. The efiect on people in develop- ing nations is even worse. Most of them didn’t have savings to begin with, and now the economic crisis, coupled with the effects of the cli- I believe Canada and America can still be saved but we all have to think and act a little difierently. any of you are work- ing to recycle, reduce energy consumption, and improve the world for your families and neighbours. The collective impact of these many small efforts is makâ€" ing a big difference. Just think what you could do with $4.1 trillion. That's how much the US. and 17 Western European countries are spending to bail out financial insti- tutions involved in an economic cri- sis that began in the US. and soon reverberated around the world. You can blame yourself for economic troubles, shoppers I hear criticism of the govemment’s plan to bail out GM, Ford and Chrysler. Those were the good old days, the 19508 and 19605, when people were proud to be Canadian or American. People could support themselves and their neighbours by buying products from themselves. We didn’t have stores v that sold noth- ing but cheap junk imported from foreign countn'es using “predatory pricing". Small business and local manufacturing were not all but annihilated and camped- tion in business took place on a level playâ€" ing field. And then came the politicians who “knew better” and trade with countries who pay their workers 80 or 90 cents a day was seen and sold to us as a good thing. Cheap products flooded our shores and our own manufacturing was forced to relo- cate or close taking the jobs with them. Now we reap what we have sown. [ETTERS POLICY than 400 words and mum include a daytime telephone number, name and address. The Sun-Tribune reserves the right to publish or not publish and to edit for clarity and space. Letters to the Editor, mo Sun-1m The Sun-Tribune welcomes your letters. All submissions must be less Just think what you could do with $4.1 trillion Although there have been quality issues, jmason.yrmg.com Stouflville Sunâ€"Tribune. Saturday Dec. 6, 2008 6290 HIM St. W, ON I.“ m LETTERS TO THE EDITOR INTERACTIVE MEDIA Marketing In Advertising Manager Dawna And reu vs dandnm'szrmg, mm imasonGyrmgmm Enmmm Editor lim Mason mate crisis â€" including drought and food shortages - is causing more of our human family to suffer from extreme poverty and joblessness. Just think what they. could do with $4.1 trillion. A report from the Institute for Policy Studies, Skewed Priorities: How the Bailouts Dwarf Other Global Crisis Spending, points out that the amount is 40 times what the US. and Europe are spending in developing nations on programs to deal with poverty ($90.7 billion) and climate change ($13.1 billion, none of it from the U.S.). In fact, the US. spent far more to bail out insurance firm AIG, $152.5 billion, than all the countries together spent on devel- opmental aid-last year. If we think we needn't wony about what happens to developâ€" ing nations because it isn’t affect- And what did the AIG executives do after getting the taxpayer-fund- ed bailout? They celebrated, with a $440,000 trip to a luxury spa resort. The cost of the trip is about what the US. spent on food aid last year to Lebanon, “a country struggling to recover from conflict", according to the IPS. If we do not think of where our money is going and do not immediately change our own buying habits to rebufld and support our own manufacturing, then there is not a thing that any government can do. If you‘love your kids and your country, you have the power to change course and give them all that you were given. We run to stores to buy cheap imported products and send those profits to China, again ignoring the laws of cause and effect. Some of us might be better off in the very short term but when the dust settles and there are no jobs for our kids, what will happen? Without them, their supporting indus- tries and the unselfish resolve of our sol- diers, we would all be speaking a different language today and who knows what life for wo d have been like. From 1942-1945 it took all of the manufacturing power of the automakers to help win the war. Right now, our automotive products are second to none and yet we continue to support every country but ourselves. People will say, “....but those companies are building their cars in North America now!" No, they’re not!! All the parts are still manufactured in Japan and shipped here for assembly. - I would still like to persbnally thank all three of them for what they have given us. Classified Manager Bonnie Rondeau hrondm:1@yrmg.rnm Anvmmsmc Retail Manager Dianne Mahoney 'Simi‘HZTi'ibune PUBLISHER Ian Proudfoot 6290 Main St. Stoufivme, GM. LM 1G7 DAVE MCMULLEN STOUFFVILLE Special Events Manager Pam Burgess ing us, we should remind ourselves that, just as everything in nature is connected, so is everything in our global economic and political sys- tems. Increased international job competition and reduced export opportunities are just two of the smaller impacts mentioned in the [PS report. But the worst meltdown isn't of the global economy. Another report, Climate Safety. from the Public Interest Research Centre, shows that the Arctic’s late-sum- mer ice is melting much faster than scientists previously predicted and may disappear within three to seven years. The cascading conse- quences of such an event could be phurgessMig. mm Pnonucnon Team Leader Sherry Day sdayfifvr’mg. Mm David Suzuki Come“ Id"! HO no no! MERRY CHRISTMAS mom CANADA! Barron IN Cum Debora Kelly catastrophic. Just think what we could do with $4.1 trillion! Instead of giving companies these huge sums of money so they can continue business as usual, buying and selling, merging, and paying their executives obscene salaries and bonuses, we could put it toward renewable energy, sustain- able urban planning, and research into ways to lessen the impact of climate change â€" things that really would stimulate economies. But, as the world's nations meet at the UN Climate Change Con- ference in Poland this month, the focus remains on the false dichot- omy of economy versus environ- ment. Canada has continued to bolster its reputation as a country lacking in imagination and concern for the planet. Environment Minister Jim Pren- tice told Alberta business leaders recently that, “We will not aggra- vate an already weakening econoâ€" my in the name of environmental progress." His job is to protect the environment yet he sounds like the minister of finance! If}! But if Canada is hindering DISTRIBUTION 905â€"640â€"26l2 905-640â€"261 2 x- 903640-8778 ADVERTISING 905-640-2612 it‘ll: 1-800-743- x 905-640-877 EDITORMI Busnuass MANAGER Dumcmn, Anvmmsmc Robert Lazurko Disnununou Nicole Fletcher 43~3353 A York Region Media Group community newspaper The Sun-Tribune. published every Thursday and Saturday. is a division of the Metroland Media Group Ltd.. a whollyâ€"owned subsidiary of Torstar Corporation. Metroland is comprised of 100 community publications across Ontario. The York Region Newspaper Group includes The Liberal, sewing Richmond Hill and Thornhill, Vaughan Citizen. The Era-Banner (Newmarket/ Aurora). Markham Economist Sun, Georgina Advocate, York Region Business Times, North of the City, yorkregioncom and York Region Printing. /‘W* SfiWâ€"Tribune As citizens. we can and must do everything possible to keep our finite world alive and healthy. Along with the small but important chang- es we are making in our own lives. we must also call on our leaders to stop downplaying the unequivoâ€" cal science that tells us failing to quickly address the climate crisis will make the economic crisis seem like a minor blip in history. progress, other nations are show- ing more enlightened leadership. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said before heading to Poland that nations must keep their commit- ments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “Climate change is so important that we cannot use the financial and economic crisis as a pretext for dropping it." he said. Eminent economist Sir Nicholas Stem has already told us that meeting the challenge of climate change could cost about one per cent of annual GDP but doing nothing will destroy the global economy. Seems there's only one thing we can do, and it won't cost $4.1 trillion. We could tell them where to put that $4.1 trillion. YORK REGION PRINTING GENERAL MANAGER Bob Dean