To the Islands Grapevine Editor,
Mark Carney’s Canada Investment Summit inspires me to challenge the wisdom of putting Trump-friendly foxes in charge of the henhouse, like BlackRock and their extremely far-right CEO Larry Fink, who arrive with briefcases and assurances that they’re only here to help feed the chickens. Elbows up?
Inviting foreign investors in the name of economic independence is like hiring the foxes to protect the chickens, and then congratulating yourself on having improved their security. The foxes may be impeccably dressed, but they obviously have a rather insatiable interest in the henhouse’s contents.
There is a certain irony in celebrating the sale of publicly owned assets, domestic industries and infrastructure, to foreign interests as a path toward economic independence. It is rather like achieving dietary independence by outsourcing the grocery shopping to a gluttonous junk food addict.
An economy increasingly dependent on outside capital, that is profitable for foreign investors, becomes less capable of determining its own destiny. Before handing over the keys to the henhouse, we should ask who gets to decide what happens inside it, who’s protecting the eggs, and who’s counting them?
Intentionally,
Dr. Thomas P. Hunterson
