I thought that BC residents would like to know that as a welfare recipient I was asked to report to "Destinations" yesterday --a subcontractor paid to thin the welfare rolls. Dan McDonald, the assistant manager, explained to me in no uncertain terms that the new legislation was designed to be plain brutal. Once Destinations gets me a job they are paid the rough equivalent of a years welfare, about $4,900.

When I checked the website about Destinations, it's presented as a partnership between the government of BC and the Private sector, and Grant Thornton's name is emblazoned on the home page apparently as the proprietor. Grant Thornton turns out to be an American (International) accounting firm that has amalgamated with nineteen of Arthur Andersen's partners as of June 2002 and acquired their Charlotte and Greensboro, N.C., and Columbia, S.C. offices along with 161 employees. According to the explanation of Grant Thornton himself, "for existing Arthur Andersen clients, it will be business as usual -- but with a new name."

As you know of course, Arthur Anderson is of Enron fame --which was among the most significant financial contributors to the rise of the Bush regime, and an organized promoter of privatization-- and was convicted of obstruction of justice in his management of Enron's books, fined $500,000 and was placed on five years probation for willfully destroying documents to help cover up the massive crimes. The key perpetrators,  supposedly linked to the Jewish Mafia, and allegedly responsible for constructing the Enron crime binge were Andrew Fastow, now indicted on 78 counts, and Michael Kopper, who pleaded guilty to money laundering and wire fraud. A host of others are to follow.

Ontario's contracting of Accenture, a US multinational Organization formerly called Andersen Consulting --also a division of Arthur Andersen of Enron fame-- to lead the assault against Ontario's social safety net was devastating. They cost taxpayers $246 million, almost quadruple the original estimate, itself 6 times more expensive then services delivered by bureaucrats, in exchange for a system that still doesn't work. Accenture management was paid up to $575/hour in that deal. Given the size of cuts in Ont,, even to children in poverty --the decrease of social service workers from 300 to 47 reveals the depth of cuts-- this became essentially a transfer of funds from those in need to those in greed in my opinion.

When I realize that Campbell had contracted Accenture to take over BC Hydro's transmission lines and its administration services too, I just couldn't help but wonder what other New World Order deals are being struck that we don't know about, and where this is all going to lead? Are we all to become Oliver Twists eventually, in the richest land on earth, simply because democracy fell asleep at the wheel? Campbell's literally given away BC Ferries, made provisions for privatizing BC forests, and now BC Rail is on the block, what's next?

Clearly the BC bureaucracy isn't opposing these privatization giveaways. In fact the other employment service that's been contracted by Campbell with the $4,900 sweetheart deal, is "Job Wave", headed by Ian Fleming, a former senior BC bureaucrat. They proudly proclaim on their website they've helped over 32,000 welfare recipients find employment; at $4900 each that's over $150 million. (Remember the excitement in BC when the lottery rises to $10 million?) Well these guys have really hit the ol' Campbell lottery. Statistics say that the vast majority of welfare cases find their own employment within the first 6 months. All Job Wave and Discovery have really done is to provide office space for job hunters while they're downtown looking, and it's cost Victoria taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars for what seems to me little more than a neo-con sweetheart deal.

We've clearly got to begin to form some kind of organized opposition to all this. There must be something we can do?

Any idea's?

david.

For an Accenture profile; http://www.polarisinstitute.org/corp_profiles/public_service_gats/corp_profile_ps_accenture.html
 
 

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