First paragraph (Teaser):

B.C. Ministry of Human Resources documents show clearly the plan to privatize public services in B.C. Investigation of the consulting company (KPMG Consulting, Inc) just hired by the government to rework welfare, combined with the rules of NAFTA, show clearly a direct line to multinational corporations and the attack on Canadian sovereignty.

Rest of the text:

Thanks to corporatism, globalization, deregulation, union-busting, NAFTA (and its gestating evil twin the FTAA), indefensible and artificially created economic "crises" and privatization, the Canamerican State is here. Canadians who want to stay informed must closely watch what is happening in the U.S.; American current events will solidly shape the framework of tomorrow's "Canadian" society.

For a number of years now we have been told that the future tool of power, the currency of those "who have" will not be money, it will be information and it method of transportation– IT (Information Technology). Information gathered, stockpiled and traded: for autonomy, position, manipulation and to (en)force capitulation.

Welcome to technofascism.

Sound outlandish? Well, just look who owns your ass now...

Thought the NDP was creepy? Gordon Campbell is in the process of selling our sovereignty to the U.S.

Via a tight net of global partnerships, alliances and investors, and armed with the Rules of NAFTA, Campbell can systematically deregulate our government/public services– enabling B.C. policy decisions to be made by foreign nationals. (See NAFTA Secretariat– NAFTA Part Five: Investment, Services and Related Matters, Article 1201 http://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/english/index.htm)

In short, services including (but presumably not restricted to), "law enforcement, correctional services, income security or insurance, social security or insurance, social welfare, public education, public training, health, and child care" must be opened up to what NAFTA refers to as "cross-border" contract bidding where components of those services are privately contracted out.

Perhaps this is old news to you. Read on.

The first step has already been taken with Phase One of B.C. welfare restructuring.

On Saturday, February 23, 2002, Craig McInnes reported in the Vancouver Sun: "... the [human resources] ministry has just selected KPMG Consulting Inc. to develop a computerized system for tracking welfare clients."

Curious, I began investigating KPMG Consulting online. What immediately struck me was the framework of this company; the emphasis on members, partners and affiliates. I was curious about who pulls the strings at KPMG Consulting, so I began looking for board members, stockholders, investors, supporters– any information that might produce a profile of who directs the company that will, ultimately, take welfare out of the public sphere, away from the people of B.C. and lay it squarely in the very private hands of Profiteering.

What I present here is rudimentary.

I expected a linear process, moving from one company to the next, in some logical order. What I found instead was circular movement. A web. ‘Paths leading in and out of the bush'... a process of movement from Wonderland that invites distraction and provides labyrinthine dead-ends.

The same small group of names pops up regularly as "Alliances", "Strategic Partner", "Strategic Alliance", "Investors"...

Look:

KPMG Consulting Inc has as its Strategic Partners, among others: Cisco Systems, Microsoft, Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, Siebel Systems. Siebel has as part of its "Strategic Alliance" (among others): Cisco, Andersen (of Enron fame). Cisco is aligned with Microsoft and has, as a subsidiary company, Transmedia Communications, which is a "Portfolio Company" in H & Q Asia Pacific (currently expanding its holdings in China– you know, where some say the proposed pipeline through Afghanistan supposedly ends up). H & Q Asia Pacific is an investor in Brience, as is IDA (read: Government of Singapore). Brience has as its Technology Partners: Oracle, Cisco, Sun Microsystems (among others) and as its Consulting Partners: KPMG Consulting Inc (among others). Other Investors in Brience include John T. Chambers– President & CEO of Cisco. SAP has as its Alliances (among others): Accenture, which is allied with Sun Microsystems, Siebel, Microsoft...

On and on it goes.

The common threads throughout this web: Microsoft, KPMG, Cisco Systems, Andersen (Andersen has just hired Paul Volcker, formerly with the Trilateral Commission, to handle the mess left by Enron).

What's the relevance of all this?

Consulting companies offer "Public Management Services" and/or "E-Government Services" and/or "Health Management Services" and/or "Education Services", and/or "Homeland Security Services". Technology companies provide information technology enabling those services. Private equity companies (investors) fund it all.

Through circular alliances and partners, these webs keep dollars and control in the hands of a manageable few who are the people at the table with governments. Affecting policy decisions, these few are those who attend G-8 Summits and WTO meetings and World Economic Forum meetings, squeezing the sense out of our politicians and systematically eradicating civil/democratic society and the sovereignty of independent nations.

A common theme throughout information posted on numerous consulting companies' web sites is the discontinuance of direct service provision by human beings and consolidation of services online. This strategy works in conjunction with tax restructuring and job losses. Job loss (read: union busting and contract-breaking) and wage recalculation (Six Bucks Sucks) work directly into the hands of private interests. First up, make 'em poor (government restructuring lay-offs), next, keep 'em poor (reduce eligibility criteria for employment insurance and welfare) and then offer work in the new private-public sector (reduced wages, low to no benefits and no job security).

Redefinition of human services, still under the aegis of government, yet in practical matters redirected to the private sector, ensures that those who want some kind of medical coverage or education or clean water, or whatever, must continue to pay taxes to support the public part and also pay directly to support the private part of the new arrangement.

While people are scrambling to catch their breath, make sure they can feed their kids, keep a roof above them, government is quietly shifting where tax dollars go– from public coffers directly into the hands of consulting companies, information technology officers, multinational corporations...

Know all this, too? Stay with me.

For example, as it redefines (or, as Andersen promotion itself says "reinvents") Hong Kong society, Andersen cites this as a new goal for Hong Kong: "To encourage the public to take out private medical insurance and thus alleviate the Government's burden to provide medical services from public fund[s]."

Think KPMG will be any different ideologically to Andersen?

So, what do Alliances and partnerships really do?

"At KPMG Consulting we are committed to helping our clients meet their unique business needs by delivering our proven business solutions. As part of that commitment, we've formed an Alliance Program which allows us to work together with best-in-class partners, combining our strategic resources to deliver new business solutions that put our clients ahead of the curve. Our alliance program ensures a joint commitment from both KPMG Consulting and our alliance partners. The program focuses on solution development, training, and integration strategies that deliver maximum value to your organization."

A finger in every pie....

As stated in his February 5, 2002, strategic report to the government of B.C., former social worker and now Minister of Human Resources, Murray Doell has this planned:

"5. Corporate Services and Service Delivery

This core business will provide for executive direction and direct operating costs of delivering B.C. Employment and Assistance [New Era-speak for welfare], for research and performance measurement, employee services, financial services, information technology and information management."

"Executive direction"? Whatever could that mean?

The plan is to "streamline" welfare, increasingly providing services online– even though, "by the end of 2002, almost 34%" of B.C. "citizens will use the internet as their primary means of accessing government services." Almost thirty-four per cent? What's the welfare recipient percentage?

You can read the entire document at: http://www.mhr.gov.bc.ca/core_review/

Welfare in B.C. is just the beginning– it's a no-brainer that everything public is on the table. Campbell has created this interesting monster: the Deregulation Office, with its Minister of State for Deregulation, Kevin Falcon. All laid out for you at: http://www.gov.bc.ca/deregulation/

Remember the words: "deregulation" and "decentralization". They form the fundamental tool by which all public services will be removed from civil society and placed under the control of corporate "society".

It's important to remember here that every reference to downsizing civil society or the public sector is a direct attack on democracy.

Democracy cannot– will not– exist within a privatized framework. How could it?

On Tuesday, March 5, 2002, Craig McInnes wrote in the Vancouver Sun:

"The Liberal government's health-care strategy contemplates closing hospital beds, longer waiting lists and privatizing or laying off more than 20,000 people, according to briefing documents leaked to the Hospital Employees Union. ... The planning scenario calls for contracting out of work worth about $700 million, affecting the equivalent of 13,600 full-time jobs."

Further along in the article:

"Some of the people who are laid off may be rehired by the private sector at wages up to 30 per cent lower than they now receive, according to the document."

The "vehicle" KPMG Consulting uses to drive its public services restructuring is a company called Barents. What does Barents do? This, for starters:

"KPMG Consulting provides financial, economic, and fiscal advisory services to emerging markets, and both developed and developing countries around the world through our Barents Group. Our professionals deliver services and functional support in these areas:
• Applied economics
• Health economics
• Information technology
• International taxation
• Legislative and regulatory economics
• Pensions and social protection
• Public sector management

We mobilize multi-disciplinary projects with divergent topics from our staff technical assistance network, which includes in-house professionals, independent consultants, and consortiums. These teams coordinate our services across disciplines and craft innovative solutions for our clients. Working with donor institutions, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank, we deliver timely results around the world."

The Barents Group of KPMG Consulting has two "international practices":

"Economics and Public Sector Reform Practice: A leading provider of economic and financial advisory services to governments around the world. Provides government ministries with sophisticated tools for decision-making and service delivery. Our international teams specialize in economics, fiscal policy and administration, computerization, public sector management, health, and social protection.

Financial Sector Development Practice: A leading provider of technical assistance to governments and financial institutions in emerging markets around the globe. Focuses on practical operational advice with hands-on assistance to restructure, strengthen, and privatize financial institutions. Our practice joins leading local financial experts with professionals from leading financial institutions, central banks, regulatory agencies, and leading international banks."

Barents web site: http://www.barents.com/

"Barents is also a leader in providing consulting services to governments in support of fiscal decentralization. Our expertise includes:

Restructuring the responsibilities of state and local governments
Recommending new formulas for federal revenue distribution
Developing state and local institutions
Providing training programs for state and local governments"

From Barents' Charter:

"We help governments, corporations, and other organizations worldwide to successfully plan, implement, and manage fundamental strategic change."

KPMG Consulting offers a paper on private-public alliance, titled: "FOOD FOR THOUGHT– Government and Technology: The Future Isn't What it Used to Be".

An excerpt:

"Technology is no longer just an administrative support function; it's now part of the service delivery system. Some governments have already responded, by creating chief information officers or chief technology officers– or even, as in California, a chief online government officer. They are moving these positions up the organizational hierarchy, closer to the governor's or mayor's office or as part of the Cabinet. As a result, technology professionals are now sitting at the table where policy decisions are made. This shift reflects technology's integral role in carrying out an organization's mission. The truth is, the technology strategy must now be intertwined with the strategy of the entire enterprise. Why? The way we see it, a cut in technology is literally a cut in service delivery– the same as removing a policeman from the street. While computers don't shovel the snow, they do schedule the fleet, which determines how productive the resources are."

Sitting at the table where policy decisions are made? Chief technology officers as part of Cabinet? Providing "Executive direction", perhaps?

To see the full document, link here: http://www.kpmgconsulting.com/library/pdfs/KPMGC_Gov_Tech.pdf

In 'Notes on NAFTA: The Masters of Mankind', Noam Chomsky writes:

"Throughout history, Adam Smith observed, we find the workings of ‘the vile maxim of the masters of mankind': ‘All for ourselves, and nothing for other People.' He had few illusions about the consequences. The invisible hand, he wrote, will destroy the possibility of a decent human existence ‘unless government takes pains to prevent' this outcome, as must be assured in ‘every improved and civilized society.' It will destroy community, the environment and human values generally – and even the masters themselves, which is why the business classes have regularly called for state intervention to protect them from market forces.

The masters of mankind in Smith's day were the ‘merchants and manufacturers,' who were the ‘principal architects' of state policy, using their power to bring ‘dreadful misfortunes' to the vast realms they subjugated and to harm the people of England as well, though their own interests were ‘most peculiarly attended to.' In our day the masters are, increasingly, the supranational corporations and financial institutions that dominate the world economy, including international trade – a dubious term for a system in which some 40 percent of U.S. trade takes place within companies, centrally managed by the same highly visible hands that control planning, production, and investment."

Hey, it's not even remotely accurate to say this is coming. It's here, damn it.

Two items in the Vancouver Sun on Friday, March 1, 2002:

• "Saved 75,000 jobs, but he lost his own: Liberals axe B.C. job protection commissioner", page A5 and

• "Budget cuts worry electoral officer: Patterson fears elections impact", page A5. B.C.'s chief electoral officer, Robert Patterson, is quoted as saying: "I certainly have serious concerns that any further budget reductions will have what I would say is a profound impact on our ability to provide voter registration opportunities, to provide any currency of the voters' list or to have trained election officials ready to conduct elections or byelections, whenever they may come up, ... If they are not trained, if they don't know what they are supposed to do, then it certainly jeopardizes the validity of that election."

So, connect the dots.

There's a breadcrumb trail directly from our own Greed Merchants (unholy government-corporate allies) to the Purveyors of Modern Feudalism (multinationals), who want you to think that unregulated money flow is freedom.

Well, it's not.

Freedom isn't bought and sold. Freedom isn't given or taken away. Freedom is a state of mind, and you either believe you have it or you don't.

What these people are really talking about is liberty. And they very badly want to restrict yours. Why? So they can gain control over all the fresh water, clean air and natural resources they can lay their hands on– ensuring a steady supply of legally unprotected cheap labour to do so.

It's all buy low, sell high, make a big profit.

All the while, you're paying through the teeth for public protection (via taxation) and your money's really going off-shore. To foreign nationals, global conglomerates and dot.com billionaires. Your quality of life goes down the toilet while theirs proportionately increases– and you get to finance the privilege.

NOTE: For direct links used in the article, more detail of companies involved, and to keep up with new information as the Liberals continue to privatize, go to: http://www3.telus.net/rattlethecage/ ; click on NEWSFlash