Round Table

The European Round Table of Industrialists - a group of 47 leading European groups - calls for decisive actions to revive the economy.

"ERT Members see economic conditions deteriorating rapidly in most of our industries, and consequently an urgent need for further co-ordinated political action in the wake of the Washington G20 Summit." Click here to access the Press release.

This is the only article on the front page of today's De Standaard : the website this morning is much more discreet. I did not find the information in a prominent place on the website of the Financial Times either. For weeks now, I have had the nagging, but distinct impression that De Standaard focuses way too much on the accentuation of the already very, very bleak economic situation. A potentially dangerous game in the present volatile markets.

But that is not my point today. Once more it becomes cristal clear that the high priests of the free market religion love to relate all the success stories to their own formidable merit, thus enabling them to enjoy the wealth they derive from it.

But the moment the situation deteriorates, they stand lamenting before the gates of father state's house. When is this charade finally going to end ? If the state must help out in bad times, it should at least share much more abundantly in good times.

Ages ago, I was taught that there are three factors of production : capital, labor and land.

High time to add the state. The state produces security and a lot of other things without which we cannot live. And that cannot be said of a large part of the junk which is created by the so called private sector.