A few years ago a finance minister declared that the government would be embarking on a policy intended to turn our country into what is usually described a ''night-watchman state''.

He did not so describe the policy, but it clearly meant the adoption of neoliberalism.

Having lost the power of monetary policy, the government now has only three economic tools on which to rely, these being fiscal policy, privatisation and deregulation. The implementation of the latter two unleashes the unfettered forces of the free market.

Certainly, the government knows that a free market or neoliberal or capitalist economy has no moral or social responsibility. In other words, there can be no place for social justice in such an economic system. Needless to say, a free market offers the best fertile ground to crony capitalism.

Privatisation or the ''selling of the family silver'' and deregulation or liberalisation, giving rise to private profiteering enterprise, and tight fiscal policy bring about unemployment, poverty and an ever-widening gap between rich and poor, that is, a redistribution of income biased towards the well-off. Moreover, since fiscal policy is based on the regressive or indirect as against the progressive or direct taxation one could possibly imagine the unfortunate situation in which the low-income group, the pensioners, the unemployed and those living on social assistance find themselves in. To make matters worse, the government cannot now, in stark contrast to the past, spend money on social housing. The higher rate of income tax was first reduced, rather substantially, from 65 per cent to 35.

Now pressure is being exerted on the government to reduce it further to 25 per cent. And the government has already given in to the clamour of the business and commercial community for a lower rate of tax. What has always been left unsaid or unexplained officially is that what matters is not the high rate but the average rate of tax paid.

It is therefore meaningless to speak of the ''government'' as representing national interests; it is necessary to inquire whose interests the government promotes. Given the foregoing, one concludes that privilege and money, not justice, is the watchword of the government.