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Sunday, September 16, 2012

Food for thought

In the Target Zone -- many former Zellers' employees looking for work with retail giant. OPG blames profit decline on faltering equity market. Is it possible, even faintly, that capitalism may be in a crisis?

The British Royal Family in crisis! The government has cut funding to the monarchy to stay in line with wide-ranging budget cuts. In 2011 they had to manage on $50 million and now face a 25% cut. But don't worry folks, her majesty and her cronies have decided to raise admission prices for tours of Buckingham Palace to make up the difference. I'm sure the millions who have to live on a dollar a day will be greatly relieved.

In the Vietnam War, the US dumped 75 million litres of agent orange on about a quarter of former South Vietnam, killing two million hectares of forest about the size of Massachesetts. Now the US is involved in a massive clean-up to remove the dioxin contained in agent orange from a nineteen hectare site that is now a Vietnamese military base. And here I am thinking the American capitalists are all heart, until I hear the Vietnam and the US are getting chummy in order to boost trade and counter China's rising influence in the disputed South China Sea. This area is believed to be rich in oil and natural resources. The US says protecting peace and freedom of navigation in the sea is in its natural interest. Sure, they're all heart.

The soothsayers tell us that the US economy is in recovery, yet only 56% of Americans laid off between January 2009 and December 2011 have found jobs and more than half of them took jobs for lower pay. One third took pay cuts of 20% and more. It's nice to know we are in recovery. Next they will tell us the market corrects itself! John Ayers

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