Food for thought

In the business section of the October 6 Toronto Star a headline shouted that the job market was 'inching upward'. Another said, " Hudson's Bay jobs head South to the US", which tells us that 210 workers will lose their jobs. In addition, 22 000 Zellers workers will be let go as Target and Walmart take over the store leases (for $1.825 billion). There is no security in the capitalist mode of production.

Wow! China is a communist country after all. In its attempt to get a share of all that the Arctic promises, it actually stated that the Arctic, " is the inherited wealth of all humankind". I wonder if that applies to the Chinese people regarding the wealth of China! Behind the scenes, China is hard at work making trade deals, trying to get a foothold in impoverished Iceland to make her Arctic claims a little more legitimate. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

Asbestos in Canada, the world's foremost exporter of the deadly toxin is in the news again. A motion has been tabled in the federal parliament to take steps to eliminate the industry. Even if all exposure to asbestos were to end today, as many as 2,600 new cases of asbestos related cancers would show up annually. At present about 150 000 workers in Canada are being exposed to it on a regular basis. But it is very profitable, isn't it and it creates jobs, doesn't it? (especially in the undertaking business!) John Ayers