This overview shows the district of Mongkok in Hong Kong.
Thursday, October 01, 2009
WHAT HOUSING PROBLEM?
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
RECRUITMENT REALITY
SPARE PARTS FOR SALE
Monday, September 28, 2009
ALL RIGHT FOR SOME
THE HIDDEN RECESSION
Sunday, September 27, 2009
CONTRADICTION
Saturday, September 26, 2009
A MURDEROUS SYSTEM (3)
A MURDEROUS SYSTEM (2)
Gulbenis Badurova, 33, in her house with a photograph of her husband Sirazhutdin
Umarov, 32 who was kidnapped, tortured and killed
Friday, September 25, 2009
A MURDEROUS SYSTEM
Mexican Army soldiers secure the site were the two Federal Police officers were
murdered, in Ciudad Juarez
THE CLASS DIVIDE
"Mumbai is desperately overcrowded. More than half its 18 million inhabitants live in shantytowns, many, like Mr Prakash, paying significant rents for the privilege. ..."We ask God to help," said Mr Prakash, who earns about 7,500 (£94) rupees a month, "but in this city I don't think good property is within the grasp of ordinary men."
Contrast that pitiful existence shared by about 9 millions of his fellows in Mumbai with that of a capitalist in the same city.
"Look out across the skyline of south Mumbai and it is not hard to pick out the new pad being constructed by Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man - a building said to have been inspired by the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and said to be the world's first $2 billion (£1.2 billion) home. The 27-storey glass tower, named Antilla after the mythical Atlantic island, is said to feature three helipads, nine elevators a cinema, a health club, a crystal-encrusted ballroom, several "safe" rooms, a garden level half way up and 168 car parking spaces. The structure will have about 400,000 sq ft of interior space and will require about 600 servants to run it." (Times, 24 September)
A 27 storey house for him and his wife and three children may seem a bit excessive and we wonder about the 168 car parking spaces, but with that sort of loot to spend no doubt Mr Ambani has a lot of friends visiting him! RD
Thursday, September 24, 2009
HUNGER AMIDST PLENTY
While a million human beings suffer starvation producers of food are destroying it to force up prices. "An emergency meeting over the collapse in the price of milk will be held by Europe's agriculture ministers. The crisis talks have been convened by Sweden as farmers in mainland Europe continue their "milk strike", dumping hundreds of thousands of litres of milk on farmland.... In an attempt to end the milk lakes and. butter mountains, the European Commission is unwinding its dairy support system." (Times, 24 September)
Butter mountains and milk lakes while a billion starve - capitalism has certainly outlived its usefulness! RD
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
THIS IS PROGRESS?
Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers march pass Tiananmen Square in
Beijing on early September
JESUS GOES SHOPPING
GLOBAL WARMING STRIKES
It was like waking up to see that Armageddon is upon us
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
GROWING OLD DISGRACEFULLY
NHS SAVIOUR?
Monday, September 21, 2009
IRONIC?
Some villagers have not seen any benefit from the neighbouring oil
installation.
A BILLION GO HUNGRY
A young Thai boy and other Bangkok, Thailand, residents receive a food handout
outside the Poh Teck Tung
Saturday, September 19, 2009
FUTURE PROSPECTS?
A BOOM FOR SOME
Friday, September 18, 2009
POVERTY IS WORLDWIDE
"Nearly 60 per cent of Canadians would have trouble paying the bills if their paycheque was delayed by one week, a new poll suggests. The Canadian Payroll Association survey says not only are the majority of Canadians living paycheque-to-paycheque, but they have little ability to put money away for their retirement. The survey, released Monday, said 59 per cent of Canadians would have trouble making ends meet if they missed a paycheque."
(Canadian Press, 14 September)
This paycheque-to-paycheque existence is the norm for most members of the world's working class. RD
MORE MADNESS
Thursday, September 17, 2009
ETHICS AND CAPITALISM
SOCIETY AND SELFISHNESS
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
SCRAPPING SHIPS AND WORKERS
Largely untrained workers break the ships apart using hand-tools
POVERTY IN THE USA
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
CAPITALISM'S PRIORITIES
"With hardly any debate, a powerful Senate committee Thursday approved President Barack Obama's $128 billion request for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan for the budget year beginning in October. The move came as anxiety is increasing on Capitol Hill over the chances for success in Afghanistan and as Obama weighs whether to send more forces to the country. The war funding was approved as the Appropriations Committee voted unanimously for a $636 billion spending measure funding next year's Pentagon budget." (Huffington Post, 10 September)
The health of the American working class is obviously of less importance than the military needs of the owning class. RD
LAZY WORKERS?
"Falling house prices, shrinking pension pots and the need to support financially dependent children have created a perfect storm for retirement plans," said Simon Lough, chief executive of Heartwood Wealth Management, which commissioned the independent research of almost 2,000 people aged 55 and over. "Since we conducted this research last year, baby boomers have found themselves forced to stay in semi-retirement for even longer as many simply can't afford to stop working." The number of older employees has risen by 97,000 in the past year. There are now 1.33 million workers above retirement age in the UK. The survey demonstrates the bleak choice facing 11.5 million pensioners in the economic downturn: despite having saved throughout their working lives for a comfortable retirement, many have to carry on working or try to make do with a drastically reduced income." (Observer, 13 September) RD
Monday, September 14, 2009
A TEN MILLION POUND VIEW
"At £10m it must be the most expensive sea view in Britain. A Russian multi-millionaire liked a plot of land on the coast at Sandbanks in Dorset so much that he was happy to pay £5m for it. The plot was already occupied by a substantial house, but he did not much like it so is paying the same again to have it knocked down and replaced with something better. The purchase last September by Maxim Demin, 39, a petrochemicals trader, shows that at the top end of the property market lavish spending has survived the slowdown." (Sunday Times, 13 September)
There is nothing unique about the property market. In every market - housing, education, medical treatment, holidays and entertainment - "lavish spending has survived the slowdown".
RD
CENSORSHIP IN THE USA
(Daily Telegraph, 11 September) RD
Saturday, September 12, 2009
THE RISE OF THE BNP
Introduction
The recent rise of the BNP as exemplified by them gaining local council seats and now returning two European Members of Parliament in this year's election makes it necessary for us to have a look at this organisation and what it stands for. Towards that end we intend to deal with this introduction to the subject in three parts.
Overviews
1. The past of far right organisations
All during the 20th century there has been a far right element in British politics. Inside the Conservative Party we have had such organisations as the League of Empire Loyalists. They saw the threat of a diminishment of the British Empire as the great evil to be fought against. With the advent of the Russian revolution in 1917 and the rise of the Labour party to replace the Liberal party, this element became more and more evident. It was during the Thirties however that the far right became a more potent force in British politics. The rise of the NAZI party in Germany and Mussolini in Italy were a great stimulus to far right ideas in the UK. Mosley and his fascists supporters were supported during the 1930s by such establishment institutions as the Daily Mail.
2. The causes behind the BNP rise.
The most obvious reason has been put down to immigration. Indeed when Enoch Powell made his infamous "rivers of blood" speech his sole reason for proposed action was immigration. It is worth noting that his greatest support was not from re-tired colonels regretting the demise of the British Empire but from London dock workers. This I think gives us a clue to their present rise. One of the most important reasons for the rise of the SNP was the failures of the Labour Party, and likewise a powerful ingredient to the rise of the BNP. While a core element of the support of the BNP is nationalism and racism it is the loss of support for the Labour party that has been a large factor in their growth. The growth of unemployment has also led to the "British jobs for British people" nonsense.
3. How to deal with this organisation.
The left wing political parties have no doubts about the actions to take. Do not allow them a platform. Break up their meetings. Use violence against their demonstrations. In fact in the past when the SPGB attempted to have a public debate with the far right it was broken up by left wingers. "No platform for fascists" is their oft repeated mantra. We take the opposite view. Only by debate can their stupid ideas be exposed. The present upsurge is probably only a temporary movement but the SPGB should nevertheless analyse why it is happening and be prepared to deal with their growth.
WAR THREATENS ONCE AGAIN
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, left, says goodbye to Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin after a meeting near Moscow on Thursday.
Chavez, who on Friday returned from a ten day-tour of Africa, Asia and Europe that included a visit to Russia, is also negotiating the purchase of 100 T-72 and T-90 tanks from Moscow. "We signed some military agreements with Russia. Well, soon some little rockets are going to be arriving," he said during a speech to supporters from a balcony at Venezuela's presidential palace. (msnbc 12th September 09)
Friday, September 11, 2009
BUSINESS AS USUAL
"The crisis will happen again but it will be different," he told BBC Two's The Love of Money series. He added that he had predicted the crash would come as a reaction to a long period of prosperity. But while it may take time and be a difficult process, the global economy would eventually "get through it", Mr Greenspan added.
"They [financial crises] are all different, but they have one fundamental source," he said. "That is the unquenchable capability of human beings when confronted with long periods of prosperity to presume that it will continue." (BBC News, 9 September) RD
MARKET MADNESS
Thursday, September 10, 2009
CAPITALISM IN ACTION
HUMANS ARE SOCIAL BEINGS
Hurricane Katrina: A disabled woman is rescued in Pascagoula, Miss., Aug. 29,
2005
"But ask any New Yorker about, say, the blackout of 2003, and you’re likely to get not a shudder of horror but wistful reminiscences about people spontaneously directing traffic when the signals went dark. As Rebecca Solnit documents in “A Paradise Built in Hell,” a landmark work that gives an impassioned challenge to the social meaning of disasters, this same sort of positive feeling has emerged in far more precarious circumstances, from the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 to Hurricane Katrina. Disasters, for Solnit, do not merely put us in view of apocalypse, but provide glimpses of utopia. They do not merely destroy, but create. “Disasters are extraordinarily generative,” she writes. As the prevailing order — which she elliptically characterizes as advanced global capitalism, full of anomie and isolation — collapses, another order takes shape: “In its place appears a reversion to improvised, collaborative, cooperative and local society.” (New York Times, 1 September) RD
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Reading Notes
"The Condition of the WorkingClass in England", p.87).
A CHILLING PROSPECT
THE FAILURE OF CHARITY
Women and children gather at a food distribution centre in Ethiopia's Oromiya
region
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Food for Thought
"Lobbyists hired by the American coal industry sent forged letters, purporting to be from non-profit groups opposed to the US climate-change plan, to members of Congress. The oil industry is organizing 20 'public rallies' supplying props, speakers, and busloads of placard-carrying company employees – their chants well rehearsed – to mimic grass roots opposition to the Clean Energy and Security Act."
Would we expect anything different form a profit driven system? Meanwhile, in China, the world's new leader in greenhouse gas emissions, there is a push to become the world leader in electric power, not, say manufacturers, to save the planet but to make money and conserve oil. Seventy per cent of China's energy comes from coal and with another 5 billion tons in the ground, we can expect China to continue to be number one. John Ayers
Monday, September 07, 2009
Food for Thought
- Then there are the effects of capitalism. The Brighton Independent reported that 19%, or 1 000 soldiers and police serving in Afghanistan have been discharged for psychological strain, a jump of 50% over the last year.
- Imagine this – you buy a condominium in Florida for $430 000 forRetirement. Then the market crashes and all other buyers walk away. You are left as the sole tenant in a 32 -storey building! Of course, there are plenty of homeless people who could fill it up, but they don’t count without the cash. Only in capitalism could you encounter something this stupid!
John Ayers
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Early Death: Greater Returns!
The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person. Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to investors, like big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people with the insurance die. The earlier the policyholder dies, the bigger the return — though if people live longer than expected, investors could get poor returns or even lose money. (New York Times September 6th)
It's your patriotic duty. no doubt.
CHAMPAGNE SOCIALISTS!
"Every year charitable organisations buy at cut-rate prices our unsold surplus. Giving it away would even spoil that source of income for us."
The fruitgrowers may have appeared heartless but from an economic standpoint letting the fruit rot seemed the logical action. A similar solution is being followed today by French wine producers.
"Hopes of a glut of cheap champagne are set to be dashed when vineyards meet next week to agree on a big cut in production to prop up prices. With sales falling, producers may be ordered to leave up to half their grapes to wither on the vine in an attempt to squeeze the market." (Times, 29 August)
Capitalism is a crazy system, obviously inside socialism we would deal with the problem by drinking more champagne! RD
HARD TIMES
Food for Thought
The same author ( Davie Oliver ) describes how the banking industry isWinning the battle against being regulated after receiving billions in handouts (Toronto Star, 09/08/09) ,
"You would think after global financiers triggered the current, unprecedented world-wide recession and credit crisis, they might embrace inevitable reforms that their reckless conduct made necessary. The US government pumped life sustaining cash into 20 banks but their powerful lobbying groups are resisting any legislation to curtail their activities, they jacked up credit card interest to 27% and more, have hastily foreclosed on borrowers, heedless of Washington’s plea to do the opposite, they have set aside billions for employee bonuses and they still lend a high 35 times their capital reserves.
'Olive did manage to come up with,' But, as profit maximizing institutions, their imperative is to focus even harder on making money."
Doesn't this describe every enterprise in capitalism? John Ayers
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Food for Thought
Those who hoped for a better system of organizing capitalism,more social justice etc after the governments of the world bailed out the'bad boys' of the system, are going to be sorely disappointed according toDavid Olive Toronto Star (The Era of Big Government already in retreat).He posits that the greedy are flexing their muscles again and ready tostep back into their natural position of command. He cites the town hallmeetings across America where mention of 'Obamacare', a pale version ofuniversal health care is greeted with Nazi salutes and Sieg Heil!Organised of course by those big boys who want to continue raking in themoney at the expense of a system based on human need. Unfortunately, Olive doesn’t mention that this is just the norm in capitalism. John Ayers
Friday, September 04, 2009
Food for Thought
The Toronto Star (22/08/09) recently revealed that the pharmaceutical industry is involved in a scam to give academic credence to its advertising claims. Common in the US, it has now arrived in Canada. Mcgill University (Montreal) professor Barbara Sherwin lent her name to an article extolling the virtues of estrogen that was, in fact,ghost written by the company itself. Any underhand method of promoting commodities and making money is, apparently, acceptable, and any scientist can be bought. John Ayers
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
A MODEST SORT
Monday, August 31, 2009
NOT SO HOLY
Japanese high school students wearing masks in Tokyo May 17, 2009
GREEN SHOOTS? WHERE?
Sunday, August 30, 2009
CAPITALISM IS MAD
Elsie Poncher is selling her husband's burial spot directly above film legend
Marilyn Monroe so that she can pay off pay off the $1.6 million mortgage on her
Beverly Hills home.
RELIGIOUS ROOTS
Friday, August 28, 2009
HONG KONG HOUSING
Monday, August 24, 2009
LA BELLE FRANCE?
French Justice Minister Michele Alliot-Marie visits the prison of Orleans in
central France. Alliot-Marie.
POISONED BY CAPITALISM
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
A WONDERFUL TOWN?
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Why the SNP Must Fail
Community Central Hall, 304 Maryhill Rd. 19 August 8.30pm
In his talk Vic will look at the birth of the SNP and why it’s nickname was “ The Tartan Tories” and he will explain how the SNP was transformed from the mere handful it had been until the late 1950s to the major political force it is in Scotland today.
Vic will also look at the conflict which raged in the SNP for decades between the traditionalists and the pragmatists and why the triumph of the latter paved the way for this rags-to-riches transformation.
The SNP can hardly wait for the next General Election when it expects to make the substantial gains, probably at the expense of Labour, which it hopes will be a major step towards their goal of a fully independent Scotland.
Could this happen at some point in the future and would it be in the interests of the working class in Scotland if it did?
LAZY WORKERS?
(msnbc.com, 11 August) RD
RECESSION? WHAT RECESSION?
Monday, August 17, 2009
PIE IN THE SKY
BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING
Big Brother: It has been revealed that there are 4.2million closed circuit
TV cameras in the UK
Who owns the North Pole - Part 16
Canada is launching a series of military exercises in the Arctic far-north region of the country.The so-called sovereignty operation is designed to show a visible presence in the resource-rich area, amid competing claims among other nations.Asserting Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic has been a priority for Mr Harper's conservative government.
Operation Nanook will see the Canadian Armed Forces involved in sea, land and airforce operations in the country's eastern Arctic territory.
Once thought a barren region, a number of countries with competing claims have been carefully mapping the area around the North Pole, thought to be rich in minerals and natural resources.
Canada is also concerned by the melting of ice each year through the fabled Northwest Passage, blamed by scientists on global warming. The United States government has said that it does not recognise exclusive Canadian rights to the waterway, that could be a link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
Saturday, August 15, 2009
A TORY MP SPEAKS
ANOTHER FINANCIAL EXPERT?
(New York Times, 6 August) RD
Thursday, August 13, 2009
GLASGOW BRANCH ACTIVITY
304 MARYHILL ROAD
8.30 pm
WEDNESDAY 19th AUGUST
A DISCUSSION ON INDEPENDENCE FOR SCOTLAND
WHY THE S.N.P. MUST FAIL
SPEAKER VIC VANNI
Vic’s talk
In his talk Vic will look at the birth of the SNP and why it’s nickname was “ The Tartan Tories” and he will explain how the SNP was transformed from the mere handful it had been until the late 1950s to the major political force it is in Scotland today.
Vic will also look at the conflict which raged in the SNP for decades between the traditionalists and the pragmatists and why the triumph of the latter paved the way for this rags-to-riches transformation.
The SNP can hardly wait for the next General Election when it expects to make the substantial gains, probably at the expense of Labour, which it hopes will be a major step towards their goal of a fully independent Scotland.
Could this happen at some point in the future and would it be in the interests of the working class in Scotland if it did?
BIRD BRAIN INVESTORS
The parrot, using its beak, made random choices from balls representing 30 blue
chips including Samsung Electronics
THE REVEREND MONEYBAGS
(Time, 17 August)
It is true the Good Book promised "In my father's house there are many mansions". We can't recall any mention of Rollers or garages though. RD
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
LAS VEGAS, ANOTHER VIEW
(New York Times, 7 August) In one of the most sophisticated urban areas in the world some members of the working class are living like sewer rats. What a hellish system capitalism is.
RD
Monday, August 10, 2009
WAR THREATENS ONCE AGAIN
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez greets supporters in Quito, Ecuador, on
Sunday. Chavez has charged that Colombian troops entered Venezuela by crossing
the Orinoco River, a move he warned was a "provocation" by his U.S.-backed
Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe.
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez told his military to be prepared for a possible confrontation with Colombia, warning that Bogota's plans to increase the U.S. military presence at its bases poses a threat to Venezuela.
Chavez has issued near daily warnings that Washington could use bases in Colombia to destabilize the region since learning of negotiations to lease seven Colombian military bases to the United States.
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Food for Thought 4
- In the Olympic city of Vancouver, $million dollar condo high rise buildings are rubbing shoulders with homeless shelters and mini tent cities. The former are getting the authorities to close down the latter.Meanwhile, the city has spent $10 million on the athlete's village. Advocates hope that the houses will become low income but at a cost of $440 000 each, the city has to decide whether to sell them at market price, or not. Priorities, priorities in a profit system.
- In environmental affairs, a Toronto Star investigation (4/July 09), revealed that the city's boast of diverting one third of garbage to compost is a sham and grossly inflated. Apparently the compost that is produced will kill plants because of its high salt content (see same item)- In the nether world of religion, an article entitled "Ireland's Holy Stump a Blessing in Tough Times", tells us that a tree cut down resembled, to some, the virgin Mary. The overseer remarked, "People have been crying out for something good to happen and this is all good for the soul." The parish priest said that they were letting their imaginations run wild and they were threatening to violate the commandment about a false god.
Opium of the people, indeed! We can tell them something better that ought to happen.- And in the middle of the Michael Jackson hysteria, the Toronto Star ran Article, "Is Michael Jackson Going to Heaven – he was raised by Jehovah's witnesses, married into scientology and flirted with Judaism and Islam. Now the debate rages over his soul." One gem will suffice
– "One intriguing argument goes that since Jackson never matured beyond childhood, his innocence remains perfectly intact." And this dribble, note, appeared in the section of the paper titled "Insight"!!!
John Ayers
Saturday, August 08, 2009
REFORM UNDER ATTACK
Councils say they do not have enough funds to pay bus companies
The study by the consultancy Oxera for the Local Government Association says councils would be better off targeting those who were most in need.
Free bus passes for over-60s in England were introduced by the government in 2008, but many councils say the funding arrangements leave them out of pocket. ( BBC NEWS 6th Aug 09)
In times of slump any benefits workers receive are up for grabs. A means test was suggested, back to the good old days?
Money_Commodity_Money+
President Barack Obama signed a bill extending the popular program into Labor Day and preventing the 2-week-old incentives from running out, the White House said on Friday.
The Senate voted to refill the car incentive program on Thursday, tripling the $1 billion fund that has led to big crowds at once deserted auto showrooms.
SOCIALIST STANDARD'S FALLING SALES?
(Yahoo News, 3 August) RD
Food for Thought 3
– "taxpayers should feel comfortable with government oversight of GM and Chrysler – and don't need to know how much top executives are being paid in Canada. Canada invested $14 billion in those companies.
Apparently, disclosure would frighten top executives away and, in any case, they are too busy selling cars. The arrogance of the capitalist apologists knows no bounds!
A few figures anyway – Citigroup, Merril Lynch and seven other banks paid $32.6 billion in bonuses in 2008 while receiving $175 billion in tax-payer assistance; Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase paid out $18 billion in bonuses while getting $45 billion in Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP – some cover!). The top 200 at Morgan Chase shared $1.12 billion (average 5.6. million); AIG insurance under new government-appointed CEO Ed Liddy paid out $165 million in bonuses after receiving $173 billion; Hey, maybe they are worth every penny? Rick Wagner of GM received $65 million over 5 years while accumulating a staggering $82 billion in debt; Stanley O'Neal collected $233 million for managing Merrill Lynch into the ground; CEO's pay rose 2 per cent in 2008 while Standard and Poor's 500 index lost 27%. Now that's merit pay! In 1980, the typical CEO received 40 times the pay of the average worker. In 2007, that figure was 433 times. "The obvious questions arise" wrote the Toronto Star (26/Jul/09) " Are corporate CEOs 393 times smarter than they were in 1980? Have they been producing 393 times more wealth for shareholders?
Well, no, of course". Did they produce any wealth? Well no, of course!
John Ayers
Friday, August 07, 2009
RECESSION? WHAT RECESSION? (2)
No deckhands are needed to clamber up the rigging and unfurl the sails, however.
Instead, the Maltese Falcon’s DynaRig system can be sailed by one man from a
computerised control console on the bridge that moves the yards and sails
according to the wind and current
Food for Thought 2
The unemployment rate is up (a manipulated 9.6% in Toronto), 467 000 jobs lost in the US (an accompanying picture shows a man outside his home, an old RV – complete with the American flag!); consumer prices in Canada record the biggest slide since 1955 bringing widespread fears of deflation; Britain's economy shrank by 5.6% over the last year; over 750 000 Canadians are drawing unemployment insurance, up 11% since April. The governor did have the good grace to say job recovery is expected by 2014. Now listen to another economist's whitewash of the figures (CBC radio).
The fact that so many Canadians are on unemployment is a good sign. Since only those who actively seek work can draw benefits, this shows that more people are optimistic about finding a job and signing up. I suppose they forego those benefits if they don't think their chances are good. When the figure reaches one million, we can all rejoice. Note that only about one third of workers are eligible for benefits.
John Ayers
Thursday, August 06, 2009
RECESSION? WHAT RECESSION?
Food for Thought
1. Researchers revealed this week that Canadian food products contain up to twice as much salt as those in other countries, even when those products are identical in every other respect. Salt enhances taste, of course, but also is responsible for increased heart and stroke problems. In fact, 30 people die per day in this country because of elevated levels of salt. Checking the food label doesn't help as daily percentages are based on a sodium intake of twice the accepted amount. The government has remained silent.
2. Struggling pig farmers are considering euthanizing healthy pigs as pork prices drop due to the negative publicity of swine flu. Imagine, thousands starving to death every day and pigs are to be slaughtered to keep prices up!
3.Another G8 summit, another waste of time. In the Orwellian titled document "Responsible Leadership for a Sustainable Future", the `leaders' showed no responsibility and did nothing to ensure sustainability, even of profit.
4. Times are tough, go after the workers' benefits. Almost 300 000 unionized grocery workers received a notice recently of `benefit restructuring', specifically in their pensions. The futility of reform!
5. Wal-mart is noted for fighting unionization, poor pay and benefits for their workers. David Olive writes (Toronto Star, 5/Jul/09),
"Wal-mart signaled this week that it's poised to be in the vanguard of genuine health care reform in the US, breaking ranks with corporate lobbies fiercely opposed to it."
Now get up off the floor and read on,
" Reason: Wal-Mart has so improved its health care benefits for employees that it's now at a competitive disadvantage to its rivals." See the logic? That's how capitalism works.
John Ayers
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
PROPHETS AND PROFITS
Mr Wachman's analyisis of the problem is not particularly revealing but what is of interest in his article is how the crisis has left so-called experts with egg on their faces. Mervyn King (August, 2007) "I don't think there's any real evidence here of a fundemental challenge to the macroeconomic outlook." and then (February, 2009) "The UK is in deep recession ...Restoring both lending and confidence will not be easy and will take time." George W Bush (August, 2007) "The fundementals of our economy are strong ... and we are headed for a soft landing." and then "If money isn't loosened up, this sucker could go down." (September, 2008) Alistair Darling (August 2007) "People should have confidence that many of the investment they make will be good investments." and then "Times are are arguably the worst they've been in 60 years... it's going to be more long-lasting than people thought." (September 2008)
Capitalism is a social system based on economic slumps and booms and it makes fools of all the "experts". RD
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
PROFIT BEFORE ENVIRONMENT
(Financial Times, 31 July) RD
RELIGIOUS NONSENSE
-
Paternalism is a common attitude among well-meaning social reformers. Stemming from the root pater, or father, paternalism implies a patria...