BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING

Big Brother: It has been revealed that there are 4.2million closed circuit
TV cameras in the UK

"Britain has one and a half times as many surveillance cameras as communist China, despite having a fraction of its population, shocking figures revealed yesterday. There are 4.2million closed circuit TV cameras here, one per every 14 people. But in police state China, which has a population of 1.3billion, there are just 2.75million cameras, the equivalent of one for every 472,000 of its citizens. Simon Davies from pressure group Privacy International said the astonishing statistic highlighted Britain's 'worrying obsession' " (Daily Mail, 11 August) RD

Who owns the North Pole - Part 16

Continuing our Arctic Saga

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

A TORY MP SPEAKS

"Alan Duncan's future in the Shadow Cabinet was in the balance last night after he was forced to apologise for claiming that MPs were living on rations because of the expenses row. ...Mr Duncan, who is paying back £4,000 after details of his claim for gardening was revealed, said: "I spend my money on my garden and claim a tiny fraction based on what is proper. And I could claim the whole bloody lot, but I don't." Asked why people would no longer want to become MPs, he said: "Basically, it's been nationalised, you have to live on rations and are treated like s***." (Times, 13 August) RD

ANOTHER FINANCIAL EXPERT?

"Last October, Alan Greenspan — who had spent years assuring investors that all was well with the American financial system — declared himself to be in a state of “shocked disbelief.” After all, the best and brightest had assured him our financial system was sound: “In recent decades, a vast risk management and pricing system has evolved, combining the best insights of mathematicians and finance experts supported by major advances in computer and communications technology. . . . The whole intellectual edifice, however, collapsed in the summer of last year.”
(New York Times, 6 August) RD

GLASGOW BRANCH ACTIVITY

COMMUNITY CENTRAL HALLS
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

"Ddalgi (Korean for strawberry), from Papua New Guinea, finished third in the six-week contest which ended on Wednesday, said Paxnet, an online stock market information provider. The bird competed with 10 stock investors. Each started with 60 million won (£29,000) in cyber money and traded 10 million won worth of stocks in each transaction. Human investors picked any stocks they wanted. The parrot, using its beak, made random choices from balls representing 30 blue chips including Samsung Electronics. "The outcome of our contest was amazing. Ddalgi stood third with her investment return standing at 13.7 per cent," Chung Yeon-Dae, the Paxnet general manager, told AFP. Human investors averaged a 4.6 per cent loss, with only two outperforming the parrot - one by 64.4 per cent and one by 21.4 per cent."

(Daily Telegraph, 7 August) RD

THE REVEREND MONEYBAGS

Most Reverend gentlemen tell their flocks not to thirst after the material things of life, but a recent obituary highlighted one American bible thumper who couldn't be accused of such nonsense. "One of America's first tele-evangelists, F.J. Eikerenkoetter 11, 74, better known as the Rev. Ike spread his gospel of material wealth to millions of viewers with proclamations like "Jesus was a capitalist". His opulent lifestyle, bankrolled by church donations, included several mansions and a fleet of Rolls-Royces. "My garage runneth over", he once quipped."
(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

LAS VEGAS, ANOTHER VIEW

We are all aware of the Hollywood depiction of Las Vegas as a fun-loving city, full of casinos, nightclubs and good times, but the reality for its growing homeless numbers is far from idylic. As jobs and homes disappear many of the dispossessed street dwellers are subject to attacks of violence. Now even the the streets are being abandoned by the homeless. "Some of the Las Vegas homeless resort to living in a maze of underground flood channels beneath the Strip. There they face flash floods, disease, black widows and dank, pitch-dark conditions, but some tunnel dwellers say life there is better than being harassed and threatened by assailants and the police. “Out there, anything goes,” said Manny Lang, who has lived in the tunnels for months, recalling the stones and profanities with which a group of teenagers pelted him last winter when he slept above ground. “But in here, nothing’s going to happen to us.”
(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

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.

Food for Thought 4

On the poverty front – a Toronto Star article (Put Poverty on the G8's Agenda – for effectiveness, (see Food for thought, How Capitalism Works) described how water was brought to 8 000 people in the Congo for just $40 000 and if only the world's wealthy nations would deliver on their promised $60 billion over five years (see same item again!) then a real dent could be made in aids, health systems, reducing child mortality. Etc. The article does tell us that World Bank statistics show rising food costs could lead to 2.8 million more children dying by 2015; that with some increase for basic health services, annual child deaths fell from 10.9 to 9.2 million, 2002-2007. That still leaves 26 000 per day dying from preventable diseases and hunger. Naturally, the article never once questioned the system that caused the problem and is expected to fix it, if we beg hard enough!

- 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

REFORM UNDER ATTACK

Councils say they do not have enough funds to pay bus companies

Providing free bus travel for all pensioners is an "inefficient" use of public funds, a report has concluded.
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+

A method of keeping up the prices is to subsidise the purchase of a new one while making sure your old one is clunkered as the Americans say. Senate opponents of the program, most of them Republicans, question its effectiveness and cost.
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?

"A media committee in Venezuela's parliament is set to begin Tuesday studying a draft law that, if approved, could jail anyone publishing comments that authorities consider a threat to national interests. The controversial text will be weighed just days after President Hugo Chavez's government revoked the licenses of 32 radio stations and two local television stations "to democratize the radio-electric spectrum." The moves were slammed by critics of the firebrand leftist leader and others as a coordinated crackdown on media challenging the president's image and policies, and as signs that freedom of expression is being muzzled."
(Yahoo News, 3 August) RD

Food for Thought 3

- Those who always do very well, continue to do so, even though Ontario's Industry Minister refused do divulge GM or Chrysler executives' pay
– "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

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

"It required some trimming of the price, but a buyer has finally been found for the largest and most expensive private sailing vessel built. Tom Perkins, the American venture capitalist, is close to completing the sale of his clipper-style super yacht the Maltese Falcon. The 289ft boat — an elegant “hybrid” that can run on giant sails or engines — is believed to have fetched about £60m after being on the market for more than a year."

(Sunday Times, 2 August) RD

Food for Thought 2

On the economic front, we can all breathe a sigh of relief – the governor of the Bank of Canada has declared the recession over. Say what!
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

RECESSION? WHAT RECESSION?

"A rare, 5-carat pink diamond will be sold in Hong Kong this December by Christie's, which expects the stone to hover near world record prices, thanks in part to the buying prowess of top Asian jewelry collectors. The stone, set in a so-called "cushion-cut" ring by famed jewellers Graff Diamonds, is expected to fetch between $5-$7 million, in reach of the current world auction record for a pink diamond -- a 19.66-carat stone that sold in Geneva for $7.4 million in 1994." (Yahoo News, 3 August) RD

Food for Thought

- How capitalism works –
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

PROPHETS AND PROFITS

The financial journalist Richard Wachman recently wrote an article in The Observer entitled "We're two years older and sadder, but perhap not a great deal wiser".He reviewed the financial collapse that had occured from August '07 to August '09. "What happened two years ago was to lead to a chain of event that involved the nationalisation of about half the major bank in Britain and the United States. It was also to lead to the collapse of emerging markets from Latvia to Pakistan and the biggest ever globally co-ordinated government rescue package, involving trillions of pounds. The world is now an uglier place with mass unemployment, widespread business failure and dramatic falls in world trade." (Observer, 2 August)
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

PROFIT BEFORE ENVIRONMENT

"India will not discuss signing up to legally binding obligations to make absolute cuts in greenhouse gas emissions for at least 10 years, Jairam Ramesh, the country’s environment minister, said on Friday. “In 2020, it’s conceivable that we might look at a limited target. But in 2009, no way,” said Mr Ramesh. The toughening of New Delhi’s stance marks an escalation in the war of words over global warming that India has waged with the developed world ahead of crucial negotiations in Copenhagen in December. The bad-tempered dialogue bodes ill for the success of those talks. Both India and China are unhappy over what they see as western pressure on them to join in a global deal, while the developed world – which bears historic responsibility for global warming – has failed to meet its own emissions targets."
(Financial Times, 31 July) RD