On the Ivory Coast, one of the world's largest producers of palm oil, a man
empties a bag of palm grains on a palm oil plantation
Saturday, December 13, 2008
CAPITALISM IN ACTION
ANOTHER LABOUR FAILURE
more pay cuts loom
"We're predicting next year that we're going to see more organisations making more and more redundancies." said the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
Friday, December 12, 2008
MORE PRESS TRIVIA
That only comes to 66%, so hopefully the other 34% told Theos to piss off! RD
DESPERATE TIMES
The sad truth is that despite the desperate prayers of Detroit workers capitalism is a system based on slumps and booms and no amount of hymn singing is going to save their jobs. RD
Thursday, December 11, 2008
the true xmas spirit
This is particularly relevant in festive shopping when personal finances are being stretched.
At Christmas, people are challenged with what can be considered to be a moral form of cognitive dissonance, when people are torn between balancing their finances and the wish to make others and themselves happier - which is the societal expectation of what Christmas is really all about.
Knowing they may well not be able to afford what they are buying, people enter into transactions encouraged by heavy marketing influences. And they will try to reduce their internal psychological conflict in order to justify their actions.
They will explain that their happiness and that of others is more important than their debt, that others cannot do without when people around them are receiving and being happy and that, above all, Christmas is a time for giving and sharing and the spirit of Christmas should be encouraged in a time of nationwide gloom. Such actions are typical responses when people are experiencing dissonance. Dissonance is often strong when we believe something about ourselves and then do something against that belief. If I believe I am good - managing my finances to reduce debt - but do something bad - spend freely at Christmas - then the discomfort I feel as a result is cognitive dissonance. The resultant effect can be extremely negative in the long term when the reality of the dissonance is exposed.
Not legal eagles but legal vultures
The Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal heard the men acted "unacceptably" by charging clients even though the government was paying their fees.
Beresford, 58, said last year to be Britain's highest-earning solicitor, and Smith, 52, made millions of pounds from personal injury claims for miners under the government's coal health compensation scheme. Tribunal chairman David Leverton said: "If ever there was a group of persons who needed the full care and attention from solicitors, it was these miners. Mr Beresford described himself as an entrepreneur. Unfortunately, his attitude allowed himself and Mr Smith to put commercial goals before his clients' best interests."
The lawyers were also accused of not giving adequate advice and entering into contingency fee deals against their clients' best interests.The tribunal heard that up to 30% of a miner's damages could be deducted by Beresfords. In one case, the firm deducted a "success fee" from the widow of a miner, leaving her with a total payout of just £217.73, the tribunal heard.
Beresford and Smith's joint earnings went from more than £182,000 in 2000 to £23,273,256 in 2006.
Perhaps , Socialist Courier wouldn't go as far as Shakespeare's "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" but we are sorely tempted .
A MURDEROUS SYSTEM
(Observer Magazine, 7 December) RD
CRISIS IN THE USA
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
INDIAN CLASS DIVISION
(Time, 4 December) RD
SIGN ON OR STARVE
HIGH STREET BARGAINS
(Guardian, 5 December) RD
Tuesday, December 09, 2008
HEALTH CARE IN CAPITALISM
IS HIS GOD DEAF?
Monday, December 08, 2008
Platitudes and Twaddle
A campaign to legalise assisted suicide in Scotland has been launched by Independent MSP Margo MacDonald.
The Lothian MSP, who has Parkinson's Disease, hopes to bring legislation before the parliament next year.
She is sending out a consultation paper and needs the support of at least 18 MSPs to bring forward a Holyrood bill.
Mrs MacDonald, 65, said people should have the right to choose the time and place of their death and she called for a debate on the issue.Unfortunately for 40 thousand kids a day who die, in the so- called third world this is not the case as they don't reach their first birthday as a consequence of capitalist induced poverty..
Malaria claims the lives of three children every minute. In Africa, it accounts for a quarter of infant mortality.
Anti-malarial drugs like chloroquine and larium, which were once 95% effective, are now almost useless in parts of the Third World.
Because of global warming, the disease is returning to areas where it had been successfully eradicated.
In the Calton ward of Glasgow East, male life expectancy stands at 53.9 years. Iraqi life expectancy is 69 years.
The leader of the Roman Catholic church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, said it was not up to us to decide when we die.
He said: "Life is a gift from Almighty God, given us through Almighty God through the cooperation of our parents.
"If God gives us that gift, He can take that from us but we're not taking it from Him and as it were saying, 'well God, I'm finished with life because I can't cope with cancer or Parkinson's or whatever it has to be'. We just wait on God calling us to himself.Did you ever read such miserable,superstitious, sanctimonious ,nonsense from a grown man ?
BLING, BLING - ITS THE PHONE
Vertu's Frank Nuovo holds his latest baby, the Boucheron 150, which has been
sculpted from a single slab of gold to resemble a jewel
COME CLEAN, QUEENIE
(BBC News, 4 December)
This will be hailed by all supporters of capitalism as an excellent wheeze to foil impoverished claimants, but what will happen when the Queen phones up for an increase on her benefits in the civil list? Presumably the lie detector will be switched off for non-impoverished claimants. RD
WORLD HUNGER GROWS
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Right now there are hundreds of campaigns globally for fossil fuel divestment as a strategy in the fight against climate change. Many are pr...