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

RELIGIOUS NONSENSE

"The Dalai Lama may not be the first person who comes to mind for business advice but, as the Buddhist monk wrote in his new book, capitalism can profit from Buddhism's principles and values. In "The Leader's Way," published this month by Broadway Books, the spiritual leader of Tibet wrote that both business and Buddhism attach importance to happiness and making the right decisions, and a company without "happy employees, customers and shareholders will ultimately fail." Citing Buddhist basics such as good intentions, a calm mind free of negative thoughts and a realization that nothing is permanent, the Dalai Lama and co-author Laurens van den Muyzenberg tackle timely issues such as corporate compensation, malfeasance and the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market...."When I started this project, I was not sure that companies could act in such a way that they could deserve a thoroughly good reputation. Now I am convinced that they can," the Dalai Lama wrote. Profit, for example, is "a fine aim," but not the main role of business, which is "to make a contribution to the well-being of society at large," he wrote." (Yahoo News, 28 July) RD

ALL IN YOUR MIND?

From left, Deng Yanli, Tian Lihua and Li Xiuying at Jihua Hospital in Jilin. Ms.
Deng told of suffering convulsions and dizziness.

"Jilin City, China — Tian Lihua was just beginning her morning shift when she felt a wave of nausea, then numbness in her limbs and finally dizziness that gave way to unconsciousness. In the days that followed, more than 1,200 fellow employees at the textile mill where Ms. Tian works would be felled by these and other symptoms, including convulsions, breathing difficulties, vomiting and temporary paralysis. “When I finally came to, I could hear the doctors talking but I couldn’t open my eyes,” she said weakly from a hospital bed last month. “They said I had a reaction to unknown substances.” Ms. Tian and scores of other workers say the “unknown substances” came from a factory across the street that produces aniline, a highly toxic chemical used in the manufacture of polyurethane, rubber, herbicides and dyes. As soon as the Jilin Connell Chemical Plant started production this spring, local hospitals began receiving stricken workers from the acrylic yarn factory 100 yards downwind from Connell’s exhaust stacks. On some days, doctors were overwhelmed and patients were put two to a bed. A clear case of chemical contamination? Not so, say Chinese health officials who contend that the episode is a communal outbreak of psychogenic illness, also called mass hysteria. The blurry vision, muscle spasms and pounding headaches, according to a government report issued in May, were simply psychological reactions to a feared chemical exposure." (New York Times, 29 July) RD

ONE TO MISS

"His birth was marked by a double rainbow and a new star, he hit 11 holes-in-one in his first game of golf, finishing 38 under par, and throughout his life he has performed heroic feats impossible for mere mortals. When he shouts, "huge storms happen". The life of North Korea's ailing leader, Kim Jong-il, has long been extravagantly window-dressed by the state's diligent chroniclers, but now it is about to get the full regal treatment with a new movie chronicling his exploits from childhood to living legend. North Korea's state media said this week that the first part of a multi-series documentary about Mr Kim's birth, childhood and early achievements, when he developed "military ideas and theories and tactics of [his father] President Kim Il-sung", has already been produced. Although other propaganda movies extol Mr Kim's boundless virtues – one records that he came down from the heavens accompanied by a huge snowstorm – this will be the first to "comprehensively deal... with his revolutionary exploits", said the Korean Central News Agency." (Independent, 17 July) RD

UPSTAIRS, DOWNSTAIRS

"Hotel cleaners in some of London's top hotels are paid less than half the minimum wage to service rooms that cost up to £400 a night. An investigation by The Times has revealed a pattern of ruthless exploitation in which immigrants desperate for work are paid a pittance for their labour at some of the capital's luxury establishments. A number of workers have told The Times that gang masters are fiddling employee's timesheets so that they earn only £100 for a 40-hour week." (Times, 31 July) RD

POVERTY AND ILL HEALTH

"People living in the poorest parts of Scotland are 64 per cent more likely to get type 2 diabetes than those in affluent areas, health campaigner have said. The charity Diabete UK Scotland also said those with the condition in deprived areas were more likely to develop complications, Type 2 diabetes usually affect middle-aged or older people, but is more frequently being found in younger people." (Times, 28 July) RD

GOD AS A HISTORY MAKER

"The Christian right is making a fresh push to force religion onto the school curriculum in Texas with the state's education board about to consider recommendations that children be taught that there would be no United States if it had not been for God. Members of a panel of experts appointed by the board to revise the state's history curriculum, who include a Christian fundamentalist preacher who says he is fighting a war for America's moral soul, want lessons to emphasise the part played by Christianity in the founding of the US and that religion is a civic virtue. ...One of the panel, David Barton, founder of a Christian heritage group called WallBuilders, argues that the curriculum should reflect the fact that the US Constitution was written with God in mind including that "there is a fixed moral law derived from God and nature", that "there is a creator" and "government exists primarily to protect God-given rights to every individual"....Another of the experts is Reverend Peter Marshall, who heads his own Christian ministry and preaches that Hurricane Katrina and defeat in the Vietnam war were God's punishment for sexual promiscuity and tolerance of homosexuals." (Guardian, 22 July) RD

MORE CONSPICIOUS CONSUMPTION

"New York – A giant gem will hit the auction block in New York this autumn with the sale of the 32-carat emerald-cut Annenberg diamond, which is expected to fetch as much at $5 million, Christie's said on Wednesday. The flawless ring-mounted diamond, owned by philanthropist Lee Annenberg, widow of publishing magnate Walter Annenberg, leads the auction house's magnificent jewels sale on October." (Yahoo News, 22 July) RD

THE DIGNITY OF LABOUR?

"Service with a smile is no longer just a catchy slogan, Japanese railway staff are now required to check their chirpiness every morning. Keihin Electric Railway has introduced a "Smile Scan" system at 14 of its railway stations, and staff are being asked to double check their grins at the door. They sit down in front of a computer with nothing more than a web cam, log in, and the system then judges just how well they make or fake a smile. The system also gives feedback such as "Your smile is getting better" or even just "Smile like you're happy!"
(Yahoo News, 23 July) RD