Every citizen, eligible to vote is responsible for this financial crisis that the world is gripped by, whether by action or inaction.
No point blaming the greedy banks, corporations, speculators or any other scapegoat for our failings as citizens. Collectively, and regardless of our actual and professed political stripe, we have failed by buying into the arguments that allowed the kinds of de-regulations that led to the financial meltdown that is affecting so very many people not just in our societies here, but also in countries around the world that have seen large scale suffering.
The reason we cannot blame the banks, the corporations, the speculators is due to their openly and honestly stated goal to make as much profit as they possibly could.
They openly and publically said that regulations got in the way of making as profits as they possibly could and we agreed with them and freely elected political parties that promptly got rid of the regulations or red-tape as they would prefer to call it. They said hey, the regular way of making money is not making enough money for us so what say we invent some new ways of making money, so the very next time they had an election going on, we obediently and collectively trotted off to the polls and elected even more radical right-wing governments, who cut even more regulations, er' sorry, red-tape. Whether or not we actually participated in voting or not (and we all have the right to determine which stripe of political party will represent us), we are to blame because large majorities of us voted for the kinds of political parties that used hot-button issues to get into power and implemented policies that de-regulated the business environment to the point of privatizing profits and nationalizing losses.
We ourselves as citizens have bought into the myth that if big corporations and wealthy individuals could make as much profits as they possibly could, society and the economy would be better off.
We and the corporations who sold us these ideas via their media oulets universally known as the corporate media have seen right-wing economic ideas come crashing down, devastatingly and spectacularly, spreading throughout the world like some economic tsunami, causing untold suffering and misery.
Meanwhile, that fringe group, those rabble rousers off in the corner there, the ones no media outlet will ever give fair play to in case their ideas are taken seriously, the ones whose ideas were pooh-poohed during times of financial excess and before, what are they up to these days, when all their warnings and predictions have come sadly and tragically true?
Are they revelling in the fact that they were right? Or gloating that the other side is so devastatingly wrong?
NO! They are busy fighting off attempts by the hedge fund managers, the Executive class, the Private Equity firms, wealthy investors, even wealthier old money individuals to claw concessions from working people in an attempt to balance the books on the workers backs. Sssh! Hush up now you mouthy worker,.. never mind all those millions and yes even billions in profits and bonuses the corporate/wealthy class has made through the decades.
Complicit as usual, the media has obediently attacked one group of workers after another to imprint in the collective public mindset that the only possible outcome to any negotiations had to be concessions from working people.
That said there is a hotbed of discussion taking place out there amongst the leftists about learing from and capititalizing on this financial meldown.
Hopefully some of them will explore the lesson to be learned from the practice of nationalizing corporate losses and what that means for profits down the road.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Food Safety
Environmentalists are often labelled as leftists. People concerned about the health of the planet and of all living beings are ridiculed and called opponents of change. But if one digs deeper we find that these good folk have proven to be correct over time. One issue of great concern is the subject of food safety. Regulatory bodies that are supposed to safguard our health have been tainted over time by right-wing governments, who have appointed industry insiders to tese boards. These people are in conflict of interest as they promote their own products that have caused much harm over time. One such issue is genetically modified foods.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Unions
Many of the things that we take for granted in our working lives today came about through the struggles of workers who organized themselves into Unions.
Heavily resisted at the time by the moneyed class, branded leftist pinko commies by the media outlets of said moneyed class, norms such as todays 8 hour workday, overtime pay, seniority, health and safety laws, compensation for injuries suffered at work, vision, hearing and dental benefits came into being via collective bargaining and very often through strikes. Collective bargaining by workers was so successful that other professionals use it as a tool for ensuring fair compensation. Groups such as judiciary bodies, police, doctors, teachers, nurses and of course professional atheletes are just some examples of people who use the power of collective bargaining. The paradox is that collective action actually empowers the individual by allowing the person to work to live and enjoy life and not having to simply live to work!!
What mere decades ago were derided as socialist, Leftist ideas, today serve so very many citizens, that it is taken for granted and treated as if it were always there.
During the recent attacks on auto-workers and their wages and benefits, there were artciles that credited the United Auto Workers Union(UAW)with the creation of the American middle class. AWESOME!! Leftist ideas benefitting so many ordinary citizens that an entire class is created. Just AWESOME!!
By any indicator Unions have improved the lives of their members and colaterally the economic health of the communities their members live in.
The Right-wing, their media mouthpieces, their Conservative political voices all said during the struggles for these and many, many other gains for workers that these insane ideas would never work and were doomed to failure.
But it looks like the Left is Right again!!
Heavily resisted at the time by the moneyed class, branded leftist pinko commies by the media outlets of said moneyed class, norms such as todays 8 hour workday, overtime pay, seniority, health and safety laws, compensation for injuries suffered at work, vision, hearing and dental benefits came into being via collective bargaining and very often through strikes. Collective bargaining by workers was so successful that other professionals use it as a tool for ensuring fair compensation. Groups such as judiciary bodies, police, doctors, teachers, nurses and of course professional atheletes are just some examples of people who use the power of collective bargaining. The paradox is that collective action actually empowers the individual by allowing the person to work to live and enjoy life and not having to simply live to work!!
What mere decades ago were derided as socialist, Leftist ideas, today serve so very many citizens, that it is taken for granted and treated as if it were always there.
During the recent attacks on auto-workers and their wages and benefits, there were artciles that credited the United Auto Workers Union(UAW)with the creation of the American middle class. AWESOME!! Leftist ideas benefitting so many ordinary citizens that an entire class is created. Just AWESOME!!
By any indicator Unions have improved the lives of their members and colaterally the economic health of the communities their members live in.
The Right-wing, their media mouthpieces, their Conservative political voices all said during the struggles for these and many, many other gains for workers that these insane ideas would never work and were doomed to failure.
But it looks like the Left is Right again!!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Capitalism gone mad
Note that the people oppposing this greed come from what is traditionally considered the left of the political spectrum.
Conservatives are on board now, especially considering how badly their "Let the markets decide" economic policy has crashed and burned the financial system glabally.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8034749.stm
Conservatives are on board now, especially considering how badly their "Let the markets decide" economic policy has crashed and burned the financial system glabally.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8034749.stm
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Passengers to be charged with impaired driving!
Autoworkers may relate to this.
You are involved in a horrific crash, one that has destroyed the lives of many and seriously impaired the lives of others.
You are in the vehicle driven by someone you know, someone who you also knew was under the influence.
You are dazed and battered, not just from the effects of the crash but also from being along for this bumpy ride for quite a while.
You had no choice about getting in the car, because this was the one who brung you and you were along for the ride whether you liked it or not.
YOU the passenger are charged with drinking and driving, with being in a car with a drunken driver and treated to all the offenses that go with these charges.
You are involved in more that just an accident, because this one happened during a time of widespread fear and uncertainty.
How does that sound?
We could have Parliamentarians arguing in favour of charging passengers, while unconditionally pardoning the drunken drivers of any culpability.
The media would be let loose and would conduct a campaign that would deliberately distort reality by printing and publishing confusing information.
The now familiar tactic of doublespeak technically correct, while factually wrong. would serve in whipping up public fervour.
Independent experts would be called upon to argue in favour of this new reality, even though their track records showed that they had also participated in this wreck,
by enabling the drivers over all these years with the kind of advice that led to the crash while paradoxically offering up the very same advice as a cure.
You the passenger would be expected to suffer serious economic penalties, for all the devastation caused by the crash.
Drivers would suffer absolutely no penalty of any sort and would be patted on the heads and given State funds to fix up their vehicles.
Drivers would have lifetime amnesty from any sort of accountability or responsibility.
The media, having double speak down to a fine art, honed after many decades of practicing this form of disinformation, would make even the mention of a financial penalty for drivers a remote possibility, something not to be talked about in decent company.
There would not even be a whisper of financial penalty for them.
Sound ludicrous?
It shouldn't really!
If you apply the analogy to the current economic crisis, you will find that this is exactly what is being done to Autoworkers!
They are the passengers and the Executive ranks are the drivers.
Autoworkers as passengers, are being taken on a ride, over which they have absolutely no control, with the widespread support of public opinion.
Current events show how well has the medias doublespeak worked.
Most letters/comments from readers of various media are solidly in favour of charging and penalizing the Autoworker...(or the passenger as it were).
Financial penalties actually seem sensible.
Our rightwingers, traditional voices of the rich and powerful, the current Industry Minister and Prime Minister have both indicated their unqualified support for the reccomendations of the executive ranks.
How much sense does it make to demand concessions from the passengers (Autoworkers) and expect that to fix the problem?
Especially with the drivers, (the executives) still in charge, devoid of any accountability or responsibility?
In spite of the furor with the recent AIG Executive bonuses, there has not been any mention of of executive accountability and responsibility from any government Ministers, the much abused Accountability Act of the Conservatives nowithstanding!
You are involved in a horrific crash, one that has destroyed the lives of many and seriously impaired the lives of others.
You are in the vehicle driven by someone you know, someone who you also knew was under the influence.
You are dazed and battered, not just from the effects of the crash but also from being along for this bumpy ride for quite a while.
You had no choice about getting in the car, because this was the one who brung you and you were along for the ride whether you liked it or not.
YOU the passenger are charged with drinking and driving, with being in a car with a drunken driver and treated to all the offenses that go with these charges.
You are involved in more that just an accident, because this one happened during a time of widespread fear and uncertainty.
How does that sound?
We could have Parliamentarians arguing in favour of charging passengers, while unconditionally pardoning the drunken drivers of any culpability.
The media would be let loose and would conduct a campaign that would deliberately distort reality by printing and publishing confusing information.
The now familiar tactic of doublespeak technically correct, while factually wrong. would serve in whipping up public fervour.
Independent experts would be called upon to argue in favour of this new reality, even though their track records showed that they had also participated in this wreck,
by enabling the drivers over all these years with the kind of advice that led to the crash while paradoxically offering up the very same advice as a cure.
You the passenger would be expected to suffer serious economic penalties, for all the devastation caused by the crash.
Drivers would suffer absolutely no penalty of any sort and would be patted on the heads and given State funds to fix up their vehicles.
Drivers would have lifetime amnesty from any sort of accountability or responsibility.
The media, having double speak down to a fine art, honed after many decades of practicing this form of disinformation, would make even the mention of a financial penalty for drivers a remote possibility, something not to be talked about in decent company.
There would not even be a whisper of financial penalty for them.
Sound ludicrous?
It shouldn't really!
If you apply the analogy to the current economic crisis, you will find that this is exactly what is being done to Autoworkers!
They are the passengers and the Executive ranks are the drivers.
Autoworkers as passengers, are being taken on a ride, over which they have absolutely no control, with the widespread support of public opinion.
Current events show how well has the medias doublespeak worked.
Most letters/comments from readers of various media are solidly in favour of charging and penalizing the Autoworker...(or the passenger as it were).
Financial penalties actually seem sensible.
Our rightwingers, traditional voices of the rich and powerful, the current Industry Minister and Prime Minister have both indicated their unqualified support for the reccomendations of the executive ranks.
How much sense does it make to demand concessions from the passengers (Autoworkers) and expect that to fix the problem?
Especially with the drivers, (the executives) still in charge, devoid of any accountability or responsibility?
In spite of the furor with the recent AIG Executive bonuses, there has not been any mention of of executive accountability and responsibility from any government Ministers, the much abused Accountability Act of the Conservatives nowithstanding!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Potent argument against Privitization
2 Pa. Judges Admit Jailing Kids For Cash
Plead Guilty To Fraud For Taking $2.6M In Kickbacks To Send Teens To Private Detention Centers
WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Feb. 12, 2009
(CBS/ AP) Two Pennsylvania judges charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send youth offenders to privately run detention centers pleaded guilty to fraud Thursday in one of the most stunning cases of judicial corruption on record.
Prosecutors allege Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, possibly tainting the convictions of thousands of juvenile offenders.
The judges pleaded guilty in federal court in Scranton to honest services fraud and tax fraud. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years in prison. They were permitted to remain free pending sentencing.
The gray-haired jurists said little at Thursday's hearing, and declined to comment to reporters afterward.
Prosecutors described a scheme in which Conahan, the former president judge of Luzerne County, shut down the county-owned juvenile detention center in 2002 and signed an agreement with PA Child Care LLC to send youth offenders to its new facility outside Wilkes-Barre.
Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, sent youths to the detention center while he was taking payments, prosecutors said.
For years, youth advocacy groups complained that Ciavarella was ridiculously harsh and ran roughshod over youngsters' constitutional rights. Ciavarella sent a quarter of his juvenile defendants to detention centers from 2002 to 2006, compared with a statewide rate of one in 10.
Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before, and some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it. Many of the youths didn't have attorneys.
Ciavarella has specifically denied sending kids to jail for cash, and had indicated he would not go through with the guilty plea if the government offered that as evidence.
Thus prosecutors left out any mention Thursday of a quid pro quo, presenting only enough evidence to establish that crimes had occurred.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubron said after the hearing that the government continues to allege a quid pro quo. "We're not negotiating that, no. We're not backing off," he said.
The prosecutor said it will be up to U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosik to settle the matter. Kosik could reject the proposed sentence as too light if he decides there was a quid pro quo.
"I think there will be significant disagreements as to what the facts are," Zubrod said. "Was there a connection between the payments and the money, and young people going to prison? Those are issues that are going to be addressed later by the court. There's going to be plenty of time to fight about that."
The judges were charged on Jan. 26 and removed from the bench by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shortly afterward.
Fifteen-year-old Bernadine Wallace was sentenced to a month in lock-up for a threatening note she posted on her MySpace page, reports CBS News correspondent Seth Doane.
"I was thinking to myself, 'I don't deserve this. I don't think that I did that much wrong. I'm not a criminal'," she said.
"You saw the judges come out of court today. How were you feeling?" Doane asked Wallace's mother.
"Angry," Flo Wallace said. "How did they get to walk out with all these charges? When she went in front of them, she got out of shackles."
Kurt Kruger, now 22, pictured at left, had never been in trouble with the law until the day police accused him of acting as a lookout while his friend shoplifted less than $200 worth of DVDs from Wal-Mart. He said he didn't know his friend was going to steal anything.
Kruger pleaded guilty before Ciavarella and spent three days in a company-run juvenile detention center, plus four months at a youth wilderness camp run by a different operator.
"Never in a million years did I think that I would actually get sent away. I was completely destroyed," said Kruger, who later dropped out of school. He said he wants to get his record expunged, earn his high school equivalency diploma and go to college.
"I got a raw deal, and yeah, it's not fair," he said, "but now it's 100 times bigger than me."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/12/national/main4797237.shtml
Plead Guilty To Fraud For Taking $2.6M In Kickbacks To Send Teens To Private Detention Centers
WILKES-BARRE, Pa., Feb. 12, 2009
(CBS/ AP) Two Pennsylvania judges charged with taking millions of dollars in kickbacks to send youth offenders to privately run detention centers pleaded guilty to fraud Thursday in one of the most stunning cases of judicial corruption on record.
Prosecutors allege Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, possibly tainting the convictions of thousands of juvenile offenders.
The judges pleaded guilty in federal court in Scranton to honest services fraud and tax fraud. Their plea agreements call for sentences of more than seven years in prison. They were permitted to remain free pending sentencing.
The gray-haired jurists said little at Thursday's hearing, and declined to comment to reporters afterward.
Prosecutors described a scheme in which Conahan, the former president judge of Luzerne County, shut down the county-owned juvenile detention center in 2002 and signed an agreement with PA Child Care LLC to send youth offenders to its new facility outside Wilkes-Barre.
Ciavarella, who presided over juvenile court, sent youths to the detention center while he was taking payments, prosecutors said.
For years, youth advocacy groups complained that Ciavarella was ridiculously harsh and ran roughshod over youngsters' constitutional rights. Ciavarella sent a quarter of his juvenile defendants to detention centers from 2002 to 2006, compared with a statewide rate of one in 10.
Among the offenders were teenagers who were locked up for months for stealing loose change from cars, writing a prank note and possessing drug paraphernalia. Many had never been in trouble before, and some were imprisoned even after probation officers recommended against it. Many of the youths didn't have attorneys.
Ciavarella has specifically denied sending kids to jail for cash, and had indicated he would not go through with the guilty plea if the government offered that as evidence.
Thus prosecutors left out any mention Thursday of a quid pro quo, presenting only enough evidence to establish that crimes had occurred.
But Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon Zubron said after the hearing that the government continues to allege a quid pro quo. "We're not negotiating that, no. We're not backing off," he said.
The prosecutor said it will be up to U.S. District Judge Edwin Kosik to settle the matter. Kosik could reject the proposed sentence as too light if he decides there was a quid pro quo.
"I think there will be significant disagreements as to what the facts are," Zubrod said. "Was there a connection between the payments and the money, and young people going to prison? Those are issues that are going to be addressed later by the court. There's going to be plenty of time to fight about that."
The judges were charged on Jan. 26 and removed from the bench by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court shortly afterward.
Fifteen-year-old Bernadine Wallace was sentenced to a month in lock-up for a threatening note she posted on her MySpace page, reports CBS News correspondent Seth Doane.
"I was thinking to myself, 'I don't deserve this. I don't think that I did that much wrong. I'm not a criminal'," she said.
"You saw the judges come out of court today. How were you feeling?" Doane asked Wallace's mother.
"Angry," Flo Wallace said. "How did they get to walk out with all these charges? When she went in front of them, she got out of shackles."
Kurt Kruger, now 22, pictured at left, had never been in trouble with the law until the day police accused him of acting as a lookout while his friend shoplifted less than $200 worth of DVDs from Wal-Mart. He said he didn't know his friend was going to steal anything.
Kruger pleaded guilty before Ciavarella and spent three days in a company-run juvenile detention center, plus four months at a youth wilderness camp run by a different operator.
"Never in a million years did I think that I would actually get sent away. I was completely destroyed," said Kruger, who later dropped out of school. He said he wants to get his record expunged, earn his high school equivalency diploma and go to college.
"I got a raw deal, and yeah, it's not fair," he said, "but now it's 100 times bigger than me."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/12/national/main4797237.shtml
Friday, March 13, 2009
Right-wing Voodoo Economics
The Right-wing Conservatives are guilty once again of using Voodoo Economics.
They have forgotten that most Western democracies live under the capitalist system that depends on consumerism. This means that in order for the system to function and be successful, consumers have to have enough disposable income that they can spend in order to make the economic wheel turn. Somehow it seems to have escaped the great rightwing conservative thinkers that impoverishing workers, will actually take money out of the economy.
Thats why we constantly hear these days, that we need to get credit flowing,
(Banking-not-auto problem) so that consumer confidence can be restored in order to rescue the economy from a recession.
In Canada we have the Industry Minister Tony Clement claiming that auto-workers have not given up enough concessions to make the companies they work for successful.
The rightwing is trying to use this economic downturn (A financial meltdown which has nothing to do with autoworkers) to lower the wages of workers and increase the profits of owners and top executives. Lesser wages means lesser disposable income. Lesser wages also means a lower tax base.
Absolutely no mention of the millions that the top executives make, with the addded luxury of millions more in bonuses and perks. Not a mention. Not even a whisper of millions in bonuses or golden parachutes.
This is a Conservative minister. A rightwinger.
All Tony Clement has accomplished is to prove once again that the Conservatives are the mouthpieces of the rich and powerful, plain and simple. Only Voodoo economic thinking will lead one to believe that taking money away from workers will actually increase consumer confidence.
If autoworkers were forced to give up more of their pay, it stands to reason that they would have less disposable income. This will affect every sector of the economy, because it is a proven fact that autoworkers enrich the communities they live in through their expenditures, through the use of their benefits.
Autoworker wages support many small businesses in the communities they live in, not to mention the services they use or the jobs they maintain through the use of those very same benefits. This amounts to autoworkers maintaining a decent living for all the people who either own these small businesses or provide the services they use.
This in addition to the fact that each auto-job has 7-1/2 spin-off jobs tied to it.
10,000 GM workers' concessions amounted to $148,000,000. Thats works out to about $14,800. per worker.
On the other hand, Chrysler executive Tom LaSorda, the one who just recently used rather incendiary language regarding concessions he expects from workers at the company he works at, made bonuses worth millions, just last year.
Millions in bonuses. One guy. Millions in bonuses!
You think one guy is going to spend any of that money supporting local businesses? How many communities does this guy live and spend in?
How many tradespeople, professionals, dental assistants, podiatrists, restuarants or services can one guy support via his millions of dollars bonuses?
Autoworkers concessions can add up to a couple of hundred millions.
Auto Executive concessions can add up to billions!!
Who do you think the government should be demanding concessions from?
From hardworking Canadians who follow orders or from the Executives who made the decisions that led to loss of market share AND profitted from millions in bonuses each?
Voodoo economics! A specialty of the Conservatives!
They have forgotten that most Western democracies live under the capitalist system that depends on consumerism. This means that in order for the system to function and be successful, consumers have to have enough disposable income that they can spend in order to make the economic wheel turn. Somehow it seems to have escaped the great rightwing conservative thinkers that impoverishing workers, will actually take money out of the economy.
Thats why we constantly hear these days, that we need to get credit flowing,
(Banking-not-auto problem) so that consumer confidence can be restored in order to rescue the economy from a recession.
In Canada we have the Industry Minister Tony Clement claiming that auto-workers have not given up enough concessions to make the companies they work for successful.
The rightwing is trying to use this economic downturn (A financial meltdown which has nothing to do with autoworkers) to lower the wages of workers and increase the profits of owners and top executives. Lesser wages means lesser disposable income. Lesser wages also means a lower tax base.
Absolutely no mention of the millions that the top executives make, with the addded luxury of millions more in bonuses and perks. Not a mention. Not even a whisper of millions in bonuses or golden parachutes.
This is a Conservative minister. A rightwinger.
All Tony Clement has accomplished is to prove once again that the Conservatives are the mouthpieces of the rich and powerful, plain and simple. Only Voodoo economic thinking will lead one to believe that taking money away from workers will actually increase consumer confidence.
If autoworkers were forced to give up more of their pay, it stands to reason that they would have less disposable income. This will affect every sector of the economy, because it is a proven fact that autoworkers enrich the communities they live in through their expenditures, through the use of their benefits.
Autoworker wages support many small businesses in the communities they live in, not to mention the services they use or the jobs they maintain through the use of those very same benefits. This amounts to autoworkers maintaining a decent living for all the people who either own these small businesses or provide the services they use.
This in addition to the fact that each auto-job has 7-1/2 spin-off jobs tied to it.
10,000 GM workers' concessions amounted to $148,000,000. Thats works out to about $14,800. per worker.
On the other hand, Chrysler executive Tom LaSorda, the one who just recently used rather incendiary language regarding concessions he expects from workers at the company he works at, made bonuses worth millions, just last year.
Millions in bonuses. One guy. Millions in bonuses!
You think one guy is going to spend any of that money supporting local businesses? How many communities does this guy live and spend in?
How many tradespeople, professionals, dental assistants, podiatrists, restuarants or services can one guy support via his millions of dollars bonuses?
Autoworkers concessions can add up to a couple of hundred millions.
Auto Executive concessions can add up to billions!!
Who do you think the government should be demanding concessions from?
From hardworking Canadians who follow orders or from the Executives who made the decisions that led to loss of market share AND profitted from millions in bonuses each?
Voodoo economics! A specialty of the Conservatives!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)