Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Let Loose The Hounds Of Capitalism

Why do I continue to live in this system, working a god-awful job? I mean, it's seriously drone work, that really shouldn't exist if capital was being spread evenly. I could handle it at the corner shop, or as dad's typist, but as a pair of arms at a supermarket? bollocks to that.

As capitalism spreads thoughout the world, under the guise of democracy, it coalesces all these small businesses into larger ones that can dominate more easily, and make themselves more profits. Shareholders are not the only stakeholders in a company. the influence of capitalism is enormous, and the effect that conglomerates on native business can be devastating, unless they are regulated, limited, and controlled. letting capitalism run loose is akin to leaving a pitbull in a playpen. It should be kept on a leash, on the other side of a fence that keeps it away from those who could get hurt.

posted by Keegan at 12:10 pm ... 1 comments

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Sunday, June 06, 2004

The great Reform Act of 1832 (UK)

How canny are the british - after two centuries without a civil war, let alone a revolution, and they see those frenchies across the channel lopping off aristocratic heads left right and centre. So these lords, sensing a change in the wind, gave the vote to a whole section of men, namely the richer merchants and specialists, with the riff-raff and women eventually all getting it 116 years later with universal franchise.

the thing is, small concessions pay off. the rich are still rich, the poor are still poor, but at least they can vote for one rich person over another.

Meanwhile, Reagan died today, finally. It's not really nice to rejoice in the death of an individual, but he really was a bad egg, with all those tax cuts and anti-communism, and all the foreign incursions. Now if only Dubya was convinced that Dying was just as cool as Tax Cuts and the Star-Wars Defence System, maybe Nader could get in and make a difference. posted by Keegan at 5:31 pm ... 0 comments

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Saturday, June 05, 2004

D-Day - Respect.

Here was the biggest assult ever launched, and it was against fascism. Wouldn't it be nice if they had managed to extinguish it?

I feel that fascism lives on, in a nation where where less than half the population, so approximately 25% of the population actually voted for their leader, who, through the use of propaganda, fear, and lies, initiated a war against an inconsequential nation because it 'threatened' the nation's 'way of life'. A convinent attack within the nation gave this government the opportunity to create a new government agency to spy on it's people, to quash any anti-national threats.

Fascism lives on, and man it shits me. Fascists without arm-bands - now how can you tell them apart from the rest of the population? posted by Keegan at 8:10 pm ... 0 comments

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Friday, June 04, 2004

Franken-Foods - Just Say No

Noticed today that Bayer'll be delaying their GM Canola crop in NSW, to add to Monsanto abandoning it's wheat project.

the whole thing about it is that the food/canola/cotton isn't actually of a higher quality, say the cotton doesn't need so much water, or it has a bigger yield - it's been modified to be resistant to stronger pesticides and herbicides. If GM technology was used to benifit the consumer, the farmer and the environment (not necessarily in that order), then I wouldn't mind a bit on jellyfish in my tomatoes, especially if they tasted better than this hydro crap they have to inject with red dye so we know that they're ripe. but with the current model of GM, the only people who benifit are the Agri-Businesses. they sell the seeds year after year (no re-seeding from last year's crop), the chemicals and fertilizers to keep them growing, and the consumer gets a shit product, the farmer goes further into debt cos the market's overflowing with surplus, and the enviroment is ruined by overfarming, the chemicals kill all the fish and it's basically fucked.

So support your local Bio-Tech upstart, provided it's got it's priorities straight, and remember- customer service is about serving the customer, not squeezing them for every last cent they earn. posted by Keegan at 11:05 am ... 0 comments

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Thursday, June 03, 2004

Two Old Tidbits

Robert Wade of the London School of Economics, wrote in The Economist, (2001) "Global inequality is worsening rapidly ...Technological change and financial liberalization result in a disproportionately fast increase in the number of house-holds at the extreme rich end, without shrinking the distribution at the poor end ... From 1988 to 1993, the share of the world income going to the poorest 10 percent of the world's population fell by over a quarter, whereas the share of the richest 10 percent rose by 8 percent."

Tom Paine dot Common Sense Jan 8th 2002

so, this is the globalisation that's helping the poor, yeah?

this article from Corpwatch examines the case of a Chinese immigrant to the US whose job went to China where there were fewer of those pesky labour laws.

posted by Keegan at 9:16 am ... 0 comments

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Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Pay Me More Money!

Evenin'

I should point out that there are several different aspects to the whole globalisation field.

firstly, one should decide which cause they feel most passionately about, and decide what particular thing about globalisation is hurting their cause.

for example, one might consider third world hunger worth fighting for, or independent business, the environment, one's culture, poverty or unemployment in one's country, or if you're feeling mellow, peace on earth.

then, one has to suggest a cause of this 'bad thing', to counter any neo-con/free-market nut/anarchist's/left-wing pinko argument thrown in the air.

my favourites for unemployment in the US have been "not enough tax cuts", "the unions drove wages up so high we had to move production to the third world".

now, one points to the obvious - it's all the fault of globalisation. Of course these jobs would stay if protectionist tariffs were still up. Because companies are allowed to produce overseas at pennies an hour, there's no way Joe USA can compete with China Charlie. So how does one solve unemployment then, if not through globalisation? Well, I like the government option. Improve China's labour laws, so that they earn a decent wage. The US steps up education, both child and adult, so Jimmy-Bean can learn another trade. It might not be rocket science, but there's plenty of jobs out there for those qualified.

so why doesn't it happen? "if we paid them more, we wouldn't be able to sell these goods at these low low prices", "we need unemployment, because if labour was a scarce resource, we'd pay too much for it and we'd go broke".

sounds fair, (though I wouldn't mind seeing some of my previous employers crash and burn) but consider; 1 billion Chinese. All earning as much as the average American. All spending that money, and paying taxes. Not to say the rest of the third world where this production takes place. Henry Ford, the father of modern industrialisation knew what he was on about when he paid his workers enough that they could afford to buy the first automobile. Nowadays, a seamstress in Guam would have to work a month of 14 hour days to buy a Disney baby suit, some US$30.

while greater wages may seem bad to the individual company looking at rising costs, if spread across the nation, the net gain would be enormous as the market spends on more consumer goods. More holidays, bigger TV's, whatever you're selling, you can sell more of it the more Joe Average has to spend.

and, this is important, the more tax the government is getting to spend on important things like education and the environment, and all that pesky foreign aid that just keeps piling up wouldn't be needed as the third world's wages increase. Imagine actually wiping those trillions off the board around the world, without introducing those pesky 'reverse interest' laws that Keynes was so keen on. Mind you, I still dig the 'Tobin Tax', that 1% on every financial transaction. Use it to tempt the third world to lift their game.

The trick is, to get the companies to stay put, and avoid going offshore to cheaper climes. Financial rewards and threats, whatever it takes to stay. Or one could pressure the major exporters to lift their game, pointing out the obvious benefits. As China is the major producer for the American Consumer, kicking the behemoth into better labour conditions could make this a pyramid scheme, the big boys passing the buck, to the point where it is not fiscally sensible for a nation not to have a minimum wage.

and then, when everyone in the world owns a car, we'll all die from smog poisoning.
But that's another post.

-Keegan posted by Keegan at 9:06 pm ... 0 comments

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Little ol' me.  posted by Keegan at 12:52 pm ... 0 comments

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June 2nd 2004 - Introduction

G'day,
My name's Keegan, I'm a student studying Hotel Management and Politics, and I've been slowly getting more and more frustrated that I haven't had much opportunity to write anti-globalisation essays, as there hasn't really been much opportunity in this semester's courses. As well as trying to inform a few randoms who stumble across this, it's also going to be a place where I can save references, and tidbits that crop up in the news, or books I'm reading, stuff that makes sense, helps the cause and refines my ideas about the global situation.

Right now I'm at a point where I believe that the world would benefit from true free trade globalisation, but the current system is a corporate globalist system, which limits the potential of the third world (1). I'm close to finishing "fast food nation" by Eric Schlosser (2), and then I'll be able to get cracking on Joseph Stiglitz's "Globalisation and it's Discontents" (3). I guess it's still kiddy books, but I'm still looking for some Tomes to plow through, (and No Logo [4] doesn't count). As this site develops, I'll post my essays, but only when I've figured out how to include them on university anti-cheating systems, so do your own study! It's just a place to find some references, not a fountain of knowledge.

That being said, most people I know are either disinterested or clueless about politics, let alone globalisation. And I'm hardly an activist, I just want to keep an eye on things so I know when to head for the hills, and build that permaculture farm with my girlfriend somewhere out bush way above sea levels. Global warming might not happen at "The Day After Tomorrow" (5) speeds, but I'm absolutely convinced it'll occur the way Kim Stanley Robinson writes it (6). That's it for now anyway, twenty minutes of typing keeps my fingers in shape, and 6 links is as much as you're getting. Thanks for readin, and I plan to post regularly while my girlfriend's in Europe. Beats wasting days playing the Sims, and at least I can pretend it's study when I've got 6000 words due in two weeks, and two exams shortly after.

thank Very Muchachos,
Keegan.

ps. I'll work on an explanation for 'This Daily Gringo' later. Hola!

references:
(1) http://www.monbiot.com/ George Monbiot has been writing for the Guardian for a long time, and his book "The Age Of Consent" was very useful and readable, I've used it in an essay or two.
(2) official website for Fast Food Nation with extracts of the book, reviews and publisher direct ordering.
(3) http://www-1.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz Joseph Stiglitz won a Nobel prize in economics in 2001, he's gotta have at least some idea. If only we'd listened to Keynes...
(4) http://www.nologo.org/ Naomi Klein's Website, I'm gonna take a peek at this film she's got there, and figure out a way to see it.
(5) www.thedayaftertomorrow.com The Fox Site, try not to buy anything, it is a good film though. If you can buy an 'Asian' Copy that wasn't taped in the cinema, do so, and hook me up, I've already seen the movie twice at the cinema, and that's all Rupert's getting out of me this week.
(6) http://www.kimstanleyrobinson.net/ just a fan site, though I'd rather if you bought the books, buy them at your local independent bookstore, they really need your business. posted by Keegan at 11:21 am ... 0 comments

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