This has just arrived in my email this morning from the New York Times:
4 Oil Firms Commit $1 Billion for Gulf Rapid-Response Plan
By JAD MOUAWAD Four large oil companies are committing $1 billion to set up a system to deal with oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico.
But when you look at the animation below, you really have to wonder why now and not a long, long time ago. I mean, surely these people, these executives are paid to do more than wear expensive suits. Can't they think?
Just how well prepared are these oil-industry executives usually, in places like Alaska, Nigeria?
Answer: Not at all, not at all!
I got this from this blog, where the author says all rigs showing are still there. Though are they active? I'd assume so, otherwise they'd have been recycled, surely...
It seems the US politicians, as reported on RT News today, are saying there is no point in providing welfare to the unemployed because they will only use it to buy drugs.
Hmmm.
I wonder what the statistics on that are to support the claims?
I'd be really interested to know what drugs are taken buy which Wall St business men. Wouldn't it be fun to legislate for random drug tests of all politicians and those appointed to political positions? And just how much of their salaries are spent on the drug alcohol?
During 1997 the US Congress busied itself looking at public housing. They wanted to ensure those living in public housing worked for 8 hours a month for no pay. Those who refused to work in the communities could face repossession. In the US public housing is used, or was used often as a safety net for people, keeping them from homelessness if they were too poor to afford private rents or a mortgage.
Jesse Jackson Jnr, the Congressman talked about the aspect of the bill that was the reason why a majority of Democrats opposed it was the community service requirement, calling it a form of slavery (Democracy Now!).
Indeed it is. It could be argued there is nothing wrong with expecting citizens to contribute to the community, working and providing services where there is a need. However, this requirement was for only those living in government-built housing, because in the US that is viewed as a form of subsidy.
Would't it be nice to see all the companies, all the rich being treated in the same way for the subsidies they receive? How many jobs would companies have to create just to meet that requirement? I suspect it would bring an end to global unemployment in one fell swoop. Crowds would gather to watch company directors paint the lampposts, sweep the streets and pick up the autumn leaves.
The fact that no such law was every considered shows the words of Jesse Jackson Jnr have more than the sound of truth.
I quite like what Prof Paul Krugman is saying in his blog today:
Britain embarked on austerity even though there was no hint that bond markets were actually worried about its solvency. American politicians are saying that we have to cut now now now or become Greece, even though interest rates on US debt are at near-record lows. As I’ve written repeatedly, we’re running scared of invisible bond vigilantes.
The point is that policy makers aren’t responding to what financial markets demand — they’re responding to what they believe, thanks to some mystical source of knowledge to which I’m not privy, markets will demand one of these days.
And with only 30-odd percent of the national vote, just one seat in Scotland these mystic-worshipping people are on a mission to re-create the world of Dickens, not on the stage but in every town and city in the UK.
When we in the UK think of slums we think of our country and how people lived years ago. I'm old enough to remember the slow building of new homes where I grew up. And the slow destruction of the slum homes they were to replace. We think of homes with toilets in the stair wells to be shared by families or a toilet outside behind the cramped little house, just where the midden was. When we think of shanty towns, we think of poor, poor countries with large cities. We think of African and Latin American countries.
When we think of California we think initially of Holywood and giant redwood trees. We think of movie stars and mansions. We don't think of rain either. Homeless, wet and damp. In America.
My initial thoughts aren't this:
or this:
or this:
Or how about Oregon? I think of evergreen forests, mountains, snow, oceans bringing morning mists and clean fresh air. I don't think of people being left to freeze in winter tents like this:
When I think of American kids, I think of little white kids who are desperately worried about having the latest trainers and trying anything to fit in at school. To be a 'cool kid' whatever that is, and spending their leisure time at the mind-numbing mall. I think of poor black kids who don't stand a chance. Few people born poor stand a chance. It doesn't matter what colour your skin is as far as I can see. There are other things, like regional accents in the UK that mark you out, your choice of words every time you speak act like tatoos of destiny. Blackand hispanic kids in the US have the tatoos that will bring them despair and that is what I think when I think about American kids. What I don't think about is homeless American kids, and I don't think about hungry American kids.
Just fleeting thoughts. Do they reflect reality? Well, whoever said real life and Holywood were the same? And have you ever seen a TV show based on the life of school dinner ladies who earn the minimum wage?
Now think a little longer about the UK. Is this our new reality thanks to the spivs of the Universe who are trying so hard to tell us all we, not they, need some austerity?
