Opinion - The Demise of the Trade Union
I found some of the comments in the 'Have You Say' section of this BBC News story somewhat ironic.
People bemoan union members for going on strike stating that the union is out of order for demanding a 5.9% pay rise because they (The complainers) would be lucky to ever get such a rise in their work place. Do they not even think for a second that the reason they could never get such a pay rise is precisely because of the lack of unionisation in their workplace? Do they not realise that we are increasingly headed backwards to a 6/7 day a week working week because these conditions are now dictated by 'the free market' and not by negotiation between workers and management? Unions were out of order to some extent in the 1970s in the UK, only now are we beginning to see the legacy of their loss. Sadly people seem to be so caught up in their own convenience that they cannot see this.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Monday, January 10, 2005
The Bush Organisational Philosophy
This op-ed piece (c/o Mike, ta), makes some interesting points about how Bush appoints cabinet members. Worth a read.
This op-ed piece (c/o Mike, ta), makes some interesting points about how Bush appoints cabinet members. Worth a read.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Interesting read.. I'm stil lworking my way through it..
Participatory Economics (Parecon for short) is a type of economy proposed as an alternative to contemporary capitalism. The underlying values are equity, solidarity, diversity, and participatory self management.
The main institutions are workers and consumers councils utilizing self managed decision making, balanced job complexes, remuneration according to effort and sacrifice, and participatory planning. This page links to articles, interviews, talks, instructionals, Q/A sessions, and books about parecon and closely related matters.
Also a wee bit from the parecon site ..... food for thought..life after capitalism..
H
Participatory Economics (Parecon for short) is a type of economy proposed as an alternative to contemporary capitalism. The underlying values are equity, solidarity, diversity, and participatory self management.
The main institutions are workers and consumers councils utilizing self managed decision making, balanced job complexes, remuneration according to effort and sacrifice, and participatory planning. This page links to articles, interviews, talks, instructionals, Q/A sessions, and books about parecon and closely related matters.
Also a wee bit from the parecon site ..... food for thought..life after capitalism..
H
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
A wee bit about sensible economics:
Industry and markets founding their costings which do not include social aspects of our society are surely doomed to failure. Should we not encourage sensible economics and sensible accounting practices to factor in these very important areas?
Surely it is up to us, the people who can change this.
Surely we *should* be factoring in costs which will affect our children and future generations?
As it is just now, they have no baring on current costing models, the cost of increasing pollution in the environment which could increase deaths of our children have no current value and so are irrellevant. Is this not wrong?
We have the principle of opportunity costs, can they not include social costs and future enviromental costs?
Adbusters have an interesting piece*:
"A new paradigm is waiting in the wings, one that values nature flows and money flows equally. One that addresses the social and environmental costs of the current model."
*http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/truecosteconomics/neoclassical.html
H
Industry and markets founding their costings which do not include social aspects of our society are surely doomed to failure. Should we not encourage sensible economics and sensible accounting practices to factor in these very important areas?
Surely it is up to us, the people who can change this.
Surely we *should* be factoring in costs which will affect our children and future generations?
As it is just now, they have no baring on current costing models, the cost of increasing pollution in the environment which could increase deaths of our children have no current value and so are irrellevant. Is this not wrong?
We have the principle of opportunity costs, can they not include social costs and future enviromental costs?
Adbusters have an interesting piece*:
"A new paradigm is waiting in the wings, one that values nature flows and money flows equally. One that addresses the social and environmental costs of the current model."
*http://adbusters.org/metas/eco/truecosteconomics/neoclassical.html
H
Sunday, November 07, 2004
2004 Presidential Election
What can I say? I got the turnout right, sort of - not found any official figures on that yet.
But, Bush? Why oh why?
1. The Media - Still overwhelmingly obsessed with the idea that being patriotic is not questioning the President / Administration. They certainly had a go at times on his military record but not the real issues - Iraq, the fiscal defecit, healthcare etc.
2. Moral Majority / Christian Right - They came out to vote in enough numbers to add to Bush's 2000 total. The Democrats need to learn from this.
3. Kerry - Not compellingly different enough. Too much critisicm without presenting sufficiently different, alternative ideas (Very reminiscent of the problem the Tories have in the UK).
Of the post-match analysis, I liked this piece by Simon Schama.
I think the one thing that we, in the UK in particular, is that the US Presidential Election is not about policies and manifestos, it's a popularity contest and basically it's like this :
Presuming those dodgy e-voting machines worked properly and weren't tampered with - Just over half of the people who can be bothered voting in the US like a man with these qualities in charge :
Decisive - Refuses to admit any mistake or revisit any decision.
Poor Verbal Skills - No fancy words or rehetoric - simple aphorisms only please.
Nationalist and Unilateralist - The US does not need anything from the rest of the world right? Doh! Wrong. The USA needs money from the rest of the world invested in it in order to keep it's economy going. It also needs the rest of the world to sell it all the stuff that it consumes which the US does not manufacture - and there's a whole lot of that...
The bizarre thing to me about this result is it is kind of like the inverse of what happened with Labour and the Tories in the 80s, especially from a Scots point of view.
Then the North and Scotland voted for Labour but got the Conservatives because the richer folks in the South-East voted for them.
In the US the richest folks are more likely to be liberal (That damn Liberal Elite again....) so they vote Democrat. Meanwhile, all the poor folk who can't get jobs love Bush because he promises to protect them from the bogey men he likes to invoke to scare them, all the while he is taking dollars from their back pockets and passing them out to rich Corporations.
Here's hoping the other 35% who don't vote wake up and realise they are needed to swing this in a more sensible direction in 2008 for President (Mrs) Clinton the second....
What can I say? I got the turnout right, sort of - not found any official figures on that yet.
But, Bush? Why oh why?
1. The Media - Still overwhelmingly obsessed with the idea that being patriotic is not questioning the President / Administration. They certainly had a go at times on his military record but not the real issues - Iraq, the fiscal defecit, healthcare etc.
2. Moral Majority / Christian Right - They came out to vote in enough numbers to add to Bush's 2000 total. The Democrats need to learn from this.
3. Kerry - Not compellingly different enough. Too much critisicm without presenting sufficiently different, alternative ideas (Very reminiscent of the problem the Tories have in the UK).
Of the post-match analysis, I liked this piece by Simon Schama.
I think the one thing that we, in the UK in particular, is that the US Presidential Election is not about policies and manifestos, it's a popularity contest and basically it's like this :
Presuming those dodgy e-voting machines worked properly and weren't tampered with - Just over half of the people who can be bothered voting in the US like a man with these qualities in charge :
Decisive - Refuses to admit any mistake or revisit any decision.
Poor Verbal Skills - No fancy words or rehetoric - simple aphorisms only please.
Nationalist and Unilateralist - The US does not need anything from the rest of the world right? Doh! Wrong. The USA needs money from the rest of the world invested in it in order to keep it's economy going. It also needs the rest of the world to sell it all the stuff that it consumes which the US does not manufacture - and there's a whole lot of that...
The bizarre thing to me about this result is it is kind of like the inverse of what happened with Labour and the Tories in the 80s, especially from a Scots point of view.
Then the North and Scotland voted for Labour but got the Conservatives because the richer folks in the South-East voted for them.
In the US the richest folks are more likely to be liberal (That damn Liberal Elite again....) so they vote Democrat. Meanwhile, all the poor folk who can't get jobs love Bush because he promises to protect them from the bogey men he likes to invoke to scare them, all the while he is taking dollars from their back pockets and passing them out to rich Corporations.
Here's hoping the other 35% who don't vote wake up and realise they are needed to swing this in a more sensible direction in 2008 for President (Mrs) Clinton the second....
Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Monday, November 01, 2004
Eloquent View from New Jersey
From a Talking Point page on news.bbc.co.uk
"Whoever is elected President will be dealing with a very rapidly changing world. Economic wealth is shifting, instability and the resulting security threat is growing, an ever more 'aware and educated' world community is demanding justice, equality, honesty, and fairness. America must eventually understand and accept that it has no choice, but to become a full and integral part of a global society. If we deal with these challenges with an open mind, America and the world will be a much better place for our children, but if not, we as well as the rest of the world are in for a 'very rough' and dangerous ride. A new world is coming whether we like it or not and I just hope that whoever we elect as President understands this.
John, NJ, USA"
I wish all US voters were as wise as John here. Smart man.
From a Talking Point page on news.bbc.co.uk
"Whoever is elected President will be dealing with a very rapidly changing world. Economic wealth is shifting, instability and the resulting security threat is growing, an ever more 'aware and educated' world community is demanding justice, equality, honesty, and fairness. America must eventually understand and accept that it has no choice, but to become a full and integral part of a global society. If we deal with these challenges with an open mind, America and the world will be a much better place for our children, but if not, we as well as the rest of the world are in for a 'very rough' and dangerous ride. A new world is coming whether we like it or not and I just hope that whoever we elect as President understands this.
John, NJ, USA"
I wish all US voters were as wise as John here. Smart man.
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Bush - Little Things Count a Lot
Molly Ivins column (Also here) which points out the little blots on Bush's copy book. Please do not vote for this guy, it only encourages him... but, if you don't vote for him, please vote for somebody else, and somebody else who stands a chance of getting in, not Mr Nader. Please!
Molly Ivins column (Also here) which points out the little blots on Bush's copy book. Please do not vote for this guy, it only encourages him... but, if you don't vote for him, please vote for somebody else, and somebody else who stands a chance of getting in, not Mr Nader. Please!
Friday, October 22, 2004
UK Management and Productivity
This one touched a nerve with me :
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/09/16/it_holy_grail/
It's easy, especially as a cynical, non-employee, IT geek, to just
slag off management and blame managers for everything but this
article seems to bear this view out with respect to the productivity
gap.
Personally I think there are a couple of reasons why we are in this
mess :
One such reason why this is such a problem in the UK versus the US is
the albatross we carry round our necks which we call "The Class
System". We defer less than we used to to the "high heid yin's" but
we still have this "them and us" bull and associated inferiority /
superiority complex. I dare say this goes on in the US too but I
doubt it's quite as much of a problem.
Management in the UK is too centered around finance and accountancy.
I can't quote it here but I've read elsewhere that there is some
astonishingly high ratio of accountants in the UK versus the US. This
in turns means more conservative (With a small 'c') decisions are
made and less innovation and input from non-management / non-finance
employees. The obsession with costs also makes investment a very low
priority in the UK, especially with respect to training.
Finally, much as I like to bash the US, I do get the impression that
US employees do invest more of their own time and money in improving
their skills than we do in the UK. Can't blame managers for that,
though maybe I could blame them for not motivating us enough?
Thursday, October 21, 2004
Cars = Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.
Disclaimer : I've owned 4 cars in the 16 years I've been legal to drive. 3 were cheap bangers 13+ years ago, my current I've had since '99 and was mainly bought for two reasons :
a) Having a kid more or less makes a car essential, having a teenager makes you an unpaid taxi-driver ;)
b) I work freelance, so not having a car restricts the places I can work a lot.
The car, to me, is the single purchase which most clearly defines all that is wrong with 'Western Civilisation' :
It's individualist and about personal freedom primarily, and doesn't give a toss about the common good.
It brings out the worst characteristics in people.
It's use leads to people being killed and injured, a lot.
It has lead to our destroying large parts of the natural world to accommodate it's use.
Worst of all, it's not even a good technological solution - Cars are woefully inefficient and , superficial changes and materials aside, haven't changed design much since the days of the Ford Model T.
It's one of those things that everyone knows should be scrapped and replaced with a better solution but nobody has the vision or balls to do so - The classic, "But we've always done it that way." excuse.
Until we can take a good hard look at nonsense like driving around in piles of metal powered by dead fish bits, each of which is generally piloted by one person alone, progress of the human race is going to very slow. If indeed we can progress without going into a decline brought on by our use of such 'non-sensible' solutions...
Disclaimer : I've owned 4 cars in the 16 years I've been legal to drive. 3 were cheap bangers 13+ years ago, my current I've had since '99 and was mainly bought for two reasons :
a) Having a kid more or less makes a car essential, having a teenager makes you an unpaid taxi-driver ;)
b) I work freelance, so not having a car restricts the places I can work a lot.
The car, to me, is the single purchase which most clearly defines all that is wrong with 'Western Civilisation' :
It's individualist and about personal freedom primarily, and doesn't give a toss about the common good.
It brings out the worst characteristics in people.
It's use leads to people being killed and injured, a lot.
It has lead to our destroying large parts of the natural world to accommodate it's use.
Worst of all, it's not even a good technological solution - Cars are woefully inefficient and , superficial changes and materials aside, haven't changed design much since the days of the Ford Model T.
It's one of those things that everyone knows should be scrapped and replaced with a better solution but nobody has the vision or balls to do so - The classic, "But we've always done it that way." excuse.
Until we can take a good hard look at nonsense like driving around in piles of metal powered by dead fish bits, each of which is generally piloted by one person alone, progress of the human race is going to very slow. If indeed we can progress without going into a decline brought on by our use of such 'non-sensible' solutions...
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Friday, October 15, 2004
Interesting BBC Programme - Terrorism and Fear
An interesting, but very little publicised programme starts on BBC2 this coming Wednesday.
It's along the lines of the thesis that Michael Moore touches on in Farenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine - That governments are making hay out of millennial and terrorism-driven fear.
BBC Spiel :
How fear of terrorism has come to dominate politics around the world
A new series, from acclaimed film-maker Adam Curtis, tells the story and examines just how far that fear is based on an illusion
The Power Of Nightmares – The Rise Of The Politics Of Fear
Wednesday 20 October on BBC TW
Also see :
Guardian Article
The Power of Nightmares starts on BBC2 at 9pm on Wednesday October 20
An interesting, but very little publicised programme starts on BBC2 this coming Wednesday.
It's along the lines of the thesis that Michael Moore touches on in Farenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine - That governments are making hay out of millennial and terrorism-driven fear.
BBC Spiel :
How fear of terrorism has come to dominate politics around the world
A new series, from acclaimed film-maker Adam Curtis, tells the story and examines just how far that fear is based on an illusion
The Power Of Nightmares – The Rise Of The Politics Of Fear
Wednesday 20 October on BBC TW
Also see :
Guardian Article
The Power of Nightmares starts on BBC2 at 9pm on Wednesday October 20
Saturday, October 02, 2004
G24 Want More Influence in IMF
It seems the G24 are getting vocal about their lack of influence in the IMF.
It's ironic in a way - It's so common to hear Americans bleating about how they bankroll the world (I think a lot of people assume the money they dole out to Israel is matched with donations to other countries - it isn't, far from it), the truth is that the world bankrolls the US by investing in it and letting them maintain a huge deficit. What would happen should China and Saudi Arabia pull their money out of the US I wonder?
Fact is, the current IMF/World Bank set-up was engineered to suit the US's requirements -
If you haven't read about the Bretton Woods agreements prepare to be apalled :
wikipedia
google
And, if you would like to hear about alternative, fair ways of running the world and it's finances,
check out George Monbiot's books, particularly Age of Consent.
It seems the G24 are getting vocal about their lack of influence in the IMF.
It's ironic in a way - It's so common to hear Americans bleating about how they bankroll the world (I think a lot of people assume the money they dole out to Israel is matched with donations to other countries - it isn't, far from it), the truth is that the world bankrolls the US by investing in it and letting them maintain a huge deficit. What would happen should China and Saudi Arabia pull their money out of the US I wonder?
Fact is, the current IMF/World Bank set-up was engineered to suit the US's requirements -
If you haven't read about the Bretton Woods agreements prepare to be apalled :
wikipedia
And, if you would like to hear about alternative, fair ways of running the world and it's finances,
check out George Monbiot's books, particularly Age of Consent.
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
A Great Article By Naomi Klein.
8 steps to a bloody mess...
1. Enter Iraq,
2. Fire 500K state workers,
3. Try sell off state owned companies
4. Starve Iraq companies of contracts so you can sell them cheaper
5. Give the contracts to foreign Companies
6. Foreign contractors come into their country and do their jobs while they watch and starve.
7. They kidnap and kill contractors.
8. A Big bloody mess!
8 steps to a bloody mess...
1. Enter Iraq,
2. Fire 500K state workers,
3. Try sell off state owned companies
4. Starve Iraq companies of contracts so you can sell them cheaper
5. Give the contracts to foreign Companies
6. Foreign contractors come into their country and do their jobs while they watch and starve.
7. They kidnap and kill contractors.
8. A Big bloody mess!
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
British Court Decision Undermines Global Torture Ban how come we havent heard anything about this on the news?
Friday, September 10, 2004
"There are lots of things the intelligence community knows and other people ought not to know." (FBI Spokesperson)
From this compelling article by Greg Palast
More allegations as per Farenheit 9/11 that The Bush Crime Family (Copyright Mike Malloy, sic.) are a little too friendly with The House of Saud.
From this compelling article by Greg Palast
More allegations as per Farenheit 9/11 that The Bush Crime Family (Copyright Mike Malloy, sic.) are a little too friendly with The House of Saud.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
A good indicator of cost of the war for the yanks, or this one
I wonder if we have a similar comparison in the UK?
I wonder if we have a similar comparison in the UK?
Wednesday, September 08, 2004
Russia- the failure of communism.....
United States- the failure of Capitalism - the "consume more than you can afford" culture is not sustainable...
Should we not have a sensible balance between the 2 extremes?
Sensible consumption, sensible resource allocation, sensible living...?
United States- the failure of Capitalism - the "consume more than you can afford" culture is not sustainable...
Should we not have a sensible balance between the 2 extremes?
Sensible consumption, sensible resource allocation, sensible living...?
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