A Storm in the Distance.

I seem to be getting stuck on the concepts of inequality and greed at the moment. I've been reading a commentary on inequality in the U.S called Greed and Good by Labor Journalist Sam Pizzigati. An extremely interesting read. If you are curious about how corporate executives operate and acquire their outrageously huge fortunes this is the gloves off no holds barred version. I didn't know anything about stock options before reading this so it has been a big eye opener. This book rides pretty rough shod over Corporate America showing in layman's terms how the fortunes are made at the top at the expense of the companies themselves, the workers in them and consumers. Trust me if you weren't angry about CEO pay packets before reading this you will be spitting chips afterwards (Corporate Executives exempted of course).
The bigger picture this book paints however is of that storm in the distance. That's the more worrying part. The storm of huge corporations being gutted from the inside as Executives continue to merge smaller companies into bigger corporations and then downsize them by laying off hundreds of thousands of workers. The storm of these corporations shuddering and convulsing internally because merging and combining of ideas and people doesn't actually improve productivity - its just a bigger mess that's harder to manage. The storm that is fed as CEO's jump from one corporation to another using merges and downsizing as tools to manufacture quick fortunes that further eat away at the companies and their workers from the inside.
So here's a picture for you. Just to help you envisage that storm as it rages on through. Fittingly this picture is for that recently released film about an 'unseen' monster. Trust me when I say that the 'monster' is already present. It does its damage socially and economically. The problem is that the damage is harder to immediately see.

P.S the words next to the picture are from another A Perfect Circle song called Pet. Fitting words if you can imagine Corporate America patting the general public on the head saying: "stay with me safe and ignorant" "pay no mind to the rabble" "step away from the window and go back to sleep."

Counting Bodies Like Sheep.....

This picture spoke volumes to me when I first saw it. Remarkable symbolism even down to the cuff links and breast pin! As soon as I saw it I immediately thought of a great song I had been listening (and still listen) to by probably one of the forefront subversive bands of the moment (behind Rage Against The Machine - of course) A perfect Circle. The lyrics of their song - The Noose really brought this picture alive. Here's some of the lyrics:

THE NOOSE

So glad to see you well
Overcome them completely silent now
With Adams Help
You cast your demons out

And not to pull your halo down
around your neck and tug you off your cloud

But I'm more than just a little curious
how your plannin' to go about making your amends
to the dead.....to the dead

And not to pull your halo down
around your neck and tug you to the ground

But I'm more than just a little curious
how your plannin' to go about making your amends
to the dead.....to the dead

Yes your halo's slippin' down
Your halo's slippin'
Your halo's slippin' down
Your halo's slippin' down

Your Halo's slippin' down (but I'm more than just a little curuious)
Your Halo's slippin' down (how your plannin' to go about making your)
Your Halo's slippin' down (but I'm more than just a little curuious)
Your Halo's slippin' down (how your plannin' to go about making your)

Your Halo's slippin' down
Your Halo's slippin' down
To choke you now

It says a lot more on its own than I ever could here. I recommend listening to the song and as you do cast your mind back over the activities of the Bush administration in recent years. While doing so ask yourselves: is it appropriate that this man and his administration has worn the cross as a breastpin and hoisted it as a flag? and: in doing so has he not underpinned the justification of a war that recent body counts are indicating is another genocide?

53.4 bloody per cent

This was a picture I saw a few months back (I made a few of my own additions) The idea behind it is based around the surprising recent statistic that 53.4% of global arms production is produced by the United States. I guess it's not hard to figure out who gets paid the most when war breaks out. It depicts of course one of the more fierce symbols of the U.S. armada being the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank. Each of which can make an instant misery of a place within a 2km radius of wherever it's parked. Interestingly the cost of one of these could easily: feed 100,000 starving folks; shelter 50,000; or perhaps dig life giving wells for 1000 villages.

But no lets go on driving fear into the hearts of people with these things because after all: if you don't have enough enemies or terrorists - who will we sell arms to? and how will we justify the outrageous expense of our own security? and keep folks like Abrams, Lockheed and Mcdonnel/Grumman in the business of finding ever more efficient and devastating ways of killing people?

Normally I'd say forgive my sarcasm but stuff it I'm not apologising

Equity, and a Maximum Wage

I remember vividly watching a segment on 60 minutes (Ausie Version) about 6-8 months ago. It showcased the booming economy of South Korea and in particular a massive tanker shipbuilding company there. One of the biggest things that drew me into the story apart, from the fact it is the second fastest growing economy behind Japan, was the prevalent (and active adherence) to the concept of equity amongst the workers in the company. Most notably the fact that the highest paid CEO's and directors in the company were paid fairly compared with those lowest paid in the same company. The ratio between highest and lowest paid was around the 10:1 ratio with the lowest paid laborers earning around $80,000p.a.
More recently in the past 5-6 months I was introduced to the concept of large Corporations via the Canadian doco of the same name (The Corporation). Now I'm sure many would accuse and dismiss this doco as exaggerated and left wing biased but many of the concerns regarding inequity and the exploitation of slave labor from targeted countries are by and large very accurate.
So when I read in an interesting article, on another notably left wing news site called Alternet, (When The Rich Make Too Much Is It Time For A Maximum Wage - 13/09/07) I guess I should not have been surprised to see the mention of the concept of a maximum wage notably brought forward by a respected Harvard Psychologist Howard Gardiner.
What brought all this concept home to me recently was the Emphasis Brian Maclaren placed on this concept as he named it: the equity crisis - In that book I was reading - Everything Must Change. The stuff he mentioned in there regarding the idea of a maximum wage really jumped out at me. In particular when he made note of, perhaps now not so respected, economist in the U.S. Hermen Daley who points out the bonds of community begin to break at a ratio of 50:1. Speaking again of the ratio between highest and lowest paid workers.
After growing up in the 70's and 80's and perhaps only being slightly shocked by movies like Wall Street. (Remember Michael Douglas's rant: Greed is Good, Greed is Right) And then later in the 90's and to now; as the silent juggernaut of global Corporations have rolled over us entirely unchecked. The question has to be asked: How long can this capitalist system be sustained without a ceiling? Forget days and weeks - the gulf between Bill Gates with his fortune 500 friends and the third world grows astronomically by the second. Not thinking too hard about it I'm pretty sure that Bill with his Trillions has enough wealth, with it's intrinsic self perpetuating power, to single handedly lift the poorest and starving on our planet out of poverty enough to be fed and sheltered in a sustained manner without altering his affluent lifestyle.
When are enough people going to take notice of things like the Equity Crisis?
It's not like it isn't there its just that not many talk about it.
Perhaps it is just that we are too worried about losing our own chance at the dream of affluence without a ceiling...and not so worried if it comes at the expense of our neighbor.

Yes I know I'm harsh sometimes but it's things we need to start thinking and talking about.