[Futurework] RE: Man the hunter in the high-tech age
Better doing that than driving around on local streets and highways. Above all: Do no harm. arthur -Original Message-From: Ed Weick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 4:25 PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: Man the hunter in the high-tech age I really saw this at a local mall, I kid you not! A rather stoutelderly gentleman was seated in a very comfortable chair in front of a large TV screen. He had something that looked like a toy gun in his hand. Every few seconds birds would fly up on the screen or an animal would jump out of a bush. The man, no _expression_ on his face whatsoever, would raise the gun and it would go*pop*. Down went the birds or the animal. I guess it served some kind of instinctual need, but it was a very strange sight! Very strange indeed! Ed ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] corporate governance
Title: corporate governance United Airlines to terminate pension plans $9.8B default largest in U.S. history A federal bankruptcy judge approved United Airlines' plan to terminate its employees' pension plans, clearing the way for the largest corporate-pension default in U.S. history. The ruling, which carries broad implications for U.S. airlines and their workers, shifts responsibility for United's plans to the government's pension agency. That will save cash-strapped United an estimated $645 million a year, part of the $2 billion in annual savings it says it needs to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (D. Carpenter OttCit D2; M. Maynard, M. Williams Walsh NYTimes p.1) ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] FW: FT.com / US - Real wages fall at fastest rate in 14 years
Title: EMAIL THIS Email -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 6:53 AMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOMSubject: FT.com / US - Real wages fall at fastest rate in 14 years * Please note, the sender's email address has not been verified. You have received the following link from [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Click the following to access the sent link: FT.com / US - Real wages fall at fastest rate in 14 years* Get your EMAIL THIS Browser Button and use it to email information from any Web site. *This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser.http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f269a8f4-c173-11d9-943f-0e2511c8,ft_acl=,s01=1.html ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] FW: Decades of Stagnation: Low-paid WorkinCanada/Des dcennies de stagnation : Le travail faiblementrmunr auCanada
Remember that the lush contracts provide the wages that support effective demand, ie., purchasing power in the economy. Along with getting rid of unions, Harry, would you roll back child labour laws, and environmental standardsall so we can be more competitive with SE Asia? It took a long time to create a middle class in No. America, looks like it will take less time for it to be swept away. arthur -Original Message- From: Harry Pollard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2005 6:14 PM To: Webmail: Cordell, Arthur; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Cordell, Arthur: ECOM Cc: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] FW: Decades of Stagnation: Low-paid WorkinCanada/Des dcennies de stagnation : Le travail faiblementrmunr auCanada Arthur, Getting rid of unions in the US might make the present 15% of union workers unhappy - but the rest of us might be better off with lower prices for goods. You may have seen that GM pointed out that union costs add some 15% to the price of a car. In fact, with things getting difficult, GM's answer might be to declare bankruptcy which will get them off the hook albeit with a disastrous effect on union pensioners and present workers. As it is the unions are in league with their industries to support tariffs (at our expense) so their lush contracts may continue. You may remember that some 5,000 members were paid by the unions to hit the election streets to campaign against Bush. You will have to ask the working poor about the minimum wage. They have jobs - presumably at minimum wage - yet need extra money from the government to get along. Darryl's solution is a higher minimum wage yet this poses difficulties. When labor gets too expensive, it is replaced. We just had our winding street up the canyon resurfaced. A man in a machine came up the street grinding the road smooth. On another day, another man (maybe the same one) drove a brush/vacuum cleaner combination to clean the street. A third machine (again, maybe the same man) laid the asphalt along this three quarter mile street. Once road-building was the way to sop up excess labor. Not any longer. I wonder what happened to our fantasies about those three machines - and a thousand others - enabling us to live well on 30 hours a week? Or 20? Or, even 10? What has happened to us that in spite of our enormous power to produce, it is still so hard to make a living? That's the question Henry George asked more than a century ago. It's about time we answered it. Harry *** Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 818 352-4141 *** -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 06, 2005 7:20 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] FW: Decades of Stagnation: Low-paid WorkinCanada/Des dcennies de stagnation : Le travail faiblementrmunr auCanada It isn't clear what will work to solve the problem. I think we should be able to agree, though, that getting rid of unions and eliminating minimum wages would have a negative effect on working men and women. arthur -Original Message- From: Harry Pollard To: 'Ed Weick'; 'Keith Hudson'; Cordell, Arthur: ECOM Cc: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Sent: 5/6/05 5:18 PM Subject: RE: [Futurework] FW: Decades of Stagnation: Low-paid WorkinCanada/Des dcennies de stagnation : Le travail faiblementrmunr auCanada Ed, As you know, progress and poverty existed before any of the things you mentioned - it isn't something that has arrived with modern economies. So, it seems a trifle ingenuous to place reasons for the problem on anything that is newish in our economic structure. Your suggestions for amelioration are old faithfuls - union activity and minimum wage. These are devices to protect workers from the problem - yet neither of them work. The cause is largely unaffected and these solutions lead to unintended consequences. Harry *** Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 818 352-4141 *** ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] corporate governance: the end of pensions?
It took a long time to create a middle class in No. America, looks like it will take less time for it to be swept away. arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Karen Watters ColeSent: Wednesday, May 11, 2005 5:37 PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: [Futurework] corporate governance: the end of pensions? United Airlines to terminate pension plans $9.8B default largest in U.S. history A federal bankruptcy judge approved United Airlines' plan to terminate its employees' pension plans, clearing the way for the largest corporate-pension default in U.S. history. The ruling, which carries broad implications for U.S. airlines and their workers, shifts responsibility for United's plans to the government's pension agency. That will save cash-strapped United an estimated $645 million a year, part of the $2 billion in annual savings it says it needs to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (D. Carpenter OttCit D2; M. Maynard, M. Williams Walsh NYTimes p.1) The end of pensions In the future, will any company offer a pension? By Dan Ackman, Forbes. Com, Updated: 11:59 a.m. ET May 11, 2005 NEW YORK - In the future, will any company offer a pension? The answer is probably not, and the future is getting closer all the time. Tuesday a U.S. federal Bankruptcy judge approved a plan by UAL, the parent company of United Airlines, to transfer its pension plans, which are underfunded by $9.8 billion, to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which is itself underfunded. UAL's move is expected to spur similar actions by other so-called legacy carriers among the airlines, which are squeezed by high costs, competition from airlines without substantial pension obligations and, lately, by rising fuel costs. More broadly, UAL's action takes place against a looming retirement crisis in which the relatively benign problems of the Social Security system are just a part (see "Retirement Doomsday"). The decline of pensions is likely well past the tipping point already. No so long ago, the defined benefit pension -- guaranteed retirement income -- was a prevalent aspect of the U.S. financial scene. But no more. In 1980, 38 percent of Americans had a defined benefit pension as their primary retirement plan. By 1997, just 21 percent of Americans had such plans, according to the Pension Benefits Council. That percentage is certainly lower now, and more and more plans have been passed off to the PBGC, a federal agency that insures pensions, but which does not necessarily pay the benefits retirees expected. The ratio of active to inactive workers in existing defined benefit pension plans has fallen to roughly 1-to-1, down from more than 3.5-to-1 in 1980, according to the PBGC. This retirement math is starker than that faced by the Social Security system. The PBGC now pays the pensions of more than 1 million retirees. While many more workers now have retirement savings plans such as 401(k)s, relatively few have sufficient assets to fund their retirements in a way that will maintain all or most of their pre-retirement incomes. United's unions are preparing to fight the decision made by the company and permitted by the bankruptcy court, and they have threatened to strike. But with the defined pensions now a decidedly minority benefit, their partial loss is not likely to resonate politically or among United's customers. More likely, the court's decision will encourage other airlines to follow suit. US Airways Group, which, like UAL, is in bankruptcy, terminated the last of its pension plans earlier this year. Tuesday, Delta Air Lines said it might have to seek bankruptcy protection, too, adding that it expected a significant loss for 2005. The airline industry already has the second-most beneficiaries of any industry covered by the PBGC guaranties. Steel is by far the first. Unlike steel, however, the airline industry is not in a long-term slide in terms of total employment, despite its financial troubles over the past several years. The PBGC guarantees corporate pension plans and pays benefits to retirees when company plans fail. When it takes over a plan, it receives its assets as well as its liabilities, and also collects insurance premiums from the plans it guarantees. So far, the agency has been able to meet its obligations, but currently it faces a $23.3 billion deficit between its assets and long-term liabilities. The takeover of the UAL pension plan is already factored in that number. Overall, it backstops the pensions of 44.3 million beneficiaries. The bankruptcy court frees UAL from $3 billion in pension contributions over the next five years. But the shortfall between its pension plan assets and its liabilities is much
RE: [Futurework] corporate governance: the end of pensions?
Lawry
Favoring those who live in one's
geographic neighborhood over those who don't is, at best,
capricious
arthur
How about
favouring those in your family over those who aren't? Immediate
family? Extended family?
Greetings,
all
I do not view myself as idealistic; I
view myself as intensely pragmatic. The species-perspective is the only one
that is, IMO, truly pragmatic. All else is short term gains and the infliction
of suffering.
My neighbors have been suffering for
centuries, as they do now. They include: Vietnamese rice farmers smitten by US
napalm bombs; AIDS victims, victims because others could not get HIV testing;
American natives, decimated by European colonizers; Cathars, destroyed by the
Rome Papacy; UAL older workers; Iraqi children, held captive to the US-driven
trade embargo; European gypsies, persecuted by local and national governments;
Rwandan Tutsi's, butchered by their fellow countrymen; children in Mali,
ravaged by various 'exotic' diseases; American kids who will go deaf because
they listen to RR too loudly; etc. I have lots of neighbors. It is
hard for me to say who is the lost and least deserving of
better.
Overall, it is, IMO, the obligation of
older generations to leave to younger ones a better world. An
obligation, not a choice.
Favoring those who live in one's
geographic neighborhood over those who don't is, at best,
capricious.
It would be easy for me to favor my
immediate family and neighbors, but it would harm my ability to hand on to
future generations a better world. Better to raise the children to have
a pan-species perspective and responsibility. Maybe they'll have a
chance of getting it right.
Cheers,
Lawry
From:
Cordell, Arthur: ECOM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 4:02
PMTo: Lawrence deBivort;
Darryl and Natalia; Karen Watters Cole;
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] corporate
governance: the end of pensions?
I admire and envy the idealism of your
position.
However when your neighbours lose their
jobs, when the housing market plummets and when there is social breakdown then
you may want to re-consider if the gain of the other outweighs the
chaoswhich will affect the"my"when there is aglobal
redistribution of income.
arthur
-Original
Message-From: Lawrence
deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 3:34
PMTo: Cordell, Arthur:
ECOM; 'Darryl and Natalia'; 'Karen Watters Cole';
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] corporate
governance: the end of pensions?
Yes, my thought has to do with how we
define 'my.'
Some would define it as themselves,
others as one's family, other as one's tribe, or nation, or race, or
religion
My 'my' is usually that of the species,
Homo sapiens. Globalization seems a lot less threatening when viewed from
this perspective.
Cheers,
Lawry
From:
Cordell, Arthur: ECOM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 3:24
PMTo: Lawrence deBivort;
Darryl and Natalia; Karen Watters Cole;
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] corporate
governance: the end of pensions?
A loss is a loss, even though my loss
is another's gain.
-Original
Message-From:
Lawrence deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 2:24
PMTo: 'Darryl and
Natalia'; Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'Karen Watters Cole';
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] corporate
governance: the end of pensions?
A pithy summation, with which I agree
re. the effects of globalization.
BUT: perhaps this view is too
chauvinistic? Only western workers will lament these impacts, and they are
but a fraction of the world's population. For the rest, the equalization
is positive. Should we not be celebrating their gains, even more
than Europeans and their American colonists losing their
advantages?
Lawry
From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Darryl and
NataliaSent: Thursday,
May 12, 2005 12:33 PMTo:
Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; Lawrence deBivort; Karen Watters Cole;
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: Re: [Futurework] corporate
governance: the end of pensions?
So, if we look at
#3 (Unrealistic worker expectations:)
then, we see that
as the global economy kicks in, we in the western nations (first-world
economies) must lower our sights, lower our expectations, lower our
standards of living to bec
[Futurework] FW: A.Word.A.Day--persiflage
-Original Message- From: Wordsmith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 12:08 AM To: linguaphile@wordsmith.org Subject: A.Word.A.Day--persiflage persiflage (PUR-sih-flazh) noun Light-hearted or flippant treatment of a subject; banter. [From French persiflage, from persifler (to banter), from per- (thoroughly) + siffler (to whistle or hiss), from Old French, from Late Latin sifilare, an alteration of Latin sibilare (to hiss).] Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=persiflage It is derivative rather than destructive humour which presupposes serious history on which to base their persiflage. Stewart Lamont; It's the Way You Tell Them, When Something is Sacred; The Herald (Glasgow, UK); May 30, 1998. This week's theme: miscellaneous words. Sponsored by: Monthly French, German, Italian and Spanish cultural audio magazines for intermediate-to-advanced learners. http://web.champs-elysees.com/wsmith1 And you? Reach more than half-million readers in this space -- contact us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind. -James Russell Lowell, poet, editor, and diplomat (1819-1891) Looking for a word/quotation previously featured in AWAD? Archives are at http://wordsmith.org/awad/archives.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/persiflage.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/persiflage.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/persiflage.html This message was sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] corporate governance: the end of pensions?
I
believe that we live in a series of concentric circles (of concern and
caring). My time, energy and resources are directed to the immediate
circle and extends outward. Each circle is an amalgam of family and
friends. Family is central with friends coming into a second or third or
nth level of caring and concern.
I was
struck by this when my daughter was married. In my speech I noted that a
person who would have previously been a stranger, someone who I would walk by on
the street in some city somewhere, had suddenly entered my innermost circle of
caring and concern.
arthur
-Original Message-From: Lawrence deBivort
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 11:16
AMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'Darryl and Natalia'; 'Karen Watters
Cole'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework]
corporate governance: the end of pensions?
I definitely favor my son, and would my
wife if she had not died a few years ago. My mother, too. But, subjectively
speaking, this favour does not embrace lateral relatives. I guess the pattern
would favor direct descendants.
Again, Im not suggesting that there is
any particular way everyone should do it.
How about
yourself?
Cheers,
Lawry
From:
Cordell, Arthur: ECOM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 10:38
AMTo: Lawrence deBivort;
Darryl and Natalia; Karen Watters Cole;
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] corporate
governance: the end of pensions?
Lawry
Favoring those who live in one's
geographic neighborhood over those who don't is, at best,
capricious
arthur
How about favouring those in your
family over those who aren't? Immediate family? Extended
family?
Greetings,
all
I do not view myself as idealistic; I
view myself as intensely pragmatic. The species-perspective is the only one
that is, IMO, truly pragmatic. All else is short term gains and the
infliction of suffering.
My neighbors have been suffering for
centuries, as they do now. They include: Vietnamese rice farmers smitten by
US napalm bombs; AIDS victims, victims because others could not get HIV
testing; American natives, decimated by European colonizers; Cathars,
destroyed by the Rome Papacy; UAL older workers; Iraqi children, held
captive to the US-driven trade embargo; European gypsies, persecuted by
local and national governments; Rwandan Tutsi's, butchered by their fellow
countrymen; children in Mali, ravaged by various 'exotic' diseases; American
kids who will go deaf because they listen to RR too loudly; etc.
I have lots of neighbors. It is hard for me to say who is the lost and least
deserving of better.
Overall, it is, IMO, the obligation of
older generations to leave to younger ones a better world. An
obligation, not a choice.
Favoring those who live in one's
geographic neighborhood over those who don't is, at best,
capricious.
It would be easy for me to favor my
immediate family and neighbors, but it would harm my ability to hand on to
future generations a better world. Better to raise the children to
have a pan-species perspective and responsibility. Maybe they'll have
a chance of getting it right.
Cheers,
Lawry
From:
Cordell, Arthur: ECOM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 4:02
PMTo: Lawrence deBivort;
Darryl and Natalia; Karen Watters Cole;
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] corporate
governance: the end of pensions?
I admire and envy the idealism of your
position.
However when your neighbours lose their
jobs, when the housing market plummets and when there is social breakdown
then you may want to re-consider if the gain of the other outweighs the
chaoswhich will affect the"my"when there is aglobal
redistribution of income.
arthur
-Original
Message-From:
Lawrence deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Thursday, May 12, 2005 3:34
PMTo: Cordell, Arthur:
ECOM; 'Darryl and Natalia'; 'Karen Watters Cole';
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] corporate
governance: the end of pensions?
Yes, my thought has to do with how we
define 'my.'
Some would define it as themselves,
others as one's family, other as one's tribe, or nation, or race, or
religion
My 'my' is usually that of the
species, Homo sapiens. Globalization seems a lot less threatening when
viewed from this perspective.
Cheers,
Lawry
From:
Cordell, Arthur: ECOM [mai
[Futurework] Rich poor gap in the US
Moving Up: Challenges to The American Dream --- Escalator Ride: As Rich-Poor Gap Widens in the U.S., Class Mobility Stalls --- Those in Bottom Rung Enjoy Better Odds in Europe; How Parents Confer an Edge --- Immigrants See Fast Advance 13 May 2005The Wall Street Journal [First in a Series] The notion that the U.S is a special place where any child can grow up to be president, a meritocracy where smarts and ambition matter more than parenthood and class, dates to Benjamin Franklin. The 15th child of a candle-and-soap maker, Franklin started out as a penniless printer's apprentice and rose to wealth so great that he retired to a life of politics and diplomacy at age 42. The promise that a child born in poverty isn't trapped there remains a staple of America's self-portrait. President Bush, though a riches-to-riches story himself, revels in the humble origins of some in his cabinet. He says his attorney general "grew up in a two-bedroom house," the son of "migrant workers who never finished elementary school." He notes that his Cuban-born commerce secretary's first job for Kellogg Corp. was driving a truck; his last was chief executive. But the reality of mobility in America is more complicated than the myth. As the gap between rich and poor has widened since 1970, the odds that a child born in poverty will climb to wealth -- or a rich child will fall into the middle class -- remain stuck. Despite the spread of affirmative action, the expansion of community colleges and the other social change designed to give people of all classes a shot at success, Americans are no more or less likely to rise above, or fall below, their parents' economic class than they were 35 years ago. Although Americans still think of their land as a place of exceptional opportunity -- in contrast to class-bound Europe -- the evidence suggests otherwise. And scholars have, over the past decade, come to see America as a less mobile society than they once believed. As recently as the late 1980s, economists argued that not much advantage passed from parent to child, perhaps as little as 20%. By that measure, a rich man's grandchild would have barely any edge over a poor man's grandchild. "Almost all the earnings advantages or disadvantages of ancestors are wiped out in three generations," wrote Gary Becker, the University of Chicago economist and Nobel laureate, in 1986. "Poverty would not seem to be a `culture' that persists for several generations." But over the last 10 years, better data and more number-crunching have led economists and sociologists to a new consensus: The escalators of mobility move much more slowly. A substantial body of research finds that at least 45% of parents' advantage in income is passed along to their children, and perhaps as much as 60%. With the higher estimate, it's not only how much money your parents have that matters -- even your great-great grandfather's wealth might give you a noticeable edge today. Many Americans believe their country remains a land of unbounded opportunity. That perception explains why Americans, much more than Europeans, have tolerated the widening inequality in recent years. It is OK to have ever-greater differences between rich and poor, they seem to believe, as long as their children have a good chance of grasping the brass ring. This continuing belief shapes American politics and economic policy. Technology, globalization and unfettered markets tend to erode wages at the bottom and lift wages at the top. But Americans have elected politicians who oppose using the muscle of government to restrain the forces of widening inequality. These politicians argue that lifting the minimum wage or requiring employers to offer health insurance would do unacceptably large damage to economic growth. Despite the widespread belief that the U.S. remains a more mobile society than Europe, economists and sociologists say that in recent decades the typical child starting out in poverty in continental Europe (or in Canada) has had a better chance at prosperity. Miles Corak, an economist for Canada's national statistical agency who edited a recent Cambridge University Press book on mobility in Europe and North America, tweaked dozens of studies of the U.S., Canada and European countries to make them comparable. "The U.S. and Britain appear to stand out as the least mobile societies among the rich countries studied," he finds. France and Germany are somewhat more mobile than the U.S.; Canada and the Nordic countries are much more so. Even the University of Chicago's Prof. Becker is changing his mind, reluctantly. "I do believe that it's still true if you come from a modest background it's easier to move ahead in the U.S. than elsewhere," he says, "but the more data we get that doesn't show that, the more we have to accept the conclusions." Still, the escalators of social mobility continue to move. Nearly a third of the freshmen
[Futurework] RE: Little lies and big lies
Ed, I can't understand why people say "oil" in some sort of hushed tones. As though some great conspiracy had been uncovered. Most of the world runs on oil. It is more important for our well being than gold. Until we move to a post-petroleum economy ( I dearly hope sooner rather than later) we had better get used to our addiction, need, dependence on OIL. arthur -Original Message-From: Ed Weick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Monday, May 16, 2005 1:15 PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: Little lies and big lies We Canadians have always been a little naive about our politicians. Above all else, we want to trust them. Recent revelations at the Gomery Inquiry about where out tax dollars went have greatly raised our level of sophistication about them. Canada will never be quite the same again. Still, we'll get over it.The lies our politicians told were not of catastrophic consequences. Liestold by George Bush and Tony Blair were. At issue is the now infamous "Downing Street Memo", the minutes of a British prime minister's meeting on July 23, 2002, during which officials reported on talks with the Bush administration about Iraq. The memo, which was leaked to The Times of London during the British election campaign, and whose authenticity has not been denied,confirms thatthe Bush administration had cooked up a case for a war it wanted well before the Americans invaded Iraq. Knowing full well that Saddam did not have WMDs in dangerous quantities, the Bush Administration said he did. Knowing full well that the links between Saddam and Al Qaeda were at best tenuous, the Bush Administration said they were firm and dangerous. As Paul Krugman puts it in today's NYTimes: Why did the administration want to invade Iraq, when, as the memo noted, "the case was thin" and Saddam's "W.M.D. capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea, or Iran"? Iraq was perceived as a soft target; a quick victory there, its domestic political advantages aside, could serve as a demonstration of American military might, one that would shock and awe the world. But there was of course another reason for invading Iraq. It contains a lot of oil and sits in the middle of a large region which contains much of the world's oil resources. To keep domestic consumers happy and to feed a huge military apparatus, Americans need an awful lot of oil, and because a lot of people outside of the US do not like Americans, they need to make sure they have control of over the oil producing regions. Compared to the lies Bush told, the Gomery lies seem trivial. Gomery may result in a few fines and a few jail sentences and, for a time, a disenchanted voting public. Bush's lies have resulted in the death of about a million civilians, many of them women and children, the death and mutilation of many soldiers, the destruction of a functioning society (even if we didn't like it how it was run), and the rise of a level of hostilities between the Islamic world and the west that has not been seen since the Crusades. America has indeed become "the Great Satan" and has taken a lot of the western world with it. As lies go, Bush's were catastrophic. And the lies continue. Appearing before American soldiers this past Sunday in one of Saddam's former palaces, Condoleezza Rice said, "This war came to us, not the other way around." If you want to read the Downing Street Memo,go to http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/index.html. Ed ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] The banality of evil in the white-collar workplace
Freud is reported to have sometimes a cigar is also just a cigar Perhaps the paper towels are not a result of anger or rage at the system, but just someone in haste or perhaps someone who is a slob. arthur -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Brad McCormick, Ed.D. Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2005 3:05 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: [Futurework] The banality of evil in the white-collar workplace Today I documented something that continues to annoy me at work (silly me!), because I take it as symbolic. I turned it into a web page: http://www.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/GO/mensRoom.html I simply cannot believe that every day some poor grunt (programmer, technician...) gets dumped on so badly that he feels he has to kick this particular cat -- although I'm also pretty sure that does happen on occasion. Different angle: Architects design persons' lives [or at least the flow which the users of a building go with or against]. I wonder if the architect who designed this particular banal office building thought of this option which the vestibule to the men's room would facilitate? \brad mccormick -- Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works (Matt 5:16) Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) ![%THINK;[SGML+APL]] Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Visit my website == http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] Income mobility in the US
so if you are poor the prob. is that you stay that way and if you are rich the prob. is that you stay that way?? arthur -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Keith Hudson Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2005 1:03 AM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: [Futurework] Income mobility in the US FWers who are interested in the way that incomes have changed in American famililies between 1988 and 1998 need to go to the mobile chart in today's New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/national/20050515_CLASS_GRAPHIC/index_03.html Fascinating! Keith Hudson Keith Hudson, Bath, England, www.evolutionary-economics.org ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] test
@ 9:00 am ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] Jobs in the new economy
Title: Jobs in the new economy Telemarketing a jobs juggernaut: No. 1 producer since 1987 Publication: NPT - National Post Source: INF - All CanWest Publications May 26 01:00 Page: FP1 / Front Section: Financial Post OTTAWA - Those dinner-time calls may be annoying, but the telemarketing industry has been Canada's No. 1 producer of jobs -- by a wide margin -- for nearly 20 years, Statistics Canada said yesterday. But the 92,000 call-centre jobs created since 1987 pay, on average, $12.45 an hour, or roughly one-third the national average. In addition, the wages are low even though more than two-thirds of telemarketing employees have some form of respectable education from a post-secondary institution. The StatsCan report is one of the first looks at just how big the business support services (BSS) industry, which encompasses telemarketing and other tasks that companies have outsourced, has grown in Canada. Also, the study aims to paint of portrait of exactly who is employed at call centres. StatsCan found it is not who you may think. Between 1987 and 2004, employment in the BSS sector soared 447%, from 20,000 to 112,000. This far surpasses job growth during the same time period for all services industries (37%) and for the Canadian economy (29%). But 2004 marked the first year in which employment dropped in the industry. Whether this is just a blip or a sign of peaking employment is still too early to tell, StatsCan said. Two key factors have driven BSS growth. First, new information technologies mean tasks such as phone sales can be performed anywhere. This, along with the recent global economic downturn, has prompted a number of North American companies focused on cutting costs to look for suppliers who can deliver a similar level of service at a cheaper rate. Besides Canada, there are other countries that have experienced, or are about to experience, strong growth in the call centres. In India, for example, the BSS market is set to grow nearly 10% a year until the decade is out. But the low pay BSS workers earn must be of concern to politicians. A number of senior policy makers, most notably Industry Minister David Emerson and Bank of Canada governor David Dodge, have spoken at length about the need to create higher-paying jobs by boosting the country's lagging productivity growth. About a quarter of all people employed in the BSS sector are in Atlantic Canada, in particular New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and StatsCan indicates the region has continually attracted call-centre jobs at the expense of Quebec and the Prairies. Meanwhile, close to half of BSS jobs are in Ontario. Atlantic Canada would have been attractive for BSS companies, StatsCan said, because unemployment in the region was high in the late 1980s. The agency said workers' educational credentials in the BSS sector are similar to those found in other sectors of the Canadian economy, with slightly more than two-thirds, 67%, holding a degree from a post-secondary institution. Furthermore, workers hold mostly full-time jobs [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] RE: Winners and Suckers
Bubbles burst. The final cause is usually not relevant. The fact is growth curves don't go to infinity unless the funadamentals are sound. In the case of housing, the fundamentals are not sound. However unlike the stock market, people still need shelter and so I really don't see a collapse in the housing market.more like a a time of no price increases then price decreases with a drop of 25 percent or so. Although having said that I recall reading that during the great depression, people were picking up properties that had been taken over by the city for failure to pay taxes. And that paying the taxes on the property gave that person title to the property. stay tuned. arthur -Original Message-From: Ed Weick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 11:57 AMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: Winners and Suckers One has to wonder how much substance there now is to the US economy. As Paul Krugman suggests in the following op-ed piece, it seems addicted to bubbles, the high-tech bubble of the past decade and now the housing bubble. But are the two sets of bubbles really comparable? I would suggest that they aren't. The high tech bubble ran its course during an era of reasonable fiscal responsibility. As in the current housing bubble there were winners and suckers (losers), but one never quite got the feeling then that the US economy was going to hell in a handbasket. Since Bush took over, one can't really feel that level of confidence. The value of the US dollar has continued to decline on international markets. With mounting fiscal deficits (now about 4.2% of GDP) and trade deficits (about 5.5% of GDP) and the prospect that America has little to export except "freedom and democracy" backed by huge military expenditures, there is little reason to feel confident about American currency. Some of the things that keepit from sliding even more rapidlythan it is are downright suspect. The Chinese are buying up large quantities of dollars in order to maintain the fixed relationship between the Yuan and the dollar. And many of the dollars that the Chinese buy are being used to purchase American securities and thus help finance the US trade and fiscal deficits. One wonders what would happen if the Chinese pulled the plug and let the dollar slide. Probably nothing beneficial to the Americans or Chinese. If the Yuan rose in value, making the textiles and gadgets Americans nowbuy from Chinaless affordable, Wal-Mart etc. might just shift to other places that can make those things, like Southeast Asia or India. America doesn't make textiles or gadgets anymore. It doesn't make a lot of other things either. But back to Krugman and the housing bubble. He notes: Many home purchases are speculative; the National Association of Realtors estimates that 23 percent of the homes sold last year were bought for investment, not to live in. According to Business Week, 31 percent of new mortgages are interest only, a sign that people are stretching to their financial limits. In other words, much of the bubble is a game being played by people who can win as long as housing prices keep going up, but could lose and lose rather terribly if housing prices fell. Why might they fall? Chinese, Japanese andother foreign investors are currentlykeeping the US economy proppedup by buying dollar denominated American securities. What if they lostconfidence in the US dollar? To maintain the value of the dollar and keep attracting foreign lenders, the US fed would have to raise interest rates. Because the housing bubble is based on very low interest rates, mortgagees, whether interest only or interest plus principle payment,would be in adifficult spot. Housing prices would fall. Many borrowers would be greatly overextended at least partly because they have no savings of their own and are heavily in debt quite apart from housing (the majority of U.S. credit card holders aresaid to carryannual debit balances of $9,000 plus - but why save if interest rates are so low?). I did not intend to make the foregoing sound as though the US economy is in a state of imminent collapse, but for the time being at least it is caught somewhere between a rock and a hard place. The result could be a recession, and perhaps a major one. And, if that were to happen, much of the world could go into recession with it. Canada greatly depends on exports to the US.As mentioned, so does China. However, some interests would gain. If rising US interest rates stabilized or appreciated the dollar, holders of dollar reserves and dollar denominated assets would gain. US citizens might be persuaded to save some of their income and eliminate some of their deficits instead of being so dependent on, and at the mercy of, foreigners. In other
[Futurework] Hot Real-Estate Market, Some Plan an Exit Strategy
Many small decisions can lead to a relaxation in the market and might evenlead to the "bursting of the bubble." WEEKEND JOURNALThe Home Front: The Home Front: For Homeowners, It's All in the Timing --- In a Hot Real-Estate Market, Some Plan an Exit Strategy; Mr. Greenspan's New Fans 27 May 2005The Wall Street JournalW12 WHEN CHRISTINE AND ROB Smith moved to Mesa, Ariz., from Shreveport, La., three years ago, they were expecting to stay in their $200,000 three-bedroom home until their two young children were at least in junior high. But around two months ago, the Smiths started getting real-estate fliers that touted the high-selling prices of homes in their area. A friend said they should consider selling the house now. "Don't sit on it," Mrs. Smith recalls the friend saying. "You don't want to look back a year from now and think, `Oh gosh.' " Suddenly Mrs. Smith, 37 years old, who does voice-overs for commercials, started focusing on interest rates, talking to neighbors about their real-estate plans and listening carefully to the statements of government officials. At the breakfast table she would ask her husband, a recording engineer, if he had been paying attention to the market. "I put a bug in his ear," she said. About two months later, they decided to put their house on the market. They will be listing it in the mid-$300,000s, and will move into a rental property. "We don't know how long this boom is going to last," she says. Like small investors who got caught up in the tech-stock giddiness of the late 1990s, some homeowners are finding themselves trying to time the market -- guessing when a peak might hit and wondering when they should cash out. But these aren't real-estate speculators, who are flipping second homes and rental properties, often deploying risky strategies such as taking out letters of credit to finance them. Rather, they are people who have unexpectedly seen their primary asset rise so fast in value that they're tempted to sell, reap a huge profit -- and rent for a while to wait until prices possibly come down, allowing them to trade up to a larger property or pocket the difference when they purchase something comparable to what they owned. On Tuesday, the National Association of Realtors reported that median prices of existing homes were 15.1% higher than they were a year ago. There's been a 50% rise in average U.S. property values in the past five years, and home equity now represents an average of 38% of a household's net worth, up from 27% in 2000. Last week, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan referred to "froth" and "a lot of local bubbles" in certain markets. Earlier this month, investor Warren Buffett warned of "serious consequences" of the rapid price appreciation in many markets. In markets where there's been rapid growth, such as the Southwest, it makes for some difficult choices. Two months ago, Luis Gonzalez, a 37-year-old marketing manager in Scottsdale, Ariz., says he began thinking about selling his mid-six-figure three-bedroom home because he was at the beginning of a divorce and thought it made sense to downsize. He also wanted to "capitalize on the hysteria" in the real-estate market and realize the more than $200,000 the home had gained in value in the past three years. When he heard the pronouncements about local bubbles made by Messrs. Greenspan and Buffett, he thought, "If they say it, it must hold some merit." But financial issues aren't the only concerns Mr. Gonzalez is weighing. He says he also wants stability for his two children, ages 1 and 4. "If they can come back to something that's familiar, it will keep them grounded," he says. Plus, "I like the house," he says. "Selling is going to be a last option." At the local or regional level, there's a history of ups and downs in the real-estate market. The downturn in the oil industry in the 1980s affected real-estate values in many Southwest metropolitan areas, with home prices in Dallas and Houston dropping in 1986 and recovering three years later. In the wake of the 1987 stock-market crash and the subsequent layoffs in the financial-services sector, prices in Manhattan took a beating. In 1982, a buyer could have paid $237,000 for a Manhattan apartment and sold it in 1988 for $660,000, a 178% gain. But if a buyer bought the same apartment that year, by 1995 it would have fetched just $397,000. It wouldn't reach its previous high price until 1999, according to a study by Corcoran Group, a New York real-estate firm. Some people weren't so lucky in the past and don't want to be left out this time. Herb and Nicki Brown had originally planned to sell their Long Beach, Calif., home after Mr. Brown retires next year and move to the Phoenix area, where they recently bought a house. But earlier this year, homes in the Browns's neighborhood began selling for prices that Mr. Brown calls "just nuts," (median home prices in the area had risen
[Futurework] FW: Unions and telecomm
Subject: Unions and telecomm NY Times June 1, 2005 Unions Struggle as Communications Industry Shifts By MATT RICHTEL SAN FRANCISCO, May 31 - Lisa Morowitz, a longtime union coordinator, knows the taste of defeat. She spends her days trying to organize Comcast cable workers. But not only are the workers declining to sign up, they have in many cases voted to end existing union ties. "We're not winning, we're losing," said Ms. Morowitz, who works for the Communications Workers of America, the dominant union in telecommunications. "If we don't move the direction this industry is moving, we could become obsolete." Even as unions struggle nationwide, with just 12.5 percent of the total work force unionized in 2004 compared with 22 percent in 1980, they face a particularly bleak future in the telecommunications industry. The industry was once a labor stronghold after the Bell monopolies became unionized in the late 1930's. But mergers, deregulation and technological change have reduced the number of jobs at the traditional phone companies while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in cable and wireless companies, which are largely union-free. Since 1985, the number of union workers in telephone and data services has been cut in half, to fewer than 275,000, from 625,000. To slow the rapid decline, unions are fighting to organize workers at cable and wireless companies. They have had little success, outside a big victory in 2000 when they organized workers at Cingular Wireless. At Comcast, the nation's largest cable provider, workers have voted to decertify nearly two dozen union shops in the last three years. The labor battle took on newfound intensity last month when the Communications Workers of America published in three major newspapers a full-page letter signed by 112 members of Congress contending that Verizon Wireless was not cooperating with labor groups. Verizon Wireless countered by circulating among employees a document that favorably compares its benefits and wages to that of Cingular Wireless, the only wireless company with a union work force. In April, Verizon Wireless's chief executive, Dennis F. Strigl, sent a letter to members of Congress urging them not to sign the union petition, which he said was an unfair attack. The employees "have repeatedly rejected the efforts of the union to insert itself between them and their company," Mr. Strigl wrote. "Unfortunately, the union will not take 'no' for an answer." The communications workers union contends that Verizon Wireless has harassed organizers and moved three major call centers from the Northeast to southern states where it is tougher to organize. It plans to hold a pro-union rally Wednesday in Meriden, Conn., the site of a Verizon Wireless business customer service center. Also Wednesday, the union plans to organize a protest rally at Comcast's annual meeting in Philadelphia. The union has taken greatest aim at Comcast and Verizon Wireless. But it is trying to organize other companies, too. The C.W.A. and other international unions plan later this month to try to jump-start talks with T-Mobile, one of the five largest national wireless carriers, by negotiating with executives from its German parent company, Deutsche Telekom. But reversing the antiunion tide will be enormously difficult. In 1985, unions represented 375,000 workers at the Bells and 250,000 at ATT, said Jeffrey H. Keefe, an associate professor of labor and employment relations at Rutgers University. In 2004, the union work force at the Bells dropped to about 229,000, while ATT's union work force dipped below 30,000, Mr. Keefe said. The wireless industry, meanwhile, has grown to about 171,000 employees, with only about 22,000 workers at Cingular unionized. In the cable industry, which has 133,000 workers, only about 7,000 workers are unionized. In terms of pay and benefits, the difference between union and nonunion workplaces can be substantial, Mr. Keefe argues. Based on research compiled by Mr. Keefe and Harry C. Katz, a professor at Cornell University who studies collective bargaining, a union technician at a Bell company in 2003 earned on average $46,500 a year, compared with $39,400 for a technician in the wireless industry and $35,700 at a cable company. Mr. Katz said the erosion of collective bargaining in telecommunications was not as severe as in the garment and textile industries, but as bad, if not worse, than in many other industries. The unions, he said, need to modify their message to give workers a sense that organized labor can protect them in an era of great turbulence. "Employees are not worried about losing a limb in a steel plant," Mr. Katz said. Conveying a message that resonates with prospective members in the current environment is an issue "the unions are struggling to answer." Larry Cohen, executive vice president of the communications workers union, which represents 2.5
RE: [Futurework] NYT Series: ClassinAmerica:shadowy linesthatstilldivide
Title: Message fyi Subject: RE: [Futurework] NYT Series: ClassinAmerica:shadowy linesthatstilldivide Full Context: "First we shape our buildings, and then they shape us."... "First we shape our buildings, and then they shape us." ... Thus spake WinstonChurchill on the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament after WWII. ...www.fullcontext.com/archives/000651.html - 14k - Cached - Similarpages Architronic v2n2.04... Our recent experiences have led us to believe that the values that we have... Churchill insightfully said: "First we shape our buildings, then they ...architronic.saed.kent.edu/v2n2/v2n2.04.html - 8k - Cached - Similarpages SIGIA-L Mail Archives... We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us. --Winston Churchill... First we shape our buildings, then they shape us, then we shape ...www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/0205/0143.html - 13k - Cached - Similarpages Prairie Business Magazine... Words of Winston Churchill come to mind. "We shape our buildings; thereafterthey shape us." Look at the incredible structures all around us. ...www.prairiebizmag.com/article.asp?id=727 - 23k - Cached - Similarpages Sustainable Communities Network Quotes Archive... they are shaping a new kind of American culture for the twenty-first century We shape our buildings, then our buildings shape us. Winston Churchill ...www.sustainable.org/information/quote_archive.html - 20k - Cached - Similarpages Arthur, not sure about the Churchill quote, but the phrase is usuallyattributed to Marshall McLuhan, "first we shape the tools and then the tools shape us" Best, MG -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOMSent: June 1, 2005 3:41 PMTo: Ed Weick; Brad McCormick, Ed.D.; [EMAIL PROTECTED]Cc: Karen Watters Cole; Keith Hudson; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] NYT Series: ClassinAmerica:shadowy linesthatstilldivide As Churchill is reported to have said, "First we shape our buildings, then they shape us." Same goes for machines. arthur -Original Message-From: Ed Weick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Wednesday, June 1, 2005 8:28 AMTo: 'Brad McCormick, Ed.D.'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]Cc: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca; 'Karen Watters Cole'; 'Keith Hudson'Subject: Re: [Futurework] NYT Series: Class inAmerica:shadowy linesthatstilldivide I think machines have become malicious toward us. They know something we don't. They have us on the ropes and we haven't recognized that yet. Try finding something out by telephone. Machines make you punch button after button after button. They even make you do it again if you don't get it right the first time. It would seem that they are accomplishing two things: displacing us and driving us mad. They pretend to be willing helpers and accomplices, as in war, but are in fact enabling us to destroy more of ourselves with each new machine generation. With the enormous resources they consume (e.g. suburban assault vehicles) they are ensuring that we will make theearth barren. I don't know where it will all end, but I suspect there is something truly evil going on. Ed - Original Message - From: Harry Pollard To: 'Ed Weick' ; 'Brad McCormick, Ed.D.' Cc: 'Keith Hudson' ; 'Karen Watters Cole' ; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Sent: Wednesday, June 01, 2005 3:39 AM Subject: RE: [Futurework] NYT Series: Class inAmerica:shadowy linesthatstilldivide Ed, It's a mystery. The copy I sent to myself arrived in color - as I mentioned to Brad. Could these machines be contemptuously playing with us? (Eerie background music!) Harry *** Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 818 352-4141 *** From: Ed Weick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2005 4:57 AMTo: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Brad McCormick, Ed.D.'Cc: 'Keith Hudson'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca; 'Karen Watters Cole'Subject: Re: [Futurework] NYT Series: Class in America:shadowy linesthatstilldivide OK, I'll continue to use HTML, but I won't use colour, and Harry if
RE: [Futurework] NYT Series: ClassinAmerica:shadowy linesthatstilldivide
Title: Message I guess both said much the same thing at different times. Wirearchy :: And .. First, we shape our structures/tools ... then, our structures/tools shapeus (attributed to Churchill and McLuhan, and others) ...blog.wirearchy.com/blog/_archives/2005/3/16/442974.html - 35k - Cached - Similarpages the sift everything experiment » Has the train already left the .. least subjectto the MclUhan/Churchill/various architects attributed aphorism first, we shape our tools/structures, thereafter, our tools/structures ...www.siftstar.com/blog/index.php?p=67 - 48k - Cached - Similarpages IAwiki: IACommonplaceBook... Winston Churchill, Letter to the Admiralty, Sept. 1, 1939 ... First we shapeour buildings, then they shape us, then we shape them again--ad infinitum. ...www.iawiki.net/IACommonplaceBook - 23k - 31 May 2005 - Cached - Similarpages Many-to-Many: Users Drive Policy... Attributed to Churchill and McLuhan (and others, I think), and directly related to... "First, we shape our structures (the last twenty years), then, ...www.corante.com/many/archives/ 2003/12/29/users_drive_policy.php - 35k - 31 May 2005 - Cached - Similarpages SIGIA-L Mail Archives... Anon First we shape our buildings, then they shape us, then we shape themagain--ad infinitum. ... Sir Winston Churchill However beautiful the strategy, ...www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/0208/0124.html - 27k - Cached - Similarpages -Original Message-From: Gurstein, Michael [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Wednesday, June 1, 2005 10:35 AMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; Ed Weick; Brad McCormick, Ed.D.; [EMAIL PROTECTED]Cc: Karen Watters Cole; Keith Hudson; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] NYT Series: ClassinAmerica:shadowy linesthatstilldivide Hmmm... Results 1 - 100 of about 27,800 for first we shape our tools mcluhan. (0.39 seconds) Marshall McLuhan... McLuhan's first major work, Gutenberg Galaxy, dealt with the effect of literacy on... "We shape our tools," he said, "and then our tools shape us. ...www.histori.ca/minutes/minute.do?id=10226 - 40k - Cached - Similarpages -Original Message-----From: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: June 1, 2005 4:22 PMTo: Gurstein, Michael; Ed Weick; Brad McCormick, Ed.D.; [EMAIL PROTECTED]Cc: Karen Watters Cole; Keith Hudson; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] NYT Series: ClassinAmerica:shadowy linesthatstilldivide fyi Subject: RE: [Futurework] NYT Series: ClassinAmerica:shadowy linesthatstilldivide Full Context: "First we shape our buildings, and then they shape us."... "First we shape our buildings, and then they shape us." ... Thus spake WinstonChurchill on the rebuilding of the Houses of Parliament after WWII. ...www.fullcontext.com/archives/000651.html - 14k - Cached - Similarpages Architronic v2n2.04... Our recent experiences have led us to believe that the values that we have... Churchill insightfully said: "First we shape our buildings, then they ...architronic.saed.kent.edu/v2n2/v2n2.04.html - 8k - Cached - Similarpages SIGIA-L Mail Archives... We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us. --Winston Churchill... First we shape our buildings, then they shape us, then we shape ...www.info-arch.org/lists/sigia-l/0205/0143.html - 13k - Cached - Similarpages Prairie Business Magazine... Words of Winston Churchill come to mind. "We shape our buildings; thereafterthey shape us." Look at the incredible structures all around us. ...www.prairiebizmag.com/article.asp?id=727 - 23k - Cached - Similarpages Sustainable Communities Network Quotes Archive... they are shaping a new kind of American culture for the twenty-first century We shape our buildings, then our buildings shape us. Winston Churchill ...www.sustainable.org/information/quote_archive.html - 20k - Cached - Similarpages Arthur, not sure about the Churchill quote, but the phrase is usuallyattributed to Marshall McLuhan, "first we shape the tools and then the tools shape us" Best, MG -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOMSent: June 1, 2005 3:41 PMTo: Ed Weick; Brad McCormick, Ed.D.; [EMAIL PROTECTED]Cc: Karen Watters Cole; Keith Hudson; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework]
[Futurework] Italy and the Euro
a straw in the wind?? http://reuters.myway.com/article/20050603/2005-06-03T072109Z_01_N03232223_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-ECONOMY-ITALY-EURO-DC.html Italy minister says should study leaving euro-paper Email this StoryJun 3, 3:21 AM (ET) ROME (Reuters) - Italy should consider leaving the single currency and reintroducing the lira, Welfare Minister Roberto Maroni said in a newspaper interview on Friday. Maroni, a member of the euro-skeptical Northern League party, told the Repubblica daily Italy should hold a referendum to decide whether to return to the lira, at least temporarily. He also said European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was one of those chiefly responsible for the "disaster of the euro." The euro "has proved inadequate in the face of the economic slowdown, the loss of competitiveness and the job crisis," Maroni said. In this situation, the answer is to give the government greater power to defend national industry from foreign competition and "to give control over the exchange rate back to the government." Maroni is a front-line government minister but his views are not believed to be shared by those with far greater sway over economic policy, such as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi or Economy Minister Domenico Siniscalco. Maroni cited Britain as a virtuous example of a country whose economy "grows and develops, maintaining control over its currency." When it was put to Maroni that Trichet on Thursday dismissed the idea that monetary union could break up, the minister replied: "Sure, he is one of those chiefly responsible for the disaster of the euro." He added Trichet should try to convince hard-pressed small Italian businessmen that the euro was a success. Maroni also dismissed the idea that Italy's struggling economy could face an Argentina-style financial disaster if it abandoned the single currency. "We're already heading toward Argentina, that's why we have to change direction," he said. Three years ago Argentina defaulted on its public debt. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] Italy and the Euro
I agree with Chris on this one: In this situation, the answer is to give the government greater power to defend national industry from foreign competition and to give control over the exchange rate back to the government. It was clear from the beginning that this is the big mistake of the Euro. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Saturday, June 04, 2005 5:12 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: Re: [Futurework] Italy and the Euro Reuters wrote: In this situation, the answer is to give the government greater power to defend national industry from foreign competition and to give control over the exchange rate back to the government. It was clear from the beginning that this is the big mistake of the Euro. Ed Weick wrote: Almost everything you read about the EU these days suggests a lot of disenchantment with the leadership and a fear of Turks and Polish plumbers. The EU is a grand idea, but grand ideas don't always put bread on the table or protect your special interests. The EU is a grand scheme to benefit predators -- the regional implementation of globalization. Brad McCormick wrote: I agree that the EU is a grand idea. I am reminded of a certain definition of Europe: It's a big mistake to confuse the EU with Europe. Perhaps no idea is grand enough to withstand the withering, relentless assault of The New American Dream of universal free-fall economic devolution aka deregulated free or at least all-consuming markets. If you scrap off the PR you'll realize that the EU is a regional promoter of free-fall economic devolution rather than a bulwark against it. Chris ___ Going west was their [U$] enlargement. They found the Rocky Mountains; we found Prague and Budapest. --Romano Prodi, ex-head of the EU, on EU enlargement SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword igve. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] Mobility vs Nobility
The problem, in short, may not be that reality is receding from the national myth. The problem may be the myth. Beware to the nation that believes and acts on its myths not realizing that they are just that: Myths. arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Karen Watters ColeSent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 11:47 AMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: [Futurework] Mobility vs Nobility Mobility Vs. Nobility By Michael Kinsley, in the LA Times and Washington Post, Sunday, June 5, 2005 According to our founding document and our national myth, we are all created equal, and then it's up to us. Inequality in material things is mitigated in two ways: first, by equal opportunity at the start and, second, by full civil equality despite material differences. We don't claim to have achieved all this, but these are our national goals and we are always moving toward them. The 20th century added two, somewhat vaguer, elements to the myth. One is that even material inequality will be limited, at the bottom end, by social guarantees against absolute deprivation or vertiginous plunges. Another is that prosperity will gradually make us all more equal even in the material sense. Three of the nation's top newspapers have been examining the national myth recently. The Wall Street Journal has looked at social mobility. In recent decades, financial inequality has been increasing, not shrinking. That didn't matter, many said, because studies show a constant shuffling of the deck. Where you are today says little about where you might be tomorrow and even less about where your offspring will be in 25 years. But it turns out these studies were flawed. Where you are is the best predictor of where your children will be. And immobility over generations is what congeals financial differences into old-fashioned, European-style social class. This is where the New York Times takes up the story. The Journal series included a wonderful story, straight out of Trollope, about a vulgar arriviste trying to crash the absurd charity-ball society of Palm Springs. Less fun, but more telling, was a Times piece comparing three victims of heart attacks. The Times series has been especially good at capturing the subtle ways that privilege manifests itself and gets transmitted over generations. It's not just money. It's not just IQ or education or blue blood or even good values. It's how all these combine into knowing which hospital to ask for when the ambulance arrives. The Los Angeles Times takes over with a scary look at downward mobility. The national myth imagines the ascent from poverty to the middle class as a ratchet. But sliding out of middle-class prosperity is getting easier every day. You can do it by losing your job, by having an accident or other health emergency, by squandering your savings. Globalization and technology may make everyone better off on average (I believe they do), but they land like a boulder on individuals who lose their jobs to foreigners and machines. Health care becomes more costly, and employers get stingier about paying for it. And President Bush wants to make Social Security more of an opportunity to do well and less of a guarantee against doing disastrously. In short, if insurance is shifting risks from individuals to society, what has been going on lately is the opposite: shifting risks from society back onto the individual. Of the many questions raised by all this, the most pressing is: What happened to The Post? If The Post wants in, there are still rich veins to mine. For example, The Post might reexamine the role of civil equality as a consolation prize for economic inequality. This conceit seems to be eroding in two ways. First, money is playing an ever-larger role in the mechanics of democracy. Second, whole areas of life that were part of everyday democracy have fallen to the empire of money. People increasingly go to schools with people of their own class, live in class-sifted neighborhoods, hold their Fourth of July picnics in their own back yards rather than the public park. Meanwhile, despite months of superb reporting by three great newspapers, the question of how closely our national reality resembles our national myth remains open. Does it matter whether your place in life is determined by your IQ or your schooling or your parents' wallets? All of these are beyond your control. As we learn more about the human mind, even qualities such as self-discipline seem to be a matter of luck, not grit. The problem, in short, may not be that reality is receding from the national myth. The problem may be the myth. The writer is editorial and opinion editor of the Los Angeles Times.
RE: [Futurework] Mobility vs Nobility
*But*, again, the documentary emphasizes, the NeoCons who govern do *not* need to believe the myths they promulgate to the people. I think the record shows that most who govern don't necessarily believe the myths they promulgate: this holds true for those on the right and those on the left. That's why (among other reasons) Lord Acton said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely arthur -Original Message- From: Brad McCormick, Ed.D. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, June 05, 2005 5:53 PM To: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM Cc: Karen Watters Cole; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: Re: [Futurework] Mobility vs Nobility Cordell, Arthur: ECOM wrote: The problem, in short, may not be that reality is receding from the national myth. The problem may be the myth. Beware to the nation that believes and acts on its myths not realizing that they are just that: Myths. [snip] Has there ever been such a country as you say [and I agree] would be desirable? The whole thesis of Freud's _Civilization and its Discontents_ is that there never has been such a society and Freud thought there never would be one. As I put it: ethnicities are semiotic viruses, and their rapacity is unlimited. http://www.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/civil.html But, to focus on the present: The BBC documentary _The Power of Nightmares_ well describes the Platonic doctrine of the NeoCons that a nation needs noble myths -- in which the people need to believe because they are incapable of anything better and, if left to themselves, they will otherwise just enjoy themselves. *But*, again, the documentary emphasizes, the NeoCons who govern do *not* need to believe the myths they promulgate to the people. \brad mccormick -- Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works (Matt 5:16) Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) ![%THINK;[SGML+APL]] Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Visit my website == http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] Those NYT liberals who don't understand how freemarket works
Source for Friedman quote contained in letter to the editor in a NJ newspaper. Protests also preserve nation's freedoms 26 May 2005 Times Union THREE STAR A10 In response to Mary Jane Hughes's May 15 letter, Son who is a soldier deserves thanks, respect: I was 19 years old when I served in the first Gulf War. When I joined the Marines at age 18, I, too, thought I had a job to do. I, like you, thought people holding up signs were there because of me. I do not doubt that the feelings you have for your son's safety are real. Your son is certainly in need of support now and when he returns from service. I feel you wrote your letter only to convince yourself that your son is defending freedom. On the surface this is true. But it's not the freedom of the people at the corner of Delaware and Kenwood; it's freedom for the people on Wall Street. As Thomas Friedman so eloquently wrote in The Lexus and the Olive Tree: The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. ... McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the U.S. Air Force F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies to flourish is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. From 1890 to the present day, the U.S. military has been on the offensive through direct or indirect action, on average, every 18 months, for the so-called defense of freedom. After six years of military service, I feel that standing out at the corner with my sign, my involvement in conscientious objection, counter-recruitment and other community support organizations has made a bigger difference in preserving our country's freedoms than my serving in the military did. JASON PETERSON Delmar -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Brad McCormick, Ed.D. Sent: Sunday, June 5, 2005 6:02 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: [Futurework] Those NYT liberals who don't understand how freemarket works Information Clearing House today has a quote from Thomas Friedman, a New York Times OpEd writer: The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the U.S. Air Force F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies to flourish is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.: - Thomas Friedman Cheers! \brad mccormick -- Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works (Matt 5:16) Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21) ![%THINK;[SGML+APL]] Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Visit my website == http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/ ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] Job mobility
Moving Up: Challenges to the American Dream --- Slow Train: Promotion Track Fades for Those Starting at Bottom --- Decline of In-House Training, Rise of Outsourcing Leave More Stuck in Menial Jobs --- Lessons From N.Y.'s Subways 6 June 2005The Wall Street JournalA1 [Fourth in a Series] NEW YORK -- Unwed, unemployed and saddled with three young sons, Valerie Beatty hit bottom in 1989 when she was 25 years old. The daughter of a middle-class Harlem family, Ms. Beatty recalls she abandoned hope of what she calls "bettering myself." Too broke to pay tuition at Bronx Community College, she dropped out and scraped by on food stamps, baby-sitting jobs and whatever cash her boys' father gave her to buy school clothes. "I had my kids," she shrugs, "and that was about it." Then her life began to turn around, thanks to a cleaner's job she landed in 1992 with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency that runs New York City's buses and subways. The job paid only $18,000 a year but put her on a track for training and promotions. Within a decade, she advanced from cleaner to subway motor inspector. Today she makes $50,000 a year and lives in a tidy ranch home on Long Island. Now 41, she ticks off her next goals: seeing her sons graduate from college, building a retirement home and opening a restaurant. But the train that Ms. Beatty and many other black New Yorkers rode into the middle class is slowing down. The MTA was once full of jobs like motor inspector or turnstile repairman -- jobs that a person with limited education could jump to with some training. As in the corporate world, many of those jobs have disappeared, often because technology upgrades mean fewer people are needed. At the MTA, for example, new subway cars last 138,000 miles between overhauls, compared with 8,000 miles in 1982. Around the system, the jobs that do open often require a college education and computer skills. Overall, the pace of hiring has slowed since the 1980s, as the MTA reduced its staff by 13%, to 48,000. When the MTA does fill new jobs, it is less likely to promote from within because it believes it will attract better talent on the outside. In the 1990s, insiders got half the new jobs; today they get fewer than 40%. Car cleaners used to have the inside track for promotion to motorman, tower operator and token-booth clerk. Since 2001, those jobs have been thrown open to outsiders. "For too many of our people, entry-level no longer means entry-level. It means dead-end," says Rodney Glenn, director of training for Transport Workers Union Local 100, to which 30,000 MTA employees belong. The MTA's move toward hiring people for middle-income jobs who already have qualifications and training mirrors what has happened across America. Traders on Wall Street once started as floor runners out of high school. Newspapers would hire high-school dropouts to run sheets of inky carbon paper down to the print shop, and later promote them to be reporters. "Macy's used to fill its executive training corps by recruiting stock boys," says Phil Kasinitz, a City University of New York sociologist who studies the working poor. Many of those jobs no longer exist. Over the years, employers have outsourced positions such as cafeteria server, security guard and janitor that once might have offered a chance to move up. Outsourcing and aggressive outside hiring have made many enterprises more efficient and profitable. But these trends raise the risk of workers in low-wage jobs getting trapped there. Annette Bernhardt, a sociologist at New York University Law School, studied the salaries of thousands of workers over nearly 40 years. She found that 12% of workers who started in the labor market in the late 1960s and early 1970s remained stuck in low-wage jobs 10 to 15 years into their careers. But for workers who entered the labor market in the 1980s and early 1990s, that percentage had more than doubled, to 28%. African-Americans have extra difficulty making it out of poverty, according to a 2003 study by American University economist Tom Hertz. It found that blacks born poor are 2 1/2 times as likely as whites to remain poor as adults. Differences in family size and education may play a role, says Prof. Hertz, as may discrimination. Traditionally, unions helped unskilled workers attain middle-class lives. But organized labor now represents only 11% of the work force, down from one-third in the 1950s. The fastest-growing unions, in the service industries, represent both low-wage workers and skilled professionals, but it's hard for members to move from one category to the other. On-the-job training may turn an orderly into a nurse's aide, but not into a nurse. New York's MTA, with an annual operating budget of $8 billion, has been a haven for African-Americans seeking upward mobility since the 1940s, when Adam Clayton Powell Jr. joined other Harlem activists in pressing
RE: [Futurework] Those NYT liberals who don't understand howfreemarket works
How do characterize the SEC? (securities and exchange) Hidden fist or constantly in viewor both? -Original Message- From: Harry Pollard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, June 6, 2005 2:34 PM To: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'Brad McCormick, Ed.D.'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] Those NYT liberals who don't understand howfreemarket works Arthur, The market is a peaceful coming together of cooperating people. If there are people who are not so peaceful, then policing is necessary. But the police are not a hidden fist. In fact it is better if they are constantly in view to dissuade the barbarians. So Friedman's quote is nonsense masquerading as the profound. Harry *** Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 818 352-4141 *** -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:futurework- [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOM Sent: Monday, June 06, 2005 7:06 AM To: Brad McCormick, Ed.D.; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] Those NYT liberals who don't understand howfreemarket works Source for Friedman quote contained in letter to the editor in a NJ newspaper. Protests also preserve nation's freedoms 26 May 2005 Times Union THREE STAR A10 In response to Mary Jane Hughes's May 15 letter, Son who is a soldier deserves thanks, respect: I was 19 years old when I served in the first Gulf War. When I joined the Marines at age 18, I, too, thought I had a job to do. I, like you, thought people holding up signs were there because of me. I do not doubt that the feelings you have for your son's safety are real. Your son is certainly in need of support now and when he returns from service. I feel you wrote your letter only to convince yourself that your son is defending freedom. On the surface this is true. But it's not the freedom of the people at the corner of Delaware and Kenwood; it's freedom for the people on Wall Street. As Thomas Friedman so eloquently wrote in The Lexus and the Olive Tree: The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist. ... McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the U.S. Air Force F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies to flourish is called the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. From 1890 to the present day, the U.S. military has been on the offensive through direct or indirect action, on average, every 18 months, for the so-called defense of freedom. After six years of military service, I feel that standing out at the corner with my sign, my involvement in conscientious objection, counter-recruitment and other community support organizations has made a bigger difference in preserving our country's freedoms than my serving in the military did. JASON PETERSON Delmar ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] FW: A.Word.A.Day--oligopsony
seems appropriate for current discussions. -Original Message- From: Wordsmith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, June 08, 2005 12:09 AM To: linguaphile@wordsmith.org Subject: A.Word.A.Day--oligopsony oligopsony (oli-GOP-suh-nee) noun The market condition where a few buyers control the market for a product. [From Greek oligo- (few, little) + opsonia (purchase).] A word that shares the same prefix is oligarchy: government by the few, where political power is held by a small group and used for selfish and corrupt purposes. Does a joint Internet venture by the world's automakers to purchase parts amount to an illegal oligopsony--a cartel of buyers that can drive prices down through their market power? James V. Grimaldi; Trustbusters Put On a Stern Face; The Washington Post; Jun 29, 2000. This week's theme: words from the 2005 Spelling Bee. Sponsors' messages: New from mental_floss: the trivia game - the perfect gift for the smart dad or grad in your life. http://mentalfloss.com Want more money in your pocket? We can reduce your debt by as much as 70%. http://TheDebtResourceCenter.com It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence to practice neither. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910) Send your comments to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For subscriber services, visit http://wordsmith.org/awad/subscriber.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/oligopsony.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/oligopsony.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/oligopsony.html This message was sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] FW: Bill Moyers On Losing The American Revolution
Title: Bill Moyers On Losing The American Revolution Subject: FW: Bill Moyers On Losing The American Revolution Losing The American Revolution by Bill Moyers,TomPaine.comIt wasn't supposed to be this way. America was not meant to have a "government of the few at the expense of the many." http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050606/losing_the_american_revolution.php ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] test
Title: test @ 8:48 am ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] FW: United default a threat to all workers
Subject: United default a threat to all workers http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11701911.htm Miami Herald May 21, 2005 United default a threat to all workers By Robert V. Callahan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Last week's United Airlines pension default reveals serious trouble for all middle-class Americans with pensions. Most of us believe that pension plans are sacrosanct. Untouchable. Safe and secure. Protected by a beneficent government and tight laws. The United case shows otherwise. United used the law to dump more than $9 billion in pension liabilities on the taxpayers. No one in government stopped them. Here's how it happened. The Railway Labor Act controls airline negotiations. It mandates that all negotiations be done in good faith. Then contracts are agreed on, companies must abide by them and unions must maintain peace. But United Airlines, despite three massive concessionary contracts with significant give-backs, simply did not make their required pension contributions. Just didn't do it. Retirees with nothing One would think there would be a safeguard. There's supposed to be. It's called ERISA, for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. In the 1970s, companies put worthless stock, undervalued real estate and IOU's into pension funds. No one knew until retirees, counting on pensions, wound up with nothing. ERISA was supposed to prevent this kind of abuse. Turns out, however, that there was an ''out'' that allowed companies to continue evasive practices. The loophole this time is with the IRS. A company can legally avoid making mandated pension contributions -- with no penalty. In fact, any company can do this up to three times, again with no penalty. When contributions are not made the pension formulas simply freeze. Nothing happens to the company. If the employees in the pension plan are unionized, there is nothing the union can do. Bad faith bargaining This is how United ran up a $9.3 billion pension deficit and triggered the largest pension default in U.S. history. First, it bargained in bad faith and used the Railway Labor Act to protect itself. Then, it used the IRS to avoid pension contributions. Finally, it turned to the bankruptcy courts to basically wipe out any liability. In bankruptcy court, fiscal protective procedures supersede all other obligations. So nothing was in place to protect the 120,000 United employee pensions. The same employees who, despite sweeping wage reductions, kept United at the top of the airline industry were simply robbed. And there was nothing they could do. This was all done strategically, with forethought. United's actions exhibit a thorough yet malicious understanding of all the controlling laws and regulations. United's team knew that they could simply avoid pension contributions and then use the system, the law, the courts to transfer their mess and their obligation to American taxpayers. The Railway Labor Act kept the work force in place, working. The IRS code allowed United to default on pension payments with no penalties. ERISA was insufficiently protective to stop the strategy. Then the bankruptcy courts allowed United to just walk away from all its promises. It's time to wake up. Lax laws and loopholes The retirement threat is not just from arcane actuarial computations on Social Security 40 years in the future. The threat is now, from lax laws and elected officials who refuse to close loopholes. This week's disaster was not just limited to United Airlines and its unfortunate employees. It was a shot across the bow to every person in the United States who plans on ever retiring. It is a challenge to lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum. Whether one's issue is social agenda or business practice, this United Airlines debacle is the largest, scariest, most immoral and threatening public act to rumble through our society in years. Robert V. Callahan is director of development of Nova Southeastern University's Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences. This e-mail may be privileged and/or confidential, and the sender does not waive any related rights and obligations. Any distribution, use or copying of this e-mail or the information it contains by other than an intended recipient is unauthorized. If you received this e-mail in error, please advise me (by return e-mail or otherwise) immediately. Ce courriel est confidentiel et protg. L'expditeur ne renonce pas aux droits et obligations qui s'y rapportent. Toute diffusion, utilisation ou copie de ce message ou des renseignements qu'il contient par une personne autre que le (les) destinataire(s) dsign(s) est interdite. Si vous recevez ce courriel par erreur, veuillez m'en aviser immdiatement, par retour de courriel ou par un autre moyen. ) ___
RE: [Futurework] FW: United default a threat to all workers
A colleague of mine used to avoid airlines that outsourced maintenance. -Original Message-From: Ed Weick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 1:54 PMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; FUTUREWORK (E-mail)Subject: Re: [Futurework] FW: United default a threat to all workers Personally, I hate the thought of flying on an airline whose workers are disgruntled because of the concessions they've had to make on wages and benefits. I'll avoid United, Northwest, Delta, Air Canada, etc., etc., etc. Maybe I'll just hitch-hike. Ed - Original Message - From: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM To: FUTUREWORK (E-mail) Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 12:52 PM Subject: [Futurework] FW: United default a threat to all workers Subject: United default a threat to all workers http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/11701911.htm Miami Herald May 21, 2005 United default a threat to all workers By Robert V. Callahan [EMAIL PROTECTED] Last week's United Airlines pension default reveals serious trouble for all middle-class Americans with pensions. Most of us believe that pension plans are sacrosanct. Untouchable. Safe and secure. Protected by a beneficent government and tight laws. The United case shows otherwise. United used the law to dump more than $9 billion in pension liabilities on the taxpayers. No one in government stopped them. Here's how it happened. The Railway Labor Act controls airline negotiations. It mandates that all negotiations be done in good faith. Then contracts are agreed on, companies must abide by them and unions must maintain peace. But United Airlines, despite three massive concessionary contracts with significant give-backs, simply did not make their required pension contributions. Just didn't do it. Retirees with nothing One would think there would be a safeguard. There's supposed to be. It's called ERISA, for the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. In the 1970s, companies put worthless stock, undervalued real estate and IOU's into pension funds. No one knew until retirees, counting on pensions, wound up with nothing. ERISA was supposed to prevent this kind of abuse. Turns out, however, that there was an ''out'' that allowed companies to continue evasive practices. The loophole this time is with the IRS. A company can legally avoid making mandated pension contributions -- with no penalty. In fact, any company can do this up to three times, again with no penalty. When contributions are not made the pension formulas simply freeze. Nothing happens to the company. If the employees in the pension plan are unionized, there is nothing the union can do. Bad faith bargaining This is how United ran up a $9.3 billion pension deficit and triggered the largest pension default in U.S. history. First, it bargained in bad faith and used the Railway Labor Act to protect itself. Then, it used the IRS to avoid pension contributions. Finally, it turned to the bankruptcy courts to basically wipe out any liability. In bankruptcy court, fiscal protective procedures supersede all other obligations. So nothing was in place to protect the 120,000 United employee pensions. The same employees who, despite sweeping wage reductions, kept United at the top of the airline industry were simply robbed. And there was nothing they could do. This was all done strategically, with forethought. United's actions exhibit a thorough yet malicious understanding of all the controlling laws and regulations. United's team knew that they could simply avoid pension contributions and then use the system, the law, the courts to transfer their mess and their obligation to American taxpayers. The Railway Labor Act kept the work force in place, working. The IRS code allowed United to default on pension payments with no penalties. ERISA was insufficiently protective to stop the strategy. Then the bankruptcy courts allowed United to just walk away from all its promises. It's time to wake up. Lax laws and loopholes The retirement threat is not just from arcane actuarial computations on Social Security 40 years in the future. The threat is now, from lax laws and elected officials who refuse to close loopholes. This week's disaster was not just limited to United Airlines and its unfortunate employees. It was a shot across the bow to every person in the United States who plans on ever
[Futurework] RE: End of a dream?
I think that some of the problem started when the current PM was Finance Minister in the 90's and hesucceeded in balancing the budget at the expense of cutting the health care budget. Medicare should not be subject to the whims of politicians. As to the present mess it really does look like the end of a dream. arthur -Original Message-From: Ed Weick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 2:57 PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: End of a dream? Ever so many years ago when the world and I were young in rural Saskatchewan some people were able to afford to go to the doctor and get whatever treatment they needed. Otherstook chickens and pigs with them because they had no money. Then along came Tommy Douglas and universal single tier public health care. Now the Supreme Court of Canada has rendered a decision that opens the way for a two tier system, a private one for those who can afford to pay, and a public one for those who can't. Many people, including doctors and private insurers who are bound to benefit from the private tier are jubilant. You can already hear them laughing on their way to the bank. Many people will be able to get off the long public waiting lines for various tests and surgeries and go directly to their private clinic and have their needs met. But for ever so many others, the large majority, the lines will lengthen. The reason the lines are so long now is because there isn't enough capacity in the system. They will lengthen for those who cannot afford to be in the private tier because manydoctors and part of the diagnostic capacity will have moved over to where the money is. I suspect that it's diagnostic capacity and specialized surgery that's the real problem. I can get an appointment to see my doctor anytime, but if we then decide that I need MRI or a CTScan, we may have to wait a couple of months. Waiting times for specialized surgery is much longer. A friend of mine recently had her knees replaced. Because she runs a stable, she uses her legs most of the day everyday. Even so, she had to wait for more than a year. For years now, everybody has been after the federal government to fix upthe public system. We've had a Royal Commission and a major report from the Senate of Canada. Not much has happened. The provinces have asked the federal government for more money and the federal government has been unable to provide it. I suspect costs are the big issue. Training good doctors is expensive, training specialized doctorsis even more expensive,but providing the kind of diagnostic equipment that has now come into standard use is hugely expensive. Paul Krugman, anAmerican economist, recently noted that a considerable proportion of the large cost increases encountered in Medicare over the past couple of decades was due to the costs of the technology now in standard use in the US. Canada uses the same technology. So, where will we be in a few years? For some, the lines will greatly shorten. For most, they will become very much longer, so long that their pain and suffering will make a good case for assisted suicide, perhaps with government picking up some of the costs. Ed ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] RE: End of a dream? ~ Start of [yet] a[nother] nightmare: Meth mouth
And yet dentists did come out in favour of flouridating the water. Note that Ottawa has flouridated water. Just acrosss the river in Quebec they do not. They have a 44 percent higher rate of dental cavities than in Ottawa. (this number was given to me; I haven't verified it.) So dentists did go for a process that lowers their incomes. Less cavities. arthur -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Sunday, June 12, 2005 1:27 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: Re: [Futurework] RE: End of a dream? ~ Start of [yet] a[nother] nightmare: Meth mouth Brad McCormick asked: Why can't we declare a *WAR AGAINST UNHEALTHFUL LIFE STYLE*, like the war against terror, drugs, etc.? Because there's no money in it -- on the contrary, there's a lot of money in selling unhealthful stuff and then tinkering with the resulting symptoms. Note that mainstream medicine has declared a war on cancer, coming from the wrong side (tinkering with symptoms, doing mammograms until they get cancer from the x-rays, etc.), because there IS money in that, like in the war on terror (armaments and security industry). In general, if you want to make money as an industry, NEVER remove the causes of the problem you are being paid to solve (because that would put you out of business), but only tinker with symptoms while perpetuating (or even fostering) the causes. The NYT yesterday raised the bar, with an article on something new dentists are encountering: Meth mouth -- apparently persons who use methamphetimine(sp?) wreck their teeth down to the roots thru some combination of dry mouth encouraging infection, irresponsible attitude resulting from drug use causing them to not do their dental hygiene (Who cares?), caustic substances in the drug itself, etc. This stuff makes mouth look like the person got caught in an IED event or something -- there's a picture in the article. Perhaps dentists should stop installing mercury in people's mouths so there would be less demand for methamphetamines in the first place. But that would be bad for dentists' (and others') business... I have long thought that something else should be done: medical research funding should be primarily channeled toward the most socially constructive and pressing issues, rather than to solving gee whiz but epidemiologically peripheral problems. Again, follow the money. Chris SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword igve. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] RE: End of a dream?
So what you are saying is that all US citizens should factor in a health care provider and pay the monthly charge as part of the monthly budget. Further that those who are "in trouble" have not done so. But Harry what about those who were offered health plans as part of their employment and when the job was terminated and so was the health plan. Seems a bit of a problem, especially if there is a pre-existing health issue which was OK with the previous plan (now terminated) but will only be OK with the new one---but at a price. So should people just sign up for health care in the US regardless of whether it is offered as part of the job, since when the job is over the need for health care goes on. arthur -Original Message-From: Harry Pollard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Monday, June 13, 2005 4:02 AMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'Ed Weick'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] RE: End of a dream? Arthur, Thats interesting isnt it? The patient went in for treatment, but they didnt like the results of the tests so they hauled him in. They immediately put him on an antibiotic IV and gave him the full battery of tests. He had a kidney infection so they attached the right kidney to a bag. The bagful of prescriptions he took away with him were free. It is certainly available to all. If you come in off the street, you are triaged. If you have a minor injury, or if emergency treatment wont help, you are likely to wait for hours. Those who have real problems and can benefit from treatment are seen first. If you have a fever (and one or two other symptoms Ive forgotten) you are told to see the nurse immediately. As Ive mentioned before, more than 75% of the people coming for treatment are Hispanics. There are not a lot of blacks. The rest are whites. However, some of those I count as white are probably light-skinned Hispanics. My other observation is how few read while they are waiting sometimes for 2-3 hours. The illegal Hispanics flooding the emergency rooms are choice fodder for the anti-(insert your choice). Youll recall the Classical Business Cycle argument. Rising speculative land prices create an unstable economic system. Yet, everything appears to be booming. Any event may then be the trigger to push us over the edge. The triggers have been endlessly pawed over as if they are responsible for the crash, but they arent. This argument is, I think, analogous to those bankrupted by medical costs. These people are already in trouble and the onset of a severe medical problem is the trigger that sends them over the edge. As I said earlier, apartments in Tujunga not a high rent area cost from $800 to $1,000 a month for not much. Why not say medical costs are easy to pay the problem is the $12,000 a year for a small apartment? I found the Kaiser Hospital system thats the one Im in cost $299 a month for a single patient. Cant remember how much for a family. When my family arrived in Canada and later in Southern California, the first thing I did was to insure their health. That was a priority, before movie visits, or going to Vegas, or anything else. People who are trying to save the world dont get a lot of pay, but I managed. Medical cost is like lawyer cost the rich can afford it, the poor get it free, those in the middle may have to go without. I heard a 68 year old man on radio last week whining that he could not afford medical care. Yet, with social security comes Medicare. They take about $80 a month out of SS for Medicare. Then you pay a small amount to your local insurer. Kaiser costs nothing and indeed they pay $15 a month toward the Medicare cost. (I suspect that will change next year when the new Medicare reforms are instituted.) Largest problem is prescription drug cost. Except for some special deals they have made, Kaiser will no longer pay for the ones that cannot be genericked. Their cost is a killer to an HMO. However, they have a collateral of (I think) $4000-5000. At that point they begin to pay. Bushs foremost criterion is that the drug companies will not lower prices. His new idea is to keep prices high but the taxpayer will pay. Bloody nonsense their right to copyright and patent should be removed. Also, there should be free trade for drugs and of course everything else. When the Demos get back to power well see if they hit the drug companies hard or take their money. I suspect the latter. Overall, there is little reason for most people in the US to go without medical care when they need it. Harry *** Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 81
[Futurework] Senators Travel the World on Privately Funded Trips.htm
Title: Senators Travel the World on Privately Funded Trips Jun 14, 2005 Senators Travel the World on Privately Funded TripsBy Jesse J. HollandAssociated Press WriterWASHINGTON (AP) - Senators traveled to exotic foreign capitals and fabulous resort towns with beaches and golf courses in 2004 - all in the name of business of course and rarely on their own dime. One such trip was taken by Senate Minority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., who went to Cape Town, South Africa, for an international affairs conference, according to the Senate's financial disclosure forms. That trip was paid for by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and the South African Institute of International Affairs. Sen. Mike Enzi, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, was reimbursed for travel expenses for himself and his wife, Diana, for a speaking engagement in Munich, Germany, for the German Marshall Fund of Washington. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., ranking Democrat on the Senate Rules Committee, reported travel to Coral Gables, Fla., for three days in February 2004 to participate in the annual U.S.-Spain Council conference. The trip was funded by the council. And Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., reimbursed the Aspen Institute Congressional Program for travel, lodging and meal expenses for a May trip to Barcelona, Spain. Congressional travel has been getting more scrutiny lately, in part because of the controversy surrounding House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, following allegations that a lobbyist paid for some of his trips, which is not allowed. Other private groups, however, can fund travel, which at times can include lavish meals and golf outings. Republicans also hit the road. Foreign Relations chair Richard Lugar, R-Ind., went on seven trips paid for by the Aspen Institute think tank, including to Hawaii; Cancun, Mexico; Barcelona; Venice, Italy, and Geneva, Switzerland. Lugar is a member of that think tank. Samaritan's Purse picked up Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's air transportation to Chad, Sudan and Kenya on a fact-finding mission last August, and his meals there. The complaint that the Senate is a "millionaires' club" has some basis in fact, at least among the leaders. Frist reported blind trusts - where the owner has no knowledge of where the money's being invested - worth between $7 million to $35 million. The income from the largest blind trust brought in $1 million to $5 million, his paperwork shows. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada didn't have as much as Frist in the bank, but made $1 million to $5 million in 2004 by selling a piece of property in Las Vegas and a 47 percent interest in an adjoining property. He also listed as major assets municipal and school district bonds worth between $895,026 and $2,101,000 and a pension plan stock in oil, medical, technology, banking and other companies worth between $383,047 and $1,552,000. The financial disclosure forms also gives the public a rare glimpse inside senators' personal lives. For example, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., collected another $2,376,716 in royalties for her memoirs, "Living History," making her total take so far from the book near $8.7 million. Under reporting rules, former President Clinton, as a spouse of a senator, is only required to report that he received more than $1,000 in payments for his best-selling autobiography "My Life," though published reports have said he inked a deal worth $10 million to $12 million with publisher Alfred A. Knopf. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., reported a $15,938 advance to write the suspense novel she's working on, "A Time to Run," about an activist senator who does battle with right-wing ideologues. Also in the publishing business was Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., who reported a $60,000 advance payment from W.W. Norton Co. of New York, a book publishing company. W.W. Norton also paid for Byrd to take several trips to promote the book "Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency," in which Byrd argues that President George W. Bush "is in a class by himself - ineptitude supreme. Some other interesting tidbits that showed up in this year's disclosures include the fact that Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., has bought his brother's house - former President John Kennedy's Hyannisport home - and is renting it out to other family members. Kennedy paid his niece, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg and her husband $3 million for the property, which is located next to his property on the Kennedy family compound. Sen. Kennedy also reported between $50,000-100,000 in rental income. Also on the real estate front, Dodd reported ownership in a cottage in County Galway, Ireland, that's worth somewhere between $100,000 and $250,000. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., and ranking member on Senate Aging Committee, listed his NBA basketball team, the Milwaukee Bucks, as worth more than $50 million. A more
RE: [Futurework] Former Bush Team Member Says WTC Collapse Likely AControlled Demolition And 'Inside Job'
Title: Senators Travel the World on Privately Funded Trips I think someone should be talking about the diesel oil reserves that were held in one of the towers. A back up to be used in time of emergency. The mayor was warned against storing this material on that site. He voted against the advice. Likely that the oil contributed to the melt down of one of the towers. Competent terrorists would both fly planes into the towers and set off a controlled demolition. After all in 1993 a bomb set off in the parking garage did little to bring down the tower. They were determined to do the job this time around. arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 2:10 PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: [Futurework] Former Bush Team Member Says WTC Collapse Likely AControlled Demolition And 'Inside Job' more and more scary. http://www.arcticbeacon.com/articles/article/1518131/27302.htm Former Bush Team Member Says WTC Collapse Likely A Controlled Demolition And 'Inside Job' Highly recognized former chief economist in Labor Department now doubts official 9/11 story, claiming suspicious facts and evidence cover-up indicate government foul play and possible criminal implications.June 12, 2005 By Greg SzymanskiA former chief economist in the Labor Department during President Bush's first term now believes the official story about the collapse of the WTC is 'bogus,' saying it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7."If demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an 'inside job' and a government attack on America would be compelling," said Morgan Reynolds, Ph.D, a former member of the Bush team who also served as director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis headquartered in Dallas, TX. Reynolds, now a professor emeritus at Texas AM University, also believes it's 'next to impossible' that 19 Arab Terrorists alone outfoxed the mighty U.S. military, adding the scientific conclusions about the WTC collapse may hold the key to the entire mysterious plot behind 9/11."It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate over the cause(s) of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7," said Reynolds this week from his offices at Texas AM. "If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings."More importantly, momentous political and social consequences would follow if impartial observers concluded that professionals imploded the WTC. Meanwhile, the job of scientists, engineers and impartial researchers everywhere is to get the scientific and engineering analysis of 9/11 right." However, Reynolds said "getting it right in today's security state' remains challenging because he claims explosives and structural experts have been intimidated in their analyses of the collapses of 9/11.From the beginning, the Bush administration claimed that burning jet fuel caused the collapse of the towers. Although many independent investigators have disagreed, they have been hard pressed to disprove the government theory since most of the evidence was removed by FEMA prior to independent investigation.Critics claim the Bush administration has tried to cover-up the evidence and the recent 9/11 Commission has failed to address the major evidence contradicting the official version of 9/11. Some facts demonstrating the flaws in the government jet fuel theory include:-- Photos showing people walking around in the hole in the North Tower where 10,000 gallons of jet fuel supposedly was burning.. --When the South Tower was hit, most of the North Tower's flames had already vanished, burning for only 16 minutes, making it relatively easy to contain and control without a total collapse. --The fire did not grow over time, probably because it quickly ran out of fuel and was suffocating, indicating without added explosive devices the firs could have been easily controlled.--FDNY fire fighters still remain under a tight government gag order to not discuss the explosions they heard, felt and saw. FAA personnel are also under a similar 9/11 gag order. --Even the flawed 9/11 Commission Report acknowledges that "none of the [fire] chiefs present believed that a total collapse of either tower was possible."-- Fire had never before caused steel-frame buildings to collapse except for the three
RE: [Futurework] Former Bush Team Member Says WTC Collapse Likely A Controlled Demolition And 'Inside Job'
Nah. I prefer the grassy knoll theory. Ooops. Wrong conspiracy. arthur -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Thursday, June 16, 2005 4:07 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: Re: [Futurework] Former Bush Team Member Says WTC Collapse Likely A Controlled Demolition And 'Inside Job' -- In a PBS documentary, Larry Silverstein, the WTC leaseholder, told the fire department commander on 9/11 about WTC-7 that. may be the smartest thing to do is pull it, slang for demolish it. As the German Manager Magazine revealed in 2001, Larry Silverstein had made a fortune in his early career with the demolition of old sky-scrapers after leasing them. Silverstein leased the WTC a few months before 9/11. The whole WTC complex was due to be renovated thoroughly for asbestos anyway. But that would have been way too expensive. Regular demolition would have been expensive too. So why not demolish it the other way, plus fork in billions from the insurance AND create great profits for his buddies in the armaments and security industry (Israel's top exports) for decades to come too ? Chris SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword igve. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] markets and people
For all those that wish to rely on market mechanisms, recall that markets are made by people. And people often act in their own self interest. Adam Smith saw this back when he wrote the Wealth of Nations. "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices. It is impossible indeed to prevent such meetings, by any law which either could be executed, or would be consistent with liberty and justice. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies; much less to render them necessary." The Wealth of Nations ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] future of work
Moving Up: Challenges to The American Dream --- Degrees of Separation: As Economy Shifts, A New Generation Fights to Keep Up --- In Milwaukee, Factories Close And Skills, Not Seniority, Are Key to Advancement --- An Ex-Welder's Computer Job 22 June 2005The Wall Street JournalA1English MILWAUKEE -- In 1957, Wayne Hall, then 24 years old, responded to a help-wanted shingle outside Badger Die Casting on this city's south side. He started work the next day, and, over the years, rose from machinery operator to machinery inspector to chief inspector. He helped organize a union, got regular raises, enjoyed generous pension and health benefits and, eventually, five weeks of vacation. At age 72, he is retired and can afford to travel with his wife to Disneyland and Tahiti. It was a typical Milwaukee factory worker's escalator ride to the middle class. His stepson Ron Larson, 58, thought he'd ride that escalator, too. He was wrong. In 1971, Mr. Larson went to work as a welder in the fabrication shop of a factory across the street from Badger that made rock crushers and other heavy equipment. By 1981, he was earning roughly as much as his stepfather. But he was laid off that year. Mr. Larson has held many jobs since -- tour-boat operator, trucker, air-conditioning repairman. Except for one year, he has yet to earn as much as he did at the welding job. Today, he works as a computer support technician, but the contract job runs just six weeks and he doesn't know if he'll still be working after that. "I always believed if you worked hard, your rewards would come," Mr. Larson said earlier this year when he was between jobs. "I said there's no way I'm going to be like that guy sleeping under the bridge, or homeless. Right now I don't think that." The gap between poor and rich in the U.S. has widened over the past 30 years. But people born to modest circumstances are no more likely to rise above their parents' station. The divergent fates of Mr. Hall and his stepson -- and others in this blue-collar city -- illustrate why it can be hard to move up. Industrial jobs that offered steady escalators of advancement for workers, even if they were only high-school graduates, are vanishing in America. In their place are service-economy jobs with fewer ways up. Unions are scarcer and temporary work more common. In newer service jobs that have come to dominate the U.S. economy, a college diploma is increasingly the prerequisite to a good wage. While increased access to college has been a powerful force for mobility, the share of workers with college degrees remains a minority. Moreover, getting a degree is closely correlated with having parents who themselves went to college. Milwaukee was once dotted with factories where thousands worked for good wages -- making electrical generators at Allis-Chalmers Corp., beer at Pabst Brewing Co. and truck bodies at Heil Co. It was the fictional home of TV working girls Laverne and Shirley. The city, says John Gurda, a local historian, was "not just egalitarian but proletarian": It had Socialist mayors from 1910 to 1960. When Wayne Hall proposed in 1957 to Lois Larson, who had three children from a prior marriage, she insisted he get a steady job before they got married. She was the one who spotted the shingle outside Badger on Oklahoma Avenue. "During the good days, Oklahoma Avenue was all factories," he recalls. "You could walk from one shop down Oklahoma Avenue and get a job in another shop." In the past decade, manufacturing's share of employment in Milwaukee has fallen to 16% from around 20%, though that's still above the national average. Mr. Hall's old factory is still on Oklahoma Avenue, but the metal fabrication plant where Mr. Larson worked finally closed last year after withering for decades. One of the plant's former parking lots is now a supermarket where Mr. Larson's wife, Kathy, works. Across the street from the supermarket an old Caterpillar factory is being torn down to make way for a Home Depot. A few miles to the west, the site of the old Heil factory is occupied by Aurora Health Care, a nonprofit corporation that owns hospitals and clinics and is the state's largest private employer. Milwaukee as a whole is solid and there are many conspicuous signs of affluence. Condominiums in two new luxury towers rising on the downtown lakefront sell for $700,000 to $2.5 million. The old Pabst brewery plant downtown, which closed in 1996, is the site of a proposed $317 million shopping, entertainment and residential complex to be called PabstCity. Milwaukee, like the whole country, has experienced a polarization in incomes in recent decades. In 1979, the wealthiest 10% of households in the city earned about six times as much as the bottom tenth, according to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Center for Economic Development. In 1999, they earned nearly 15 times as much. "Deindustrialization has swept away a
[Futurework] FW: Some Politics May Be Etched In the Genes
Subject: Some Politics May Be Etched In the Genes Health Fitness; SECTF Some Politics May Be Etched In the Genes 21 June 2005The New York Times Political scientists have long held that people's upbringing and experience determine their political views. A child raised on peace protests and Bush-loathing generally tracks left as an adult, unless derailed by some powerful life experience. One reared on tax protests and a hatred of Kennedys usually lists to the right. But on the basis of a new study, a team of political scientists is arguing that people's gut-level reaction to issues like the death penalty, taxes and abortion is strongly influenced by genetic inheritance. The new research builds on a series of studies that indicate that people's general approach to social issues -- more conservative or more progressive -- is influenced by genes. Environmental influences like upbringing, the study suggests, play a more central role in party affiliation as a Democrat or Republican, much as they do in affiliation with a sports team. The report, which appears in the current issue of The American Political Science Review, the profession's premier journal, uses genetics to help answer several open questions in political science. They include why some people defect from the party in which they were raised and why some political campaigns, like the 2004 presidential election, turn into verbal blood sport, though polls find little disparity in most Americans' views on specific issues like gun control and affirmative action. The study is the first on genetics to appear in the journal. ''I thought here's something new and different by respected political scholars that many political scientists never saw before in their lives,'' said Dr. Lee Sigelman, editor of the journal and a professor of political science at George Washington University. Dr. Sigelman said that in many fields the findings ''would create nothing more than a large yawn,'' but that ''in ours, maybe people will storm the barricades.'' Geneticists who study behavior and personality have known for 30 years that genes play a large role in people's instinctive emotional responses to certain issues, their social temperament. It is not that opinions on specific issues are written into a person's DNA. Rather, genes prime people to respond cautiously or openly to the mores of a social group. Only recently have researchers begun to examine how these predispositions, in combination with childhood and later life experiences, shape political behavior. Dr. Lindon J. Eaves, a professor of human genetics and psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the new research did not add much to this. Dr. Eaves was not involved in the study but allowed the researchers to analyze data from a study of twins that he is leading. Still, he said the findings were plausible, ''and the real significance here is that this paper brings genetics to the attention to a whole new field and gives it a new way of thinking about social, cultural and political questions.'' In the study, three political scientists -- Dr. John Hibbing of the University of Nebraska, Dr. John R. Alford of Rice University and Dr. Carolyn L. Funk of Virginia Commonwealth -- combed survey data from two large continuing studies including more than 8,000 sets of twins. From an extensive battery of surveys on personality traits, religious beliefs and other psychological factors, the researchers selected 28 questions most relevant to political behavior. The questions asked people ''to please indicate whether or not you agree with each topic,'' or are uncertain on issues like property taxes, capitalism, unions and X-rated movies. Most of the twins had a mixture of conservative and progressive views. But over all, they leaned slightly one way or the other. The researchers then compared dizygotic or fraternal twins, who, like any biological siblings, share 50 percent of their genes, with monozygotic, or identical, twins, who share 100 percent of their genes. Calculating how often identical twins agree on an issue and subtracting the rate at which fraternal twins agree on the same item provides a rough measure of genes' influence on that attitude. A shared family environment for twins reared together is assumed. On school prayer, for example, the identical twins' opinions correlated at a rate of 0.66, a measure of how often they agreed. The correlation rate for fraternal twins was 0.46. This translated into a 41 percent contribution from inheritance. As found in previous studies, attitudes about issues like school prayer, property taxes and the draft were among the most influenced by inheritance, the researchers found. Others like modern art and divorce were less so. And in the twins' overall score, derived from 28 questions, genes accounted for 53 percent of the differences. But after correcting for the tendency of politically
[Futurework] Poorer kids have much lower risk of leukemia
Sometimes being poor carries a benefit. Health Poorer kids have much lower risk of leukemia 23 June 2005The Globe and MailA21English Children living in Canada's poorest neighbourhoods have a sharply lower risk of developing leukemia compared to their wealthier peers, according to an intriguing new study. While the research does not reveal why poverty provides a shield against the most common childhood cancer, researchers suggest the most likely explanation is the so-called hygiene hypothesis the notion that being exposed to infectious agents early in life bolsters the immune system. In a poorer neighbourhood with crowded conditions, there may be more exposure, Dr. Marilyn Borugian, a senior scientist at the B.C. Cancer Agency, said in an interview. She stressed, however, that this is just a hypothesis, and there may be other explanations. We know that income is not a cause of disease, but there are a lot of lifestyle and socio-economic factors that can influence risk, Dr. Borugian said. The research, published in today's edition of the medical journal Epidemiology, shows that children in Canada's poorest neighbourhoods have a 13-per-cent lower risk of developing leukemia than children in the country's richest areas. Dr. Borugian noted that low income is usually associated with worse health outcomes. Low income usually has a negative connotation, so this is a bit counterintuitive, she said. To conduct the study, the research team collected data on childhood leukemia cases from all provincial cancer registries between 1985 and 2001, and then, using the postal codes of patients, determined the income level of the neighbourhoods where they lived. There were a total of 5,411 cases of leukemia more than half of them in children under the age of 4. Leukemia is a cancer of the early-forming cells, usually the white blood cells that are a key component of the immune system. Most childhood leukemia starts in the bone marrow and spreads to the lymph nodes. The new research focused specifically on lymphoid leukemia. Childhood leukemia is highly treatable, and more than 80 per cent of children are cancer-free five years after diagnosis and treatment. The new study is not the first to suggest that children who get infections, particularly viral infections, at a young age, have a lower risk of cancer. Previous research has shown that babies who attend daycare have lower rates of cancer. There is also strong evidence that early exposure to germs reduces the risk of multiple sclerosis, asthma and allergies. According to the hygiene hypothesis, the modern obsession with cleanliness and a sterile Western diet deprives children of exposure to common germs and that leaves their immune system weak and vulnerable as they grow. What is not at all clear, however, is what sort or level of exposure provides protection, and at what age children need to be exposed to germs to benefit. On average, 1,285 children are diagnosed with cancer in Canada annually, and there are 227 deaths. Leukemia accounts for one in four new cancer cases. The study is the largest ever to look at the link between socio-economic status and a childhood cancer, but the B.C. Cancer Agency is currently doing a similar analysis involving other cancer sites, including brain cancer, bone cancer and Hodgkin's lymphoma. --- ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] credit card charges
Uncovering the bank's "dirty little secret" --- Leading the News Merchants Expand Credit-Card Fight --- Lawsuits That Claim Visa, MasterCard Collude on Fees Could Hit Issuers' Profits 23 June 2005The Wall Street JournalA3 The nation's largest banks face a growing legal and regulatory threat to one of their richest sources of profit: the more-than-$20 billion in transaction fees they charge merchants each year on every credit-card purchase made through MasterCard International Inc. or Visa USA Inc. More merchants are challenging these fees, alleging that banks -- acting collectively through Visa and MasterCard -- are illegally fixing prices. Some recently have won large, undisclosed settlements with Visa and MasterCard that slash the charges, known as interchange fees. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the nation's largest retailer, won concessions valued at more than $1 billion, while others, including Best Buy Co., Toys "R" Us Inc., Home Depot Inc. and CVS Corp. are negotiating or have already won fee cuts, lawyers close to these cases said. Now other merchants are preparing lawsuits against Visa, MasterCard and banks, suits that some analysts say could prove more costly than the $3 billion settlement merchants won in a court fight last year over debit-card fees. One of the first was filed in federal court in Connecticut yesterday, alleging price-fixing, collusion and conspiracy in the setting of interchange fees. The suit names card associations Visa and MasterCard and their largest member banks, including Bank of America Corp., J.P. Morgan Chase Co., Citigroup Inc., MBNA Corp. and Wachovia Corp. It was filed by a few small and midsize businesses and seeks to represent all of the nation's retailers as a class-action lawsuit, claiming unspecified billions of dollars in damages. A Wachovia spokeswoman declined to comment. Representatives of MasterCard, J.P. Morgan and Bank of America said they couldn't comment because they hadn't seen the lawsuit. Representatives of the other banks named as co-defendants either couldn't be reached for comment or didn't have any immediate comment on the lawsuit. Interchange fees are complex, with Visa and MasterCard charging different rates for merchants based on their size and sales. The nation's largest retailers have negotiated lower rates from the card associations. Overall, fees average an estimated 1.7% of a transaction, and cost an average U.S. household an estimated $232 a year. The fees are among the largest costs of doing business for most retailers and are on the rise. Merchants' outcry over credit-card fees comes as Americans are using plastic more than ever. In 2003, the number of electronic payments -- which includes credit cards, debit cards and online payments -- topped the number of cash and check payments for the first time. "These fees amount to at least a $20 billion annual tax on merchants and the economy, raising prices for consumers on almost any product they buy," says Craig Wildfang, a lawyer with Robbins, Kaplan in Minneapolis, which is backing the Connecticut lawsuit. A former senior antitrust enforcer at the Justice Department, Mr. Wildfang called credit-card interchange fees "price-fixing in the classic sense." Like any other business, he said, "banks are expected to compete on price, and the fact they've formed a joint venture -- Visa and MasterCard -- doesn't shield them from antitrust law." Although merchants have long complained about high interchange fees, the issue has become more heated in recent months following a round of fee increases by Visa and MasterCard. Many of the merchants' complaints have focused on a new group of so-called premium MasterCard and Visa cards geared to affluent consumers and aimed at competing with American Express Co. The cards typically carry higher fees and offer more cardholder benefits, such as concierge services and special privileges that help them, for instance, buy tickets to popular events. The premium-card strategy is fueling a perverse competition in which new cards compete for banks by offering ever-higher interchange fees -- with merchants and consumers paying the price. Visa and MasterCard have defended the recent fee increases by saying that consumers who use the premium cards tend to spend more, which benefits the merchants. They say that interchange fees are an essential component of a global system that has provided benefits to consumers and merchants, while covering the risk of fraud and the cost of float, or the cost of providing funds while waiting for payment. "Interchange is highly beneficial, efficient and procompetitive," Noah Hanft, MasterCard's general counsel, said in recent comments at a Federal Reserve forum on the issue. He lashed out at class-action lawyers and foreign regulators who have begun to force reductions in the fees in the U.K., continental
[Futurework] 'It's time to sell'
Report on Business: CanadianREAL ESTATE Reichmann knows property meltdowns: It's time to sell' 30 June 2005The Globe and Mail Philip Reichmann is fighting a major battle to save the $2-billion deal to sell his real estate empire. For several weeks, rumblings have been building from a group of major institutional shareholders who are unhappy with the $15.50 per unit offer made for OY Real Estate Investment Trust by a group led by Brookfield Properties Corp. Now, just a week before shareholders are to vote on the transaction, Mr. Reichmann has taken out newspaper ads and hired a firm to call thousands of small investors and urge them to vote. Mr. Reichmann's message is simple. It's time to sell. I think the euphoria out there and the expectations that it drives is just asking for trouble. said Mr. Reichmann, who at least for the time being heads one of the country's best-known publicly traded real estate companies. I think it is the time for OY REIT holders to get out. It is time to sell this company, he said yesterday in an interview with The Globe and Mail. If all goes as planned, that is exactly what will happen later this summer. Next week, investors of OY Properties Corp. and its related REIT will be asked to give their blessing to the sale of OY's massive office portfolio. The bid is for the holdings of both companies, which together own 25 office towers across the country. But after months of drumming up interest from potential buyers and three weeks of intense negotiations with the winning group of bidders, Mr. Reichmann is now facing the most serious threat yet to his plan to sell it all before the overheated commercial real estate market runs out of steam. Response to the bidding group's $13-a -share offer for parent OY Properties Corp. has been favourable. But sources say a group of six institutional investors with sizable holdings in the underlying REIT have indicated that they don't like the $15.50 offer on the table for the income trust units. They don't like the tax fallout that will come from the sale of the trust. In fact, some have indicated they don't like the idea of selling the real estate holdings at all. Depending on how many unitholders vote, this group of six could have enough clout to kill the deal. Such an outcome, Mr. Reichmann warned yesterday, would be a terrible mistake. It would be a shame, Mr. Reichmann said, if a small group of investors with specific interests made the decision for everyone. Besides, Mr. Reichmann said, he believes that his decision to sell is in the best interests of all shareholders at OY Properties and at the REIT. Office towers are trading at sky-high prices, pumped up by a flood of money looking to invest in real estate and the belief that valuations will continue to rise. It's a belief that Mr. Reichmann, who had a ring-side seat at the last real estate meltdown, described as dangerous. There is too much enthusiasm. You know in the real estate game if you wait a little too long you get killed. I've been there, done that. I don't want to do it again. I want to get out at the right time. Trouble is, the group of institutional investors don't see things the same way. They like the returns OY REIT has brought to their funds. The proposed sale also creates a huge headache for them because it will require them to find a new place to reinvest the money they had in OY. Mr. Reichmann said he understands their situation, but argued that it is impossible for things to continue as they are. OY's parent firm will be sold, he said, either to the Brookfield group or to another bidder if the current offer fails. And he said prices for office properties mean that the REIT could not continue to grow by acquiring new holdings as it had in the past. Under the present conditions, it was bound to disappoint investors, he said. He said this turn of events has put him in a strange situation arguing for the sale of a company that he did not want to sell, but felt he should due to market conditions. This is very awkward for me because here I am, at 47, standing up and saying I want to sell this company because I think it is the right thing.' The truth of the matter is I don't want to sell this company. At 47 years old I do not want to start another career and I am too young to retire. And that golf thing it's just a line. Still, he said, investors who put their money in the REIT because they trusted his judgment must now also trust his decision that it is time to head for the exits, even if he is going against the crowd. It requires faith that I know what I am doing. But I'm not afraid to be out there on my own. I have training that other people don't have from my experience. I know what happens when you hold on for too long. Document GLOB20050630e16u0003p ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca
[Futurework] CBC News Founder of Earth Day dies.htm
Title: CBC News: Founder of Earth Day dies Indepth » Viewpoint » Founder of Earth Day diesLast Updated Sun, 03 Jul 2005 17:44:08 EDT CBC News Gaylord Nelson, a U.S. politician who founded Earth Day 35 years ago and helped create the modern environmental movement, has died. Nelson, who was a former governor and U.S. Democratic senator from Wisconsin, died of cardiovascular failure on Sunday at his home near Washington at age 89. Gaylord Nelson (AP photo) A conservationist long before it became fashionable, Nelson's achievements included helping to create hundreds of thousands of hectares of protected wetlands and parks in Wisconsin. As a senator, he backed federal legislation that preserved the 3,380-kilometre Appalachian Trail. Nelson was best-known, however, for starting Earth Day, which attracted about 20 million participants when it debuted on April 22, 1970. The day continues to be celebrated around the world, as people clean up trash, plant trees and hold events to raise environmental awareness. In 1995, 15 years after Nelson left office, he was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his environmental contributions by then-president Bill Clinton. "As the father of Earth Day, he is the grandfather of all that grew out of that event: the Environmental Protection Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act," Clinton said in a statement at the time. Headlines: World Afghan attack killed 17 civilians: governor Bali court to reopen case of convicted Australian drug smuggler Japan reports possible underwater volcanic eruption Egypt's ambassador to Iraq kidnapped Vickers Vimy plane arrives safely in Ireland Founder of Earth Day dies Jobs | Contact Us | Help | RSS Terms of Use | Privacy | Copyright | Other Policies Copyright © CBC 2005 Read your letters Printable version E-mail this story ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] Poverty in Africa
This is from the exec. summary. (emphasis is added) The problem seems to be: What happens when the African governments are themselves corrupt. Who governs the governors? What is the over-arching enforcement agency that brings change? arthur Improving accountability is the job of African leaders. They can do that by broadening the participation of ordinary people in government processes, in part by strengthening institutions like parliaments, local authorities, trades unions, the justice system and the media. Donors can help with this. They can also help build accountable budgetary processes so that the people of Africa can see how money is raised and where it is going. That kind of transparency can help combat corruption, which African governments must root out. Developed nations can help in this too. Money and state assets stolen from the people of Africa by corrupt leaders must be repatriated. Foreign banks must be obliged by law to inform on suspicious accounts. Those who give bribes should be dealt with too; and foreign companies involved in oil, minerals and other extractive industries must make their payments much more open to public scrutiny. Firms who bribe should be refused export credits. -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Gail StewartSent: Wednesday, July 6, 2005 9:57 AMTo: Ed WeickCc: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: Re: [Futurework] Poverty in Africa Ed, The Executive Summary of the Commission for Africa Report is a quick read and interesting -- very forthright on the issues Marcus Gee speaks about andcomes from the recipients themselves. http://www.commissionforafrica.org/index.html Gail - Original Message - From: Ed Weick To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 9:23 AM Subject: [Futurework] Poverty in Africa Interesting take on aid to Africa. It's also interesting that Jeffry Sachs has become "the academic guru of the End Poverty movement". Sachs was a very prominent adviser to the Yeltsin government in Russia in the early 1990s after the collapse of communism. He was instrumental in developing the privatization scheme that ultimately impoverished ordinary Russians and put state assets into the hands of the oligarchs. IMHO, his performance in Russia does not make me confident that he will do any better in Africa. Ed Marcus Gee Africa needs more than money Wednesday, July 6, 2005 Updated at 4:11 AM EDT From Wednesday's Globe and Mail It's easy to be cynical about Live 8 and the campaign to "make poverty history." It's even easier to be cynical about the fine words that will emanate from the Group of Eight leaders in Scotland this week. Grandstanding rock stars and pious politicians -- we have seen it all before, haven't we? In fact, the Live 8/G8 extravaganza has already done a power of good. The rock concerts, celebrity TV spots and assorted other stunts orchestrated by Bono, Bob Geldof and crew have put the issue of world poverty at the top of the international agenda. Partly because of them, the world leaders gathering in Gleneagles will cough up billions of dollars in new money for debt relief and development aid. But if cynicism is misplaced, skepticism is not. The taxpayers of the G8 countries whose leaders are pledging all those billions have every right to wonder whether the money will simply disappear down a rat hole as it often has in the past. The question is not whether rich countries really mean it when they say they want to help the poor. There is no lack of compassion and no shortage of money. Canada alone is doubling aid to Africa by 2008. The question is whether the recipients can make good use of it. As Freedom House, the U.S.-based human-rights group, points out, "aid, no matter how well intentioned, is only as effective as the governments receiving it." Freedom House took a look at the quality of governance in 30 countries, including nine in sub-Saharan Africa. Many of these countries are the recipients of ramped-up development aid. What it found was disturbing. Though Third World governments almost all pay lip service to the need to fight corruption and operate effectively, few are following through. Because judges aren't independent enough or the media free enough to act as a check on government malfeasance, much of the money intended for the poor goes to waste. Consider Ethiopia. Jeffrey Sachs, the Columbia University professor who is the academic guru of the End Poverty movement, has made that country a centrepiece for his argument that many poor nations are
RE: [Futurework] More thoughts on the London attacks
Recall that 9/11 happened "out of the blue" a la Pearl Harbor. It seems that war was declared. This time by a network. While the reaction of the US vis a vis Iraq may have been misguided or overly optimistic or whatever. The "bad guys" struck first and have been doing it for some time. 9/11 was the "final straw". It is difficult to accept that a war is going on. No amount of aid money or hand holding is going to divert the enemy. An enemy that is clearly marching to the "beat of a different drummer." The West is in this for a very long time. arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Karen Watters ColeSent: Thursday, July 7, 2005 4:20 PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] More thoughts on the London attacks It didnt take long for the shadow of world terror to be raised here. Speaking at the end of a BRAC hearing (base closure plan) in Virginia, with a huge flag backdrop, Sen. Warner (R-VA), senior GOP on the Armed Services Committee, said that this morning we awoke to reminders of why we must keep our military strong and ready to defend us. No doubt Sen. Warner and those applauding sincerely feel that a strong military deters homeland attacks. I just wish they would put the same effort into considering the offensive posture that has put us in more danger than before. You wont hear many in the GOP mention the underlying causes why terrorist attacks increased since 9/11, or how we are expected to man those platoons and keep our vast Navy afloat. I agree with you that a large attack here would backfire on extremists, who dont want America solidly behind GW Bush and the warhawks; however, my earlier comments were directed at the romantic and fearful notion that our only defense is further militarization of our society. The downside to this of course is that the main subject at the G8 meetings has already been deflected from addressing global poverty and environmental health to terrorism. Maybe some of the other leaders can get through to Bush and help him understand that there are other alternatives besides perpetual warfare, but I suspect his initial reaction will be to dig in his heels to appear resolute and exhibit leadership. But my guess is that over here, there will be many taking up the pen and in the streets to protest the failure of the Bush Doctrine and demand a realistic course, regardless of the bluster we shall hear in the short term. Karen -Original Message-From: Keith Hudson [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 12:36 PMTo: Karen Watters ColeCc: futurework@scribe.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] More thoughts on the London attacks Karen,.At 10:03 07/07/2005 -0700, you wrote: Keith, first, let me say for everyone that we hope that fatalities andinjuries will be minimal, under the circumstances. I now see the headlineshave updated the fatalities to 33 and injuries around 1000. The phrase"worst attack in London since WW2" has been used. The fatality figure has yet to be topped up with the number who died in the tourist bus -- something the authorities refuse to talk about yet. Obviously, it's a more sensitive figure than any others and, in any case, they may not be sure how many have died yet -- body parts having been well scattered around. They have changed their minds here and raised the terror alert to Orange onmass transportation. I'm so glad you mentioned the IRA experiences, becauseone of my first random thoughts was that it's "a good thing" this happenedin the UK, already tested for their response to bombings on their hometerritory. An attack like this in the US would be seized as justificationfor increased militarization, bring out the crazies (many fully armed) andabused for all its worth politically (again). For that reason I don't think there'll be another organised Al Qaeda attack on the American mainland. It would be counter-productive and swing popular opinion firmly behind Bush again. There may be one or two individual events, of course. On that note, did I read that recent elections in Spain reversed or turnedback the last post-Madrid bombing elections? Not sure what you mean here. As far as I'm aware there have been no elections since the one immediately after the Madrid bombing. It isn't as clear to me as you think that the attacks were aimed at sullyingBush per se; it would seem that if planned in advance they could easily havebeen timed to discredit Blair for being Bush's 'co-pilot' on the Iraq warfaked intelligence and military offensive. I'm not adamant about it being mainly an anti-Bush event but I don't think Al Qaeda have anywhere near the same animus against Blair. But, from their point
RE: [Futurework] London terrorism and the Bonaparte syndrome
The infrastructure of modern society (electrical grids, rail lines, highways, the internet, etc., etc.,) was all designed and put in place before the reality of terrorism. As we replace infrastructure, design criterial will have to take into account the reality of the "new" war. arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Keith HudsonSent: Friday, July 8, 2005 2:58 AMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: [Futurework] London terrorism and the Bonaparte syndrome755. London terrorism and the Bonaparte syndromeYesterday's terrorist attacks in London and the immense economic consequences to this country that will follow -- never mind the human suffering -- really bring us to the nub of the problem in today's world.This is that, despite all our modernity and technologies, we are as tribalistic as we ever were in the earliest days of man because the proclivity is still within our genes. We are very much at the mercy of the decisions of single individuals such as President Bush or Prime Minister Blair -- or at least of small cliques around them -- when they decide to make war, despite the fact that the respective countries are supposed to be democracies. They are the most recent manifestation of whole nations being manipulated. This occurred in the last century when we think of the Soviet Union, Germany and China, or a century before when we think of the earliest of the modern sort of tribal chiefs, Napolean Bonaparte.Coming back from a touring holiday in France recently I can still remember the hundreds of miles of straight, poplar tree-lined roads we drove along. These were built two centuries ago by Bonaparte in order to get his vast regiments around the country quickly. This was yet another reminder that the modern nation-state arose side by side with the modern artillery regiment. Our forms of governance and the civil services behind them were moulded into the same hierarchical form of governance as armies. However democratic Western nations are supposed to be, and despite the holding of elections from time to time, we still end up with a system whereby a very small number of individuals at the top of the pyramid can either forcefully direct, or manipulate, millions of other people.Last night on BBC Newsnight, its diplomatic editor, Mark Urban, who probably has more brains than the whole of our secret services put together, gave his opinion that the London terrorist attacks were probably carried out by a small group which planted bombs within a few minutes on underground trains that radiated along different lines from the nexus of King's Cross Underground Station and then, within a few minutes' walk, accessed the tourist bus on which another bomb was planted. It could, of course, have been a single person, just as it has been a single person, Osama bin Laden, who initiated the whole wave of current terrorism, due to the repression of millions of his fellow subjects by the hierarchical powers of the Saudi Arabian royal family (only two generations from outright camel-borne tribalism in the Arabian deserts) in association with Wahhabi religious interests on the one hand and American interests, political and commercial, on the other.The end of the nation-state in its present pyramidal mode, was prefigured by the nuclear bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Today, a nuclear bomb could easily be smuggled into a country -- as are hard drugs and illegal immigrants -- inside freight containers. Whole governments, as in Washington, London, Moscow or Beijing, because they are so centralised and hierarchical, could be completely destroyed by terrorists and whole nations could be thrown into disarray. During the Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union all developed governments built underground facilities whereby centralised governance could continue, but today such duplicate systems have been neglected. They would be impossible to recreate now due to the increased complexity of modern life, the dumbing-down of politicians and those in government service, and the sheer cost and operability of such systems.Due to our genetic make-up, shaped as it has been by millions of years of ancestors living in small groups and requiring leadership and rank ordering in order to survive in difficult environments, we cannot avoid the constant urge to yield our collective judgement to individuals or small numbers of individuals. But in those small groups of our predecessors, leadership was always accessible, the knowledge on which they acted was always transparent to all, and rank ordering was always in a constant state of flux as young adults reached maturity with new ideas and skills.The nearest form of small group 'governance' in modern life to our
RE: [Futurework] More thoughts on the London attacks
I wonder if the jihadists would settle for something like this (or would the "fundamentalists" on our side settle for something like this) Might be interesting to do some scenarios of where such a process might lead. arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Friday, July 8, 2005 11:21 AMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] More thoughts on the London attacks The time when the West can be seen as an independent entity is past, we live on the globe, on one world. The lesson of 911 is that if this world is not a just one, then no-one can have peace (unless we spend vast resources on sustaining ubiquitous oppression). The only effective measure of winning any war, is the winning of the peace. It may seem like the easiest route to attempt to dump our baggage, to forget (deny) our history. That is like the wife abuser saying I won't do it again, I promise - and don't worry I don't need therapy! Going forward, cannot be accomplished without overcoming the tendency of denial. That is why processes such as the 'truth and reconciliation' one undertaken in South Africa was essential. Both perpetrators and victims had to acknowledge that the past actually did happen, for progress to made made and a relative unity of effort undertaken to look and move forward. A just society requires credible recourse, justice to be seen and felt. John Verdon Sr. Strategic HR Analyst D Strat HR Department of National Defence Major-General George R. Pearkes Building 101 Colonel By Drive. Ottawa Ontario K1A 0K2 voice: 992-6246 FAX: 995-5785 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Searching for the pattern which connects and to know the difference that makes a difference" -Original Message-From: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Friday, 08 July, 2005 11:07To: Lawrence deBivort; Karen Watters Cole; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] More thoughts on the London attacks I usually see things in shade of gray but it seems that one has to "take sides" in this situation. Going back in time seems a waste. We'll end up at Plymouth Rock and our role vis a vis aboriginals. And then we can move on to how we "won the West." I agree that the West has blood on its hands. We live in the West. Our present lives and futures are tied in with the West. In a Khmer Rouge situation all those on this list with smooth hands and glasses would be classified as enemies. I don't think we should give in so easily. Maybe OK for some, but doesn't get us far (I don't think) in the current situation. arthur -Original Message-From: Lawrence deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Friday, July 8, 2005 10:56 AMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'Karen Watters Cole'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] More thoughts on the London attacks I see the attacks on the US (Sept 11) and UK, now, as just further steps in the long and slow denouement to European colonialism. Until the West starts treating the 'third world' with respect, we can expect to continue to have these kinds of incidents. To call this a declaration of war on the West seems incorrect, to me. If anything, the West declared war on the third world, going back to the beginning of the 20th century. To the extent that we haven't corrected the egregious policies the West adopted back then, we will continue to find resistance to them. Nor was there a declaration of war on us by a 'network' - there was an attack (Sept 11), and our reaction to it give special impetus to the emergence of a network of militant resistance to some of the policies of some Western countries. Now there is such a network (two significant ones, in fact), and the capabilities of some of their members to take action against the US, UK, and Spain is greater than before the US-driven 'war on terror.' (Australia next? Italy? Poland? Russia?) This war on terror was a massive political, strategic, and linguistic mistake, and I have no reason to believe that the US government will be able to pull back from it - too many politicos have hitched their stars to it. The time of the West has come and gone; it is time for Westerners to start behaving like responsible and equal members of the world community. It is also time for white people to stop thinking that we are superior to people with darker skin; this has been an integral part of
RE: [Futurework] More thoughts on the London attacks
They force marched one million people out of Phnom Penh, abolished currency and education overnight and started on a harebrained scheme to create an agrarian communist culture. At the same time, intellectuals, teachers, gays, and ethnic minorities were rounded up, tortured and executed. Even wearing glasses, believed to be a telltale sign of an intellectual, meant a trip to the torture chamber. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge wanted to transform Cambodian society into a, peasant dominated, farming society. (Think Mao Tse Tung and China.) Within two weeks of taking power, the Khmer Rouge forced everyone in the capital and other towns, and we do mean EVERYONE, to march out of the towns to the fields to work 12 to 16 hours a day working in the fields. Any disobedience meant being killed immediately. The start of Khmer Rouge rule was called Year Zero. Currency was abolished, postal services stopped. Anyone perceived as an enemy of the regime was tortured and killed. This included previous politicians, any intellectuals i.e. people who could think outside what they wanted you to think. If you wore glasses you must be an intellectual so you had to die. The fantastic Cambodian dancers and other people relating to their culture and history were murdered. The Khmer Rouge cut off all communication with the outside world. It is estimated that as many as 3 million people died at the hands of the Khmer Rouge whether it was torture and execution or simply being worked to death in what would become known as the Killing Fields. Remember the Cambodian Boat People? This is why they were coming here. For the Cambodian people, the name Adolf Hitler means nothing, the name Pol Pot can make grown men cry. -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Karen Watters ColeSent: Friday, July 8, 2005 11:24 AMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] More thoughts on the London attacks usually see things in shade of gray but it seems that one has to "take sides" in this situation. Why? I dont see why in this situation we must take an either/or perspective. Going back in time seems a waste. We'll end up at Plymouth Rock and our role vis a vis aboriginals. And then we can move on to how we "won the West." I agree that the West has blood on its hands. Viewing historical precedents for human behavior is wasteful? To omit review is to limit success. Why comply with failure? We live in the West. Our present lives and futures are tied in with the West. We live in an increasingly globailzed West. Our present is changing and our future is less certain to be tied to the West. In a Khmer Rouge situation all those on this list with smooth hands and glasses would be classified as enemies. ??? I don't think we should give in so easily. Agree. But review of strategy is not only traditional, but part of the military discipline. Politics and society must, too. Maybe OK for some, but doesn't get us far (I don't think) in the current situation. The Marshall Plan rebuilt what military imperialism and bigotry destroyed. What can we learn from that in the ME and global south to undermine the roots of terrorism? arthur karen -Original Message-From: Lawrence deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Friday, July 8, 2005 10:56 AMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'Karen Watters Cole'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] More thoughts on the London attacks I see the attacks on the US (Sept 11) and UK, now, as just further steps in the long and slow denouement to European colonialism. Until the West starts treating the third world with respect, we can expect to continue to have these kinds of incidents. To call this a declaration of war on the West seems incorrect, to me. If anything, the West declared war on the third world, going back to the beginning of the 20th century. To the extent that we havent corrected the egregious policies the West adopted back then, we will continue to find resistance to them. Nor was there a declaration of war on us by a network there was an attack (Sept 11), and our reaction to it give special impetus to the emergence of a network of militant resistance to some of the policies of some Western countries. Now there is such a network (two significant ones, in fact), and the capabilities of some of their members to take action against the US, UK, and Spain is greater than before the US-driven war on terror. (Australia next? Italy? Poland? Russia?) This war on terror was a massive political, strategic, and linguistic mistake, and I have no reason to believe that the US government will be able to pull back from it too many politicos have hitched their stars to it. The time of the West has come
RE: [Futurework] Terrorist attacks are not about terrorism
Title: Message So, "back at you." "how do we stop terrorism for the long term while preserving some sort of non-terroristically determined democratic society in the meantime..." While this is being determined, decided, deliberated, we still have to take sides. Blowing up civilians is either criminal or not. I happen to believe that it is criminal, no matter the grievances of the terrorists (oops in BBC speak, the bombers). "I decline utterly to be impartial between the fire brigade and the fire." (Winston Churchill) arthur -Original Message-From: Gurstein, Michael [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 9:46 AMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; Keith Hudson; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Terrorist attacks are not about terrorism Surely that's too simple! Its sort of Bush's you are either for me or for the terrorists... And that probably isn't even the right question... The question I think, should be how do we stop terrorism for the long term while preserving some sort of non-terroristically determined democratic society in the meantime... And that I think is non-ideological (or in any reasonable circumstance/society it should be)... To beassessed pragmatically and "objectively" and recognizing that the solution may require therecognition of legitimate grievanceswhile not legitimizing tactics. MG -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOMSent: July 14, 2005 3:18 PMTo: Keith Hudson; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Terrorist attacks are not about terrorism Agree. There is intelligence on both sides. Just as there is in all wars. At all times. The question is really one of taking sides. arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Keith HudsonSent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 3:48 AMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: [Futurework] Terrorist attacks are not about terrorism760. Terrorist attacks are not about terrorismPoliticians like to spread the view that terrorist attacks are carried out by "evil" men in order to spread terror. Nothing is further from the truth.Just as "warfare is politics being carried out by other means" -- to use Clausewitz's famous phrase, so is terrorism. Just as the number of soldiers likely to be killed in a particular war action is almost incidental to the general who plans it, so are the number of civilians likely to be killed in a terrorist action.What is very clear about all acts of terrorism is that they are carried out as specific acts designed to achieve specific political results. Terrorism has had a long history that no doubt goes back to rebellions in the first city-states five thousand years ago. In England we have had Queen Boadicea's attacks on the Romans two thousand years ago and the Gunpowder Plot more recently. (Both of which have been spoken of rather approvingly since then!) Take 9/11 in New York in 2001. This was a general declaration of war following a series of build-ups by both sides -- American needs for oil and Saudi Arabian Wahhabism. The kicking out of US oil corporations from further developmental work in SA, the Gulf War against Saddam's take-over of Kuwaiti oilfields, the kicking-out of the last US base in SA, the full adoption of Sharia law in the constitution of SA, the build up of a massive US base in Qatar and Special Units around SA. The 9/11 attack was specifically planned against the Pentagon, the White House probably (which didn't succeed) and world trade. The large number of people killed were incidental. I don't suppose for one minute that Mohammad Atta thought that the Trade Center towers would actually collapse. Take 3/11 in Madrid in 2004. This was a specific attack a few days before a national general election against a right-wing government that was supporting America in Iraq with Spanish troops. An inept performance by the then Spanish Prime Minister in pretending the attack was carried out by Basque separatists completed Al Qaeda's victory by bringing in a government which then withdrew Spanish troops from Iraq.Take 7/7 in London in 2005. This was a specific attack against Blair -- and his support of Bush's Iraq policy -- on the morning of his chairmanship of the G8 Conference in Scotland. It was clearly aimed at the early withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, and whether this will be successful remains to be seen. There are clear signs that all three were carefully
[Futurework] saudis and al qaida
Title: saudis and al qaida this one may be easier to access. Middle East Defense Newsletter http://menewsline.com/defense.html === Sunday - July 17, 2004 Saudis Allowed To Fund Al Qaida WASHINGTON [MENL] -- The United States has determined that Saudi Arabia continues to allow citizens to finance Al Qaida, including its insurgency campaign in Iraq. http://menewsline.com/stories/2005/july/07_17_1.html ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] some really big questions
for those with some extra time this summer - What We Don't Know [Science 125th Anniversary Issue Special Report] http://www.sciencemag.org/sciext/125th/ "A special, free news feature in Science explores 125 big questions that face scientific inquiry over the next quarter-century," including How Much Can Human Life Span Be Extended? How Are Memories Stored and Retrieved? What Can Replace Cheap Oil -- and When? ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] some really big questions
Agree with Chris on this one. Its the Detroit Mullahs conspiring with a complaisant Washington which, in effect, allowed for the avoidance of CAFE standards on fleet fuel efficiency. Margins are higher on SUVs. Way higher than on the Detroit compacts. arthur -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Monday, July 18, 2005 3:32 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: Re: [Futurework] some really big questions A special, free news feature in Science explores 125 big questions that face scientific inquiry over the next quarter-century, including [..] What Can Replace Cheap Oil -- and When? That's a political question rather than a scientific one. Since practical 120-250 mpg cars (and even a 12,000 mpg prototype) have been developed (ironically in this country without an own car industry -- coincidence?), the hurdle is not scientific feasibility but the political influence of the incredibly powerful U$ / ¤U car industry that prefers to sell 12-20 mpg rolling fortresses because they (and their buddies in the oil industry) can make much higher profits that way. The Detroit Mullahs are even more problematic than the others... Chris SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword igve. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] some really big questions
How Slumping Market for SUVs Is Hurting Detroit's Bottom Line by Neal Boudette and Joseph B. White, Wall Street Journal, May 13, 2005 A big problem for General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. as they struggle with falling sales and profits is the rapidly bursting bubble for highly profitable sport-utility vehicles. But just howbad is the damage? An unpublished study from the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute estimates that profits of large and midsize SUVs for GM, Ford and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group dropped 40%, or almost $7 billion, from 2001 to the end of last year. The figure tracks the steady decline of the once-booming market for SUVs, which carried the U.S. auto giants for much of the 1990s and into the start of this decade. The study provides rare insight into how badly SUV profits have been curbed in recent years. Because the auto makers don't break out profit and sales by model line or segment, the precise impact of the SUV slump has been hard to gauge. Making up that lost ground is a major challenge for Detroit's auto companies. Industry analysts widely believe that GM and Ford make money only from SUVs, full-size pickup trucks and a few luxury cars - while sustaining losses on everything else. Yesterday, at Ford's annual shareholder meeting, Chairman and Chief Executive William C. Ford Jr. said SUV sales are falling even faster than the company previously anticipated. Our margins are higher on our SUVs than on our cars and on our crossovers, and that lowered our profits in the first quarter, Mr. Ford said. The drop in SUV profits has come at a time when Ford and GM already are wrestling with high health-care costs, surging foreign competition and the recent move by Standard Poor's downgrading their credit ratings to junk status. Yesterday, Moody's Investors Service downgraded Ford's credit rating to its lowest investment-grade level, citing lower profit expectations and sinking market share. Several factors are hurting SUVs. Consumer appetite for large, gas-guzzling SUVs like the Chevrolet Suburban and GMC Yukon has dropped as U.S. gas prices have surged to more than $2 a gallon. But even before the latest gas price surge, sales of crossover utility vehicles - smoother-riding,lighter-weight SUVs, such as the Lexus RX 330 - were making gains as traditional SUVs were beginning to stall. Customers liked the combination crossovers offered: SUV cargo room and uphigh seating with a softer ride and nimbler, carlike handling. Between 2001 and 2004, the Michigan study estimates, sales volumes for big SUVs dropped nearly 9%. To keep SUV sales up, auto makers have offered steep discounts and other sales incentives. But those breaks have cut into the profit per vehicle. As a result, the typical profit margin on an SUV like GM's Chevrolet Suburban has dropped by about a third in the last four years, the University of Michigan estimates. In 2001, the study found, the per-vehicle profit was about $9,500. Today, thanks mostly to big discounts, the margin on such vehicles is about $6,300. On midsize SUVs, such as the Ford Explorer and Chevrolet TrailBlazer, margins are down even more steeply, to $4,100 from $7,200. With the decline in SUV profits, GM and Ford's whole profit structure has been lowered, says Walter McManus, an analyst at the institute. They are in a bad competitive position. Things are much worse for them now than in 2001. Mr. McManus developed his profit model from industry sales figures, publicly available incentive data and profit-margin estimates developed from talks with industry executives and Wall Street analysts. The estimates don't take into account the bottom-line impact of fixed costs such as development, capital equipment, health care and pensions. Jerry Dubrowski, a GM spokesman, acknowledges the car maker has seen declines in its SUV margins, but says the institute's estimates are more than a little low, compared with GM's actual variable profits - that is, the price the manufacturer gets for a car minus the cost of the parts and labor. GM's bottom line, he adds, has been hurt mostly by lower sales of SUVs, not shrinking profit margins on these vehicles. Until recently, SUVs were widely seen as Detroit's saviors. After the oil crunch and surging foreign competition of the 1970s and early 1980s, the popularity of SUVs enabled the auto makers to develop a business model similar to those of big Hollywood studios. Traditional SUVs - which essentially are big wagons built on a truck frame - became Detroit's blockbusters, piling up more than enough profits to offset the money auto makers lost on duds and also-rans. But their success also deferred a day of reckoning with competitive deficits that have dogged the big, unionized U.S. auto makers for more than two decades. While SUVs have surged, Detroit's small and midsize cars have stayed at best minimally profitable, in part because customers
[Futurework] new vehicle fuel economy standards on the way.
don't think this will do much and it is a case of closing the barn door, etc. but here it is. it might also lead to the creation of the 4 ton SUV == The Economy New Gas-Mileage Standards May Vary by Vehicle Weight 19 July 2005The Wall Street JournalA2 The Bush administration is preparing new fuel-economy regulations for light trucks and sport-utility vehicles based on size, with smaller vehicles required to achieve higher gasoline mileage than larger ones, industry officials and safety and environmental advocates said yesterday. The rules, if adopted, would represent the most significant change in how the government gets auto makers to make their vehicles more fuel efficient in three decades, since the Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, system was adopted. The current system rates manufacturers on how their entire light-truck fleets perform, calculating the average fuel economy achieved. During a transition period, auto makers would have the choice of following the old rules -- albeit with higher thresholds -- or the new rules. After a few years, all companies would have to comply with the new system. Industry officials and advocates said they didn't know what the actual fuel-efficiency targets would be and cautioned that government officials could change the structure, while administration officials declined to comment. Two industry officials said the administration is considering a system where trucks are put into five or six classifications, based on size. It isn't yet clear where each classification will begin and end, said Dan Becker of the Sierra Club, one of several people who have been briefed on the new plan. That will be important in determining "who wins and who loses" among manufacturers, he said. Automotive News, a trade publication, reported on the proposal yesterday. The proposal, developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, is now before Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta, who will send it on to the White House Office of Management and Budget. A special OMB task force will review the proposal before it is formally proposed in the Federal Register, probably next month. The rules would apply only to fuel economy in light trucks, a classification that includes popular SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks. NHTSA doesn't have clear authority to change the standard for passenger cars, which has its own fleetwide average requirements. A final rule for light trucks must be adopted by April 1, 2006, if it is to apply to the 2008 model year. That means a proposal must be published within the next month or so in order to leave time for public comment and for the agency to consider those comments before finalizing the matter, administration officials say. The current system tends to favor companies including Honda Motor Co. that principally manufacture small SUVs and trucks that have little trouble meeting the current standard. By contrast, companies like Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp., which make large pickup trucks and SUVs that get poor mileage, have to work hard to be sure they sell enough small, more fuel-efficient vehicles to make up for the big guzzlers. Under the current standard, a manufacturer's light-truck fleet must achieve an average of 21 miles per gallon for the 2005 model year, a standard that is already slated to rise to 22.2 mpg for 2007. The Bush administration seriously considered basing the new standard on weight, rather than size, so that lighter vehicles would have to achieve more miles per gallon than heavier ones. But safety advocates argued that this could encourage manufacturers to build heavier vehicles to avoid more stringent fuel standards. Heavier vehicles, they say, are less safe in a crash, able to inflict more damage to people both in the vehicle itself as well as to those in another car. Document J00020050719e17j00030 ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] wages and the middle class
Career Journal: Keeping Up Is Hard to Do --- With Wages Flat, a Family Struggles to Make Ends Meet; Why the Chevy Stays Parked 19 July 2005The Wall Street JournalB1 Lower Burrel, Pa. -- MARK AND DONNA Bellini don't need economists to tell them that wages for many workers have not kept pace with inflation. Mr. Bellini, a 51-year-old line technician for Comcast Corp., hasn't received a pay increase in three years, since 2002. His wages have been stuck at $19.10 an hour while overall consumer prices have risen 8%. Since then, however, the cost of many necessities has soared well beyond the averages. As of June, for example, the price of gasoline had risen 55%, and bread and meat rose 10% and 18%, respectively. Milk prices jumped 14% and electricity 11%. Despite an economy growing at roughly 4%, healthy corporate profits and low unemployment levels, annual wages of workers in nonmanagerial positions -- representing about 80% of the U.S. work force -- rose 2.7% in June from a year ago, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But adjusted for inflation, which cooled in June as gasoline prices declined, those wages were unchanged from a year ago. Annual wage growth hasn't outpaced inflation for 14 months. For families like the Bellinis, the day-to-day reality behind the data is stark and far-reaching. At roughly $60,000, their annual income hovers just below the $62,400 U.S. median for married couples. And yet the family is living far less comfortably than that benchmark used to imply. A two-room addition to their small house, begun while Mr. Bellini was still counting regular wage increases, is still unfinished. To help pay for clothes and save for a used car, the couple's 14-year-old son took a $5.15 an hour job as a dishwasher at a local restaurant. Mr. Bellini himself wears a worn pair of five-year-old sneakers. Perhaps most worrisome, the couple counts almost no savings, and they haven't, as once planned, been able to start a college fund for their two teenage sons. "The sense of security is gone," Mrs. Bellini says. The Bellinis, like most Americans, have managed to see some income growth. But in contrast to many employees -- who received bonuses in 2004 or realized stock gains -- the family has stretched itself with sweat equity. Last fall, Mr. Bellini's wife, Donna, 47, increased the hours she works as a secretary in an eye doctor's office from 24 to roughly 38 hours a week at $10 an hour, receiving vision care as well. That has boosted the family's take home pay to about $3,200 a month -- money that's come in handy to offset rising property taxes. Utility, mortgage, food and life insurance bills total $2,000 a month. Other bills for gasoline, clothing, sports related expenses for the two boys, and extraordinary costs like furnace repairs, quickly consume the rest. Family outings are rare. The Bellinis haven't gone to a movie together in the past year and gave up their Friday night tradition of eating out at Ida's, an Italian restaurant where the owner makes everything from scratch. Having already sold the family's camping trailer, Mr. Bellini last year sold his pickup because it was too costly to fill up. If they go on vacation now, they sleep in a tent. At home, Mrs. Bellini implores the rest of the family to take shorter showers to save money on the water bill, and clips coupons for her twice-a-month $200-to-$300-a-trip grocery outings. In some cases, the same dollar doesn't go as far, because companies have altered product sizes. A big box of laundry detergent used to be 100 ounces, but is now 80 ounces, for example, according to Mrs. Bellini. She travels to Wal-Mart for better bargains, but only if the savings offset gasoline for the family's 2000 Chevrolet Impala. "We try to keep the car parked as much as possible," says Mr. Bellini, which is hard with two boys, 14 and 13, playing soccer and football. In recent years, many other employees have faced plant closings, and seen pensions and health-care benefits turn out to be less secure than previously thought. Even workers who have seen raises often find that the extra income fails to cover rising costs, especially higher health-care premiums. Mr. Bellini's employer, Comcast, has fared relatively well, thanks to strong subscriber growth for its broadband Internet services. The company says its employees received wage increases averaging 2% to 4% in each of the last three years and blames Mr. Bellini's lack of a raise on unresolved union contract negotiations. "Mr. Bellini's situation is not reflective of our 59,000 cable employees," says D'Arcy Rudnay, a company spokeswoman. To be sure, not all workers are suffering and some government measures suggest that household incomes are growing at a healthy pace despite the anemic growth in wages. In May, personal income grew 6.7% over the previous year, according to the latest available figures. Other nonwage forms of income,
[Futurework] use of word terror
'Terrorism'? Who's to say?: Informed sourcesNational Post July 19, 2005What follows
is a memo distributed to CBC staff describing the CBC policy on use of the word
'terrorism.' 'Terrorist' and 'terrorism': Exercise extreme caution
before using either word. Avoid labelling any specific bombing or other
assault as a "terrorist act" unless it's attributed (in a TV or Radio clip, or
in a direct quote on the Web). For instance, we should refer to the deadly blast
at that nightclub in Bali in October 2002 as an "attack," not as a "terrorist
attack." The same applies to the Madrid train attacks in March 2004, the London
bombings in July 2005 and the attacks against the United States in 2001, which
the CBC prefers to call "the Sept. 11 attacks" or some similar _expression_. (The
BBC, Reuters and many others follow similar policies.) Terrorism
generally implies attacks against unarmed civilians for political, religious or
some other ideological reason. But it's a highly controversial term that can
leave journalists taking sides in a conflict. By restricting ourselves
to neutral language, we aren't faced with the problem of calling one incident a
"terrorist act" (e.g., the destruction of the World Trade Center) while
classifying another as, say, a mere "bombing" (e.g., the destruction of a
crowded shopping mall in the Middle East). Use specific descriptions.
Instead of reaching for a label ("terrorist" or "terrorism") when news breaks,
try describing what happened. For example, "A suicide bomber blew up a
bus full of unarmed civilians early Monday, killing at least two dozen people."
The details of these tragedies give our audience the information they need to
form their own conclusions about what type of attack it was. Rather than
calling assailants "terrorists," we can refer to them as bombers, hijackers,
gunmen (if we're sure no women were in the group), militants, extremists,
attackers or some other appropriate noun. It's not practical to draft a
list of all contexts in which the words "terrorist" and "terrorism" are
appropriate in news stories. For instance, we might write that Canada and other
countries have passed "anti-terrorism" legislation, or that intelligence
agencies have lists of groups that they consider "terrorist" organizations, or
that the U.S. government has issued another warning about an increased risk of
"terrorist attacks" in the next few weeks, or that certain people have been
charged with acts of "terrorism." Use common sense. The guiding
principle should be that we don't judge specific acts as "terrorism" or people
as "terrorists." Such labels must be attributed. As CBC News
editor-in-chief Tony Burman has pointed out: "Our preference is to describe the
act or individual, and let the viewer or listener or political representatives
make their own judgment."
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[Futurework] RE: Throwing rocks doesn't work any more
During the sixties and seventies people thought they could change the system or even bring it down by marching, shouting and throwing rocks. That doesn't work any more. The globalized state has become immune to it. Much stronger means are now required. If its a choice between the anarchy of the market or the anarchy of the mob after the globalized state has been brought down, I'll go with the anarchy of the market, thanks. arthur -Original Message-From: Ed Weick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 9:13 AMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: Throwing rocks doesn't work any more I find this line of thought scary.It suggests that terrorisim of the kind that precipitated the London subway bombingsis unlikely to be something that is directed by one or more interlinked international command posts. If it were, you could hope to find those posts, destroy them and bring matters to an end. The matter is far more complex than that. Disaffected young Muslims or disaffected young people of any other faith or ethnicity exist everywhere. They are essentially home-grown. And now the insecurity and chaos they can achieve if they but build bombs and are willing to use them has been amply demonstrated. During the sixties and seventies people thought they could change the system or even bring it down by marching, shouting and throwing rocks. That doesn't work any more. The globalized state has become immune to it. Much stronger means are now required. Ed July 22, 2005 Why Do They Hate Us? Not Because of Iraq By OLIVIER ROY Paris WHILE yesterday's explosions on London's subway and bus lines were thankfully far less serious than those of two weeks ago, they will lead many to raise a troubling question: has Britain (and Spain as well) been "punished" by Al Qaeda for participating in the American-led military interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan? While this is a reasonable line of thinking, it presupposes the answer to a broader and more pertinent question: Are the roots of Islamic terrorism in the Middle Eastern conflicts? If the answer is yes, the solution is simple to formulate, although not to achieve: leave Afghanistan and Iraq, solve the Israel-Palestine conflict. But if the answer is no, as I suspect it is, we should look deeper into the radicalization of young, Westernized Muslims. Conflicts in the Middle East have a tremendous impact on Muslim public opinion worldwide. In justifying its terrorist attacks by referring to Iraq, Al Qaeda is looking for popularity or at least legitimacy among Muslims. But many of the terrorist group's statements, actions and non-actions indicate that this is largely propaganda, and that Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine are hardly the motivating factors behind its global jihad. First, let's consider the chronology. The Americans went to Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11, not before. Mohamed Atta and the other pilots were not driven by Iraq or Afghanistan. Were they then driven by the plight of the Palestinians? It seems unlikely. After all, the attack was plotted well before the second intifada began in September 2000, at a time of relative optimism in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Another motivating factor, we are told, was the presence of "infidel" troops in Islam's holy lands. Yes, Osama Bin Laden was reported to be upset when the Saudi royal family allowed Western troops into the kingdom before the Persian Gulf war. But Mr. bin Laden was by that time a veteran fighter committed to global jihad. He and the other members of the first generation of Al Qaeda left the Middle East to fight the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980's. Except for the smallish Egyptian faction led by Ayman al-Zawahiri, now Mr. bin Laden's chief deputy, these militants were not involved in Middle Eastern politics. Abdullah Azzam, Mr. bin Laden's mentor, gave up supporting the Palestinian Liberation Organization long before his death in 1989 because he felt that to fight for a localized political cause was to forsake the real jihad, which he felt should be international and religious in character. From the beginning, Al Qaeda's fighters were global jihadists, and their favored battlegrounds have been outside the Middle East: Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya and Kashmir. For them, every conflict is simply a part of the Western encroachment on the Muslim ummah, the worldwide community of believers. Second, if the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine are at the core of the radicalization, why are there virtually no Afghans, Iraqis or Palestinians among the terrorists? Rather, the bombers are mostly from the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, Egypt and Pakistan - or they are Western-born converts to Islam. Why would a Pakistani or a Spaniard be
RE: [Futurework] Throwing rocks doesn't work any more
Agree. What do we mean by it? -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of M.Blackmore Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 3:56 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: Re: [Futurework] Throwing rocks doesn't work any more Lawrence deBivort wrote: in every other country whose government and people don’t ‘get it.’ I'm not sure what it is. Perhaps someone could enlighten me? ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] Throwing rocks doesn't work any more
We seem to be coming to a fork in the road. Perhaps there is no middle way, at least for now. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Friday, July 22, 2005 4:24 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: Re: [Futurework] Throwing rocks doesn't work any more Ed Weick wrote: During the sixties and seventies people thought they could change the system or even bring it down by marching, shouting and throwing rocks. That doesn't work any more. And why doesn't it work any more ? The IDF shoots live bullets at kids who are throwing rocks (and sometimes not even that). The IDF also shoots at demonstrators, sometimes even if they're Westerners or Israelis. Anyway, the article of Olivier Roy is nonsense, with assertions like: First, let's consider the chronology. The Americans went to Iraq and Afghanistan after 9/11, not before. Actually, the USAF has been bombing Iraq on a regular basis in the 1990s and in 2000+. The US also meddled in Afghanistan before 9/11, and the ground-troops invasion to Iraq was planned before 9/11. Perhaps this so-called expert should check the chronology indeed, instead of basing the article on untruths. Roy also omits --although he mentions Bosnia-- that in Bosnia and Kosovo, the USA armed, trained and supported precisely this kind of young Muslim losers, in their fight against Serbia (like before it supported Al-Qaeda against the Soviets in Afghanistan). - Arthur Cordell wrote: If its a choice between the anarchy of the market or the anarchy of the mob after the globalized state has been brought down, I'll go with the anarchy of the market, thanks. What if this conclusion is the very purpose of the show ? That the masses are willing to swallow the bitter pill of neo-con globalization, thinking that it's the lesser evil (sound familiar from a certain election ?). It would make sense indeed, considering how the neo-cons are fanning the flames of this so-called war of cultures. And to answer the question: If its a choice between the anarchy of the market or the anarchy of the mob Actually, as with the choice given by the same source -- You are either with US or with the terrorists!, civilization has to __reject both__ kinds of totalitarian barbarism. Chris SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword igve. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel
Harry's question still stands. I know that it would be nice to avoid grievances and for us all to live in peace and harmony. But at this juncture: What to do? If the police don't shoot they are blamed. If the police shoot they are blamed. arthur -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Harry Pollard Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 11:40 PM To: 'Christoph Reuss'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel Chris, What would you do if someone in a heavy overcoat on a hot day - someone who was under your surveillance - went into the subway and boarded a train, soon after similar situations in which bombs had been exploded killing 50 people? You needn't answer, for you are never faced with that situation. It's always easy - for a non-player - to complain at mistakes made by those who are trying to save multiple casualties and must think and act quickly. Harry *** Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 818 352-4141 *** -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:futurework- [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 1:16 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel As the Guardian reports, the squad who executed an innocent man in the Stockwell tube station with 5 shots to the head, have been trained in Israel in the IDF style of dealing with suspects -- shoot to kill, playing policeman, attorney, judge and henchman in one person at the same time. Refs: http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,15347 79,0 0.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,15347 53,0 0.html The British public has to wonder if it really wants to copy the archaic travesty of a rule of law from Israel. From a historical perspective, it's a shameful irony that Britain now allows its anti-terror forces to be trained by the same state that performed terrorist attacks against British civilians and forces in Palestine and elsewhere in the 1940s, and appointed the leaders of these terrorist groups to its first Prime Ministers. Chris ~~~ ~ SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword igve. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel
arthur I believe that if the poor fellow had indeed been a bomber and exploded himself and in the process killing and wounding passengers on the subway, then the superiors of the officers involved would have blamed the officers. The press would have been involved in the usual Monday morning quarter-backing with the usual 20-20 hindsight. Why didn't they do this? Why didn't they do that? Etc. Lawry What to do now? The US and the UK should stop panicking. They should start assessing what they have done in history and currently to provoke these stupidities, and they should move to redress those things. arthur No one has clean hands. Any review of history will show that each group, each country, each religion, etc., has done some terrible things. I don't think we can redress these things, but of course we can learn from history. Life can only be understood by looking backward, but must be lived going forward. The question is: What to do right now when bombers/terrrorists or whatever seem to have declared open season on innocents? Innocents meaning people alive today who nothing whatsoever to do with the sins of past generations. -Original Message- From: Lawrence deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 9:32 AM To: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Christoph Reuss'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel No one would blame the London police if they had not shot this poor fellow. Not a soul, except those perhaps who want to embroil the UK in a general war on the Third World, as they have the US. What to do now? The US and the UK should stop panicking. They should start assessing what they have done in history and currently to provoke these stupidities, and they should move to redress those things. Only then can the US and the UK start to expect that they will be treated with respect and viewed as contributing members of the international community. I am picking on the US and UK; I should enlarge my comment to include all colonial and neo-colonial powers. Italians, Spaniards, Belgians, French, Portuguese, Mexicans -- the lot. Until this happens, these countries will be under an historical burden and guilt that will jeopardize their hopes to live peacefully in a peaceful world. Cheers, Lawry -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOM Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 10:25 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Christoph Reuss; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel Harry's question still stands. I know that it would be nice to avoid grievances and for us all to live in peace and harmony. But at this juncture: What to do? If the police don't shoot they are blamed. If the police shoot they are blamed. arthur -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Harry Pollard Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 11:40 PM To: 'Christoph Reuss'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel Chris, What would you do if someone in a heavy overcoat on a hot day - someone who was under your surveillance - went into the subway and boarded a train, soon after similar situations in which bombs had been exploded killing 50 people? You needn't answer, for you are never faced with that situation. It's always easy - for a non-player - to complain at mistakes made by those who are trying to save multiple casualties and must think and act quickly. Harry *** Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 818 352-4141 *** -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:futurework- [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 1:16 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel As the Guardian reports, the squad who executed an innocent man in the Stockwell tube station with 5 shots to the head, have been trained in Israel in the IDF style of dealing with suspects -- shoot to kill, playing policeman, attorney, judge and henchman in one person at the same time. Refs: http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,15347 79,0 0.html http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,15347 53,0 0.html The British public has to wonder if it really wants to copy the archaic travesty of a rule of law from Israel. From a historical perspective, it's a shameful irony that Britain now allows its anti-terror forces to be trained by the same state that performed terrorist attacks against British civilians and forces in Palestine and elsewhere in the 1940s, and appointed the leaders of these terrorist groups to its first Prime Ministers. Chris
RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel
Re: suicide bombers and terrorism. "A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes." (Mark Twain) -Original Message-From: Ed Weick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 12:33 PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca; Karen Watters ColeSubject: Re: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel AsNietzche put it "... if you gaze too long into the abyss, the abyss will gaze into you". Maybe that's where we're going? Ed - Original Message - From: Karen Watters Cole To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 10:48 AM Subject: RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel I think its the five shots to the head that sets this apart from the average mistaken identity killing, allowing for adrenalin and literal rush to avoid a detonation. Was he not dead after the first two? London with its minority populations does not need to acquire the reputation for excessive force that the IDF or LA PD have. Britain does not need an intifada or home grown race violence, as Keith worries about. The Japanese would have the same public perception problem if this happened in a Tokyo subway to a Korean migrant worker. kwc Harry's question still stands.I know that it would be nice to avoid grievances and for us all to live in peace and harmony. But at this juncture: What to do?If the police don't shoot they are blamed. If the police shoot they are blamed.arthur-Original Message-Chris,What would you do if someone in a heavy overcoat on a hotday - someone who was under your surveillance - went intothe subway and boarded a train, soon after similarsituations in which bombs had been exploded killing 50people?You needn't answer, for you are never faced with thatsituation.It's always easy - for a non-player - to complain atmistakes made by those who are trying to save multiplecasualties and must think and act quickly.Harry -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED][mailto:futurework- [EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Saturday, July 23, 2005 1:16 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained inIsrael As the Guardian reports, the squad who executed aninnocent man in the Stockwell tube station with 5 shots to the head, have beentrained in Israel in the IDF style of dealing with "suspects" --shoot to kill, playing policeman, attorney, judge and henchman in oneperson at the same time. Refs:http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1534779,0 0.htmlhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1534753,0 0.html The British public has to wonder if it really wants tocopy the archaic travesty of a rule of law from Israel. From a historicalperspective, it's a shameful irony that Britain now allows its"anti-terror" forces to be trained by the same state that performed terroristattacks against British civilians and forces in Palestine and elsewhere inthe 1940s, and appointed the leaders of these terrorist groups to itsfirst Prime Ministers. Chris ___Futurework mailing listFuturework@fes.uwaterloo.cahttp://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel
While the West is atoning for its sins, the Arabs might want to look a little closer at their role in the Slave Trade. eg., among many URLs http://www.answering-islam.org/ReachOut/slavetrade.html http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/9chapter3.shtml http://www.domini.org/openbook/sud80210.htm -Original Message- From: Lawrence deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 12:32 PM To: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Cc: 'Keith Hudson' Subject: RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel If, Arthur, if. Killing people because a person MIGHT be a terrorist is simply not acceptable, morally or legally. Israeli authorities may do it to Palestinians because they don't consider Palestinians to be equal human beings, but at least in London and elsewhere it is NOT acceptable. If is simply not good enough. You, after all, MIGHT be a terrorist. Is that good enough reason to take you out? Or your son MIGHT be. Is that reason enough to bring him down? The London police panicked -- perhaps their training was at the heart of it, but that is no excuse. And the US military, in its might, is worldwide taking people out who MIGHT be enemies. But that doesn't make it is right, or acceptable, or intelligent. The only solution is the one I suggested. Too bad if that makes Europeans have to look 'backward', and have to give up some of their ill-gotten gains, and have to apologize for their ancestors, as well as their CURRENT depredations. That's the way the world and people work; they remember, and they have a sense of what is just and what is not. Too bad for them that not more Europeans and ex-Europeans understand this. Until they do, times will be tough for them. Bush's 'war on terrorism' has brought all this to the fore. Perhaps before that blunder, Europeans might have got away with what they have done in the past, and might have been excused much of their current harmful policies and behavior (attributing it to ignorance), but I do believe that that opportunity has been lost. If Europeans want to live in peace, they will have to 'look backwards' and rectify their mistakes, hard and currently unthinkable as that may seem to many of them. Lawry -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOM Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 11:46 AM To: Lawrence deBivort; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Christoph Reuss; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel arthur I believe that if the poor fellow had indeed been a bomber and exploded himself and in the process killing and wounding passengers on the subway, then the superiors of the officers involved would have blamed the officers. The press would have been involved in the usual Monday morning quarter-backing with the usual 20-20 hindsight. Why didn't they do this? Why didn't they do that? Etc. Lawry What to do now? The US and the UK should stop panicking. They should start assessing what they have done in history and currently to provoke these stupidities, and they should move to redress those things. arthur No one has clean hands. Any review of history will show that each group, each country, each religion, etc., has done some terrible things. I don't think we can redress these things, but of course we can learn from history. Life can only be understood by looking backward, but must be lived going forward. The question is: What to do right now when bombers/terrrorists or whatever seem to have declared open season on innocents? Innocents meaning people alive today who nothing whatsoever to do with the sins of past generations. -Original Message- From: Lawrence deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 9:32 AM To: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; 'Christoph Reuss'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] London Assassins were Trained in Israel No one would blame the London police if they had not shot this poor fellow. Not a soul, except those perhaps who want to embroil the UK in a general war on the Third World, as they have the US. What to do now? The US and the UK should stop panicking. They should start assessing what they have done in history and currently to provoke these stupidities, and they should move to redress those things. Only then can the US and the UK start to expect that they will be treated with respect and viewed as contributing members of the international community. I am picking on the US and UK; I should enlarge my comment to include all colonial and neo-colonial powers. Italians, Spaniards, Belgians, French, Portuguese, Mexicans -- the lot. Until this happens, these countries will be under an historical burden and guilt that will jeopardize their hopes to live peacefully in a peaceful world. Cheers, Lawry -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED
[Futurework] FW: A.Word.A.Day--cassandra
Subject: RE: A.Word.A.Day--cassandra sure doesn't apply to us FWers. -Original Message- From: Wordsmith [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, July 26, 2005 12:03 AM To: linguaphile@wordsmith.org Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cassandra Cassandra (kuh-SAND-ruh) noun One who prophesies disaster and whose warnings are unheeded. [After Cassandra in Greek mythology who received the gift of prophecy but was later cursed never to be believed.] Cassandra was the daughter of the Trojan king Priam and Hecuba. Apollo, the god of light, who also controlled the fine arts, music and eloquence, granted her the ability to see the future. But when she didn't return his love, he condemned her never to be believed. Among other things, Cassandra warned about the Trojan horse that the Greeks left but her warning was ignored. Today's word in Visual Thesaurus: http://visualthesaurus.com/?w1=cassandra We are not sitting here gloating because it is the horrible mess we said it would be. We're in agony. There is nothing pleasurable about being a Cassandra. Molly Ivins; Downing Street Memos Are News; Tracy Press (California); Jun 22, 2005. This week's theme: words related to forecasting. Sponsored by: The Desk Drawer: Tired of hiding your words in a closet? Need critiques? Ready for a nudge to write more? http://www.winebird.com/ Brains, brains, go away--unless we learn a bit each day. Timely knowledge? We deliver. Try it now! Your brain'll quiver: http://knowledgenews.net/s?s=aw072605 A root is a flower that disdains fame. -Kahlil Gibran, mystic, poet, and artist (1883-1931) Share the magic of words. Send a gift subscription of A.Word.A.Day: http://wordsmith.org/awad/gift.html Pronunciation: http://wordsmith.org/words/cassandra.wav http://wordsmith.org/words/cassandra.ram Permalink: http://wordsmith.org/words/cassandra.html This message was sent to [EMAIL PROTECTED]. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] How Wall Street Wrecked United's Pension
Agree. Sometimes people have to have boundaries set for them by an independent agent. In this case greed was allowed/encouraged.and now we see what happened. Perhaps this is a lesson for other areas of the economy, viz., housing. arthur -Original Message-From: Lawrence deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Monday, August 8, 2005 8:56 AMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'FUTUREWORK (E-mail)'Subject: RE: [Futurework] How Wall Street Wrecked United's Pension From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOMSent: Monday, August 08, 2005 9:29 AMTo: FUTUREWORK (E-mail)Subject: [Futurework] How Wall Street Wrecked United's Pension -Original Message-Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2005 2:08 AMSubject: investment policy July 31, 2005 Hi, Arthur, Many thanks for copying this article here. It seems to me that the headline is misleading: it wasnt Wall Street that screwed the United pension fund, it was the greed of the pension managers and the company, who thought that by switching to a high-risk, high-gain investment strategy they would not have to set aside to fund the pension fund as large an amount of money as they had been doing. If I am reading the article correctly, the pilots went along with this for a while, thinking that the company would then pay them higher wages from the money the company saved by putting less into the pension fund. They then tried to get the their pensions put on a safer footing but the company told them they were too late. Was it Wall Street, then, or was it a combination of company greed, some employee greed, and some lack of company diligence in overseeing the activities and conflicts of interest of those they hired as money managers and financial consultants to the pension fund? Cheers, Lawry How Wall Street Wrecked United's Pension By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH HAD anyone listened to Doug Wilsman, tens of thousands of United Airlines employees would not be facing big cuts in their pensions. And the federal agency that guarantees pensions might not be struggling with its biggest losses ever. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] Globalisation is an anomaly
From Karen's Casey Report. Comment Globalisation is an anomaly and its time is running out Cheap energy and relative peace helped create a false doctrine James Howard Kunstler Thursday August 4, 2005 Guardian The big yammer these days in the United States is to the effect that globalisation is here to stay: it's wonderful, get used to it. The chief cheerleader for this point of view is Thomas Friedman, columnist for the New York Times and author of The World Is Flat. The seemingly unanimous embrace of this idea in the power circles of America is a marvellous illustration of the madness of crowds, for nothing could be further from the truth than the idea that globalisation is now a permanent fixture of the human condition. Today's transient global economic relations are a product of very special transient circumstances, namely relative world peace and absolutely reliable supplies of cheap energy. Subtract either of these elements from the equation and you will see globalisation evaporate so quickly it will suck the air out of your lungs. It is significant that none of the cheerleaders for globalisation takes this equation into account. In fact, the American power elite is sleepwalking into a crisis so severe that the blowback may put both major political parties out of business. The world saw an earlier phase of robust global trade run from the 1870s to a dead stop in 1914. This was the boom period of railroad construction and the advent of the ocean-going steamship. The great powers had existed in relative peace since Napoleon's last stand. The Crimean war was a minor episode that took place in backwaters of Eurasia, and the Franco-Prussian war was a comic opera that lasted less than a year - most of it the static siege of Paris. The American civil war hardly affected the rest of the world. This first phase of globalisation then took off under coal-and-steam power. There was no shortage of fuel, the colonial boundaries were stable, and the pipeline of raw materials from them to the factories of western Europe ran smoothly. The rise of a middle class running the many stages of the production process provided markets for all the new production. Innovations in finance gave legitimacy to all kinds of tradable paper. Life was very good for Europe and America, notwithstanding a few sharp cyclical depressions and recoveries. Trade boomed between the great powers. The belle époque represented the high tide of hopeful expectations. In America, it was called the progressive era. The 20th century looked golden. It all fell apart in 1914. Historians are still baffled about what really brought on the first world war. What did France or Britain really care about Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of a country already in deep eclipse? There were no active contests over territory at the time, not even in the Asian or African colonies. And yet the diplomatic failures of that fateful summer led to the great slaughter of the trenches, the death of a substantial portion of the younger generation, and a virtual nervous breakdown of authority in politics and culture. It would take a depression, fascism, and a second world war to resolve these issues and a new round of globalisation did not ramp up again until the mid-1960s. It may be significant that the first collapse of globalisation occurred as the coal economy was transitioning into an oil economy, with deep geo-political implications for who had oil (America) and those who might seek to control the other major region closest to Europe that possessed it (then the Caspian, since Arabian oil was as yet undiscovered). The first world war was settled by those nations (Britain and France) that were friendly with the greatest producer of oil most readily accessed. Germany was the loser and again in the reprise for its poor access to oil. Japan suffered similarly. We are now due for another folding up of the periodic global trade fair as the industrial nations enter the tumultuous era beyond the global oil production peak, which I have named the long emergency. The economic distortions and perversities that have built up in the current era are not hard to see, though our leaders dread to acknowledge them. The dirty secret of the US economy for at least a decade now is that it has come to be based on the ceaseless elaboration of a car-dependent suburban infrastructure - McHousing estates, eight-lane highways, big-box chain stores, hamburger stands - that has no future as a living arrangement in an oil-short future. The American suburban juggernaut can be described succinctly as the greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world. The mortgages, bonds, real estate investment trusts and derivative financial instruments associated with this tragic enterprise must make the judicious goggle with wonder and nausea. Add to this grim economic picture a far-flung military
[Futurework] 10 years today since the internet went visible
Title: Belfast Telegraph Subject: 10 years history of the net Belfast Telegraph | Sunday Life | Ireland's Saturday Night | Business Telegraph | Jobfinder | Homefinder Belfast Telegraph News+Business+Business Telegraph+Features+Letters+TelegraphColumnists+Opinion+Northwest Edition+Northwest Weekly+Education+Interactive Letters+Weather+Personals+Media PackSport+Football+Premiership+Rugby+Gaelic Games+GeneralLifestyle+Arts+Film TV+Food Drink+Music+Health Beauty+Motoring+Travel+Telegraph Travel+Special Interest+TwentyfoursevenHomefinder+Property News+Property FeaturesSunday LifeIreland'sSaturday NightTop 100 CompaniesHome DeliveryOnline ArchiveCalendar 2005Ads For FreeRugby World CupAt The MoviesEuro2004+Latest News+Results+Profiles+Match Analysis+Factfile Belfast Telegraph HomeNewsFeaturesTen years of the netJust a decade ago this week, the $3bn flotation of Netscape signalled the start of the mass internet age. Danny Bradbury explores how the web conquered the world - and changed our lives 1995: BROWSERS AND PORTALS On 9 August Netscape floats, ushering in a five-year dot.com boom. The $3bn flotation is the most spectacular in a series of commercial landmarks that includes the launch of Amazon.com (in July) and direct internet services from CompuServe (April) and AOL (October), which allow subscribers to the different services to exchange e-mails. But it is the mass availability of Netscape's user-friendly browser (launched in 1994) that brings the internet to ordinary people with PCs and Macs rather than specialists with Unix terminals. * Annual fee introduced for the registration of domain names. * Microsoft starts giving away Internet Explorer 1.0 with its Windows 95 operating system. * RealAudio launched. * The Vatican releases a web site. * AltaVista search engine launched. 1996: ONLINE TRAVEL TAKES OFF Expedia and Travelocity launch their online travel services in the US. Pioneers of the internet phenomenon of "disintermediation" (cutting out the middleman), these sites pave the way for no-frills airlines such as Easyjet and Ryanair (which go online in 1998 and 2000 respectively) to sell their services at hitherto unimaginably low prices. The ease, flexibility and cost-effectiveness of internet booking has subsequently brought scores of once exotic locations within financial range of British travellers, transforming local economies around the world. * Israeli company Mirabilis introduces instant messaging with its ICQ service. * Yahoo floats. Company value hits $1bn. * Netscape's share of browser market peaks at 87 per cent. (Internet Explorer has 4 per cent.) * Tesco begins Tesco Direct service. * Ebay's AuctionWeb receives its millionth bid and is renamed eBay. 1997: THE SHOP.COM BOOM AOL's subscriber base reaches 10 million (up from 5 million in 1996), while amazon.com records its millionth customer. The latter's initial public offering (which raises $54m) highlights the potential of e-commerce. The scramble for web "presence" accelerates. Its importance had already been seen in December 1996, when Harrods won the right to use the harrods.com domain name from a cybersquatter who had tried to charge it £100,000 for the privilege. In January the business.com domain sells for $150,000. Two years later it sells again for $7.5m. * NASA's website receives 46 million hits when Pathfinder sends back pictures from Mars. * First recorded use of the term "weblog" to describe an online journal. * NASA's website receives 46 million hits when Pathfinder sends back pictures from Mars. * Members of online Heaven's Gate cult commit mass suicide. 1998: RISE OF SEARCH ENGINES Google, started by two Stanford graduates, initially serves 10,000 queries per day, but within a year is answering 3 million. Today it serves over 250 million per day - almost half of all US-originated queries - and indexes 8 billion pages. * Online Drudge Report breaks story of Clinton-Lewinsky relationship. When the Starr Report into the scandal is
[Futurework] interesting programme re: home ownership
The Sweat of Their Brows --- Federal Plan Finances Homes Of Low-Income Families Who Build Their Own Dwellings 10 August 2005The Wall Street JournalB1English Coachella, Calif. -- FROM MONDAY to Friday, Guillermina and Refugio Cuevas pick and pack grapes for a living. On weekends, each dons a tool belt and takes up a hammer. It's not for extra cash. In their spare time, the Cuevases are building houses for themselves and 11 other families -- a dozen single-family homes in a row -- not far from chic Palm Springs. They are all participants in a little-known federal program that finances homes in rural areas for low-income families. The act of home building, deemed "sweat equity," accounts for 10% to 15% of the value of each new home and serves as the down payment. The program promises a dramatic lifestyle change for the Cuevases and their four children, who for nine years have rented a cockroach-infested apartment in an agricultural labor camp. Amid escalating property prices, homeownership seemed further from reach with each passing year. The Cuevases' combined annual income is just $25,000, while the average price of homes in the area is between $300,000 and $350,000, according to the city's building department. Earlier this year, the couple learned they had qualified for the "mutual self-help program" run by the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, a local nonprofit developer, and funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. In eight months, they hope to move into their four-bedroom house, complete with central air conditioning. The prospect of "owning a house gives me much fulfillment," said Mrs. Cuevas, as she put the final touches on a house's framing in the 100-degree heat of a recent Saturday morning. Mrs. Cuevas wasn't even working on her own house; hers is down the street. Instead, she was erecting the home of Carmen and Carlos Meza, another couple in the program. Each participating family contributes at least 40 hours of labor weekly over 10 to 12 months until all houses in their group are completed. The developer employs a building supervisor who trains the families and assigns them construction jobs. All told, the families do about two-thirds of the labor; air conditioning, plumbing and stucco are among the tasks left for licensed specialists. Reminiscent of Amish barn-raising, community home building marries self-reliance with group effort. Some USDA officials say it recalls the Homestead Act of 1862, when Abraham Lincoln gave settlers -- many of them immigrants -- a 160-acre tract on which to build and plant with the intention of populating the frontier. Besides funding construction of the houses, the USDA offers the families mortgages. But it offloads some of the work to local community groups, like the Coachella Valley coalition. The local partners are responsible for finding tracts to develop, screening applicants for the program, training participants and supervising construction. The Coachella Valley coalition builds about 150 single-family houses each year in Riverside and Imperial counties. The Cuevas family waited four years to get into the program. The housing coalition's staff interviewed the couple, verified their employment history and checked their credit record, among other things. Once accepted, the Cuevases received construction training and a financial-planning course for first-time homeowners. Considered high-risk borrowers, working-class families like the Cuevases have little chance of being approved for a regular mortgage; they also can't afford to make a down payment. Yet it's precisely these working-class families that the USDA program targets. To qualify, a family's annual income can be no more than 80% of the area's median income. The interest rate on their home loans ranges from 1% up to the going market rate, depending on family income. "This isn't a giveaway," says Russell Davis, administrator of housing for USDA rural development. "These families make mortgage payments and pay taxes." The default rate hovers around 2% to 3%, he says. The Cuevases are likely to make monthly mortgage payments of about $650 on a mortgage of $111,000 with a preferential interest rate, which will be determined when the house is completed. On average, each year the USDA disburses about $200 million in mortgages for about 1,500 families in 40 states participating in the self-help scheme. In the past 10 years, the cost of running the program, exclusive of mortgages, has tripled in size to $34 million annually. The program targets minorities to further President Bush's mission to boost minority homeownership, according to the USDA. In Coachella, the overwhelming majority of participants are Latinos, who toil in the fields, hotels and restaurants in the Palm Springs area. Participants must be legal residents of the U.S. Another goal of the USDA program is to breathe new life into communities suffering from an exodus
[Futurework] Avian Flu report
this report from a financial institution deals with Avian Flu and financial markets and of course the economy and the future of work. -Original Message-Subject: FW: [Ottawadissenters] Avian Flu report Subject: [Ottawadissenters] Avian Flu reportThanks to Barry Randall for informing me of this. It is about much more than investing.SDteve[PDF] special report.inddFile Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTMLDONALD COXE. BMONESBITTBURNSRESEAR CH. An Investor's. Guide to Avian Flu ...breakout (discussed earlier by Don Coxe), would have hugely disruptive ...www.bmonesbittburns.com/economics/reports/20050812/avian_flu.pdf - 15 Aug 2005 - YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS Visit your group "Ottawadissenters" on the web. To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] FW: avian_flu
-Original Message- From: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2005 11:20 AM To: FUTUREWORK (E-mail) Subject: FW: avian_flu -Original Message- From: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM sending the link again http://www.bmonesbittburns.com/economics/reports/20050812/avian_flu.pdf ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] Worst Jobs in History
Worst Jobs in History http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/W/worstjobs/ A good place to visit on days when your own job is driving you nuts. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] Wealth Gap in China
Time for Chairman Mao??? Aug 22, 2005 Chinese Scholars Warn Growing Wealth Gap Likely to Trigger Social InstabilityBy Christopher BodeenAssociated Press WriterSHANGHAI, China (AP) - Chinese scholars have warned that rising income disparities - especially between the nation's booming cities and vast, impoverished countryside - will likely undermine social stability by the end of the decade, the official China Daily newspaper reported Monday. Annual urban incomes that are due to surpass 10,000 yuan ($1,200) on average are growing twice as fast as those in the countryside, the China Daily said, citing a report commissioned by the Labor and Social Services Ministry. Rural incomes linger at around 3,000 yuan ($370) per year. The income gap between rich and poor in the countryside is also widening, along with that between laid-off factory workers and the new urban upper class, the report said. "Income disparity in China is in the yellow light area now," the paper said, citing a report by the team of scholars, headed by Su Hainan, president of the ministry's Income Research Institute. "We are going to hit the red light scenario after 2010 if there are no effective solutions in the next few years," it said. The team uses blue, green, yellow and red light indicators to track income disparity trends, with red being most serious. Economic reforms launched in the late 1970s have produced vast economic development, attracting billions of dollars in foreign investment and allowing Chinese to open businesses to exploit markets at home and abroad. But reforms have also largely ended cradle-to-grave social support, forcing Chinese to pay far more for health care, education and other basic services. Millions have also slipped into poverty after being laid off from moribund state enterprises and rural incomes have largely stagnated as wealth fails to trickle down into the countryside. The wealth gap is most serious in rural China, where average farmers earn 3.39 times as much as those listed as the lowest earners. That disparity was just 2.45 in 1992, the report said. The government said earlier this year that income gaps were expected to continue widening over the next decade. China's richest 10 percent had disposable incomes 11.8 times greater than those of the poorest 10 percent, according to the earlier report. Disposable income is salary minus government levies and taxes. China's wealthiest 10 percent held 45 percent of the country's wealth while the poorest 10 percent held just 1.4 percent by the end of the first quarter of 2005, the earlier report said. Neither report speculated on what form social instability could take, but China has been hit by a series of violent protests by farmers angry over environmental degradation and land seizures. Conflicts over scarcities of water and other basic resources are also spreading and experts warn China has only a few years left to prevent a worsening AIDS crisis from turning into a full-blown national epidemic. AP-ES-08-22-05 0943EDT This story can be found at: http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB5MB3SOCE.html ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] Future of learning
Agree with you Lawry. There is a great danger in dumbing down and, going further, creating material that is false but believed because it hasn't been peer reviewed and a great many people access that material. It becomes a self-fulfilling sort of thing. I find that the better has been the education of the individual, especially the ability to do research the old way, the better able to sift through and make sense of online material. I worry that kids that have not developed research skills will take too many things online as fact. Chatting about something on a blog does not make it factual or true. But we have to admit that the Net and search engines such as Google change everything. arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Lawrence deBivortSent: Tuesday, August 23, 2005 2:51 PMTo: 'Karen Watters Cole'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caCc: Art Goodtimes (Art Goodtimes); 'Jonathan Eddison'Subject: RE: [Futurework] Future of learning Greetings to all. Travels over for a while, I hope. There are several significant differences between books and on-line sources that worry me when it comes to actions like UTs. The process of publishing a book takes its content through several steps agents, reviewers, corrections, editing that tend to provide the book with some vetting. On-line sources can be posted on sites that look solid but arent. We have in several of our discussions here run into a significant amount of false or unvetted material. Yes, we can rely on the reader to do some of the vetting himself/herself, but how much? Even on our own list, we have had materials attached that are shaky at best. Once published, it is quite hard to alter a book; one can be reasonably certain that what one is reading is what the author wrote. With digital sources, forgery, improper deletion, etc. are frighteningly easy. Plagiarism loves digital sourcing. Books are portable: laptops and internet access less so. Might tethering ourselves (even with wireless) to reading centers inhibit reading? I am still waiting for a truly reader-friendly screen. And a laptop that doesnt need recharging every few hours. The idea that on-line sources can replace books may make a librarians job easier and library operations cheaper, but glossing the loss of books over with a more seductive student chat center may be a significant mistake, and part of the continuing dumbing down of education. Ill stick with a books on-line source mix, remembering the strengths and weaknesses of both. Cheers, Lawry From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Karen Watters ColeSent: Tuesday, August 23, 2005 2:21 PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: [Futurework] Future of learning As everyone knows, like work, the internet is changing learning centers, including academic research and libraries. Some of it is harder to get used to than othersbut like FW, modern technology is restoring a sense of gathering places/community to share ideas and conversation. kwc Academic libraries empty stacks for online centers By Kris Axtman, Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, August 23, 2005 AUSTIN, TEXAS - When students wander into the former University of Texas undergraduate library this fall, gone will be the "Quiet Please" signs, the ban on cheeseburgers or sodas, the sight of solemn librarians restocking books. The fact is, there will be no more books to restock. The UT library is undergoing a radical change, becoming more of a social gathering place more akin to a coffeehouse than a dusty, whisper-filled hall of records. And to make that happen, the undergraduate collection of books had to go. This summer, 90,000 volumes were transferred to other collections in the campus's massive library system - leaving some to wonder how a library can really be a library if it has no tomes. But a growing number of colleges and universities are rethinking and retooling their libraries to better serve students reared in a digital age. "While libraries are still focused on their physical collections, they aren't the sole purpose anymore," says John Shank, director of the Center for Learning Technologies at Penn State Berks College in Reading. The advent of the Internet and the digitization of information has transformed the way students learn, experts concur, and libraries are scrambling to keep up. "For most children coming of age today, information and information technology are really merging so that they don't see any disconnect between the two," says Frances Jacobson Harris, author of "I Found It on the Internet: Coming of Age Online."
RE: [Futurework] Future of learning
The surest way to dumbing down is to absorb only what's fit to print and accept that as gospel because the experts (with an agenda) said so. It becomes a self-fulfilling sort of thing. Better to read all sides of the story --on the Internet-- and compare what fits reality better. = The key is balance. My concern is that infatuation with the Net is leading to treating books, library and traditional research as yesterday's story. So both are needed. Balance. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2005 6:21 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] Future of learning There is a great danger in dumbing down and, going further, creating material that is false but believed because it hasn't been peer reviewed and a great many people access that material. It becomes a self- fulfilling sort of thing. I find that the better has been the education of the individual, especially the ability to do research the old way, the better able to sift through and make sense of online material. I worry that kids that have not developed research skills will take too many things online as fact. OTOH, how can children learn critical evaluation if the sources of information are dominated by one side, as is often the case in (commercially or politically biased) textbooks and one-way media ? The surest way to dumbing down is to absorb only what's fit to print and accept that as gospel because the experts (with an agenda) said so. It becomes a self-fulfilling sort of thing. ;) Better to read all sides of the story --on the Internet-- and compare what fits reality better. Chris SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword igve. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky
Unfriendly workplace in the sky. Deregulation has led to a strange sort of competition with everyone feeling stressed. Time for re-regulation? == Business/Financial Desk; SECTCITINERARIES: SOUNDING OFF Looking for Friendly Skies? Stay on the Ground By Chris Elliott 851 words 23 August 2005The New York Times SKIP BOWMAN didn't see it coming. Otherwise he would have raised his hands to ward off the impact, or at least ducked. Mr. Bowman, a composer and musician from Portland, Ore., had boarded a flight home from Houston recently and noticed his seat did not have a pillow. So he asked a flight attendant for one. She instructed him to swipe it from another seat. That didn't seem right to him. ''Then she grabbed a pillow herself,'' he recalled. ''And she threw it at me.'' Things are getting a little tense on commercial flights these days. And no wonder. As the busiest summer in the history of commercial aviation winds down, many crew members have reached a breaking point. Overworked, underappreciated, worried about job security as one airline after another struggles to avoid bankruptcy, they are showing an emotional side that is taking passengers like Mr. Bowman aback. ''Airlines are constantly making work more stressful for the flight attendant with increased duty time, inadequate rest periods, and understaffed flights,'' said Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the 46,000-member Association of Flight Attendants. While no one keeps track of the number of thrown pillows or rude comments from flight attendants, plenty of anecdotal evidence suggests that their mood is darker than it has ever been. Several months ago, I was flying from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Dallas with my infant son. When I asked a purser to point me to a restroom with a changing station, she just rolled her eyes. ''I wouldn't know,'' she sniffed. ''I don't do babies.'' Such an exchange would have been unthinkable before airline deregulation. Now, passengers like me who are scolded by an airline employee almost feel lucky that they aren't also escorted from the plane and thrown into a security force holding cell. ''When flight attendants have nothing to be happy about, they stop caring,'' said James Wysong, a flight attendant and author of the book ''Air Travel Tales >From the Flight Crew: The Plane Truth at 35,000 Feet,'' writing under the wryly chosen pseudonym A. Frank Steward. He cites recent cuts in pay and benefits as the main reasons his colleagues have turned hostile. ''An airline employee's job dissatisfaction is passed on to the consumer,'' Mr. Wysong said. ''You can hardly kick someone in the posterior and expect them to pass on a smile.'' Another flight attendant, Sharon Wingler, described this summer as ''the perfect storm'' for her profession. ''We've all taken pay cuts and many of our companies are struggling to survive,'' Ms. Wingler said. ''We fear losing our pensions -- if we haven't already lost them. We're working more flights for less money, the flights are full, and summer is the season of amateur travelers -- the infrequent fliers who are appropriately dressed for washing their car.'' Hey, wait a minute. That's you and me she's talking about. And we're not exactly in a happy mood, either. Sure, airline employees have to put up with us, but we have to endure long lines, even longer delays, crowded airports, even more crowded cabins, perfunctory service, and poor or nonexistent food. Some of us might even be tempted to heave the pillow right back. ''Many airline passengers are angry these days,'' said Elliott Hester, a flight attendant who wrote the book ''Plane Insanity: A Flight Attendant's Tales of Sex, Rage and Queasiness at 30,000 Feet.'' ''They wait in long lines. They rarely get food on the plane, and when they do, it's served at a cost. I can't tell you how many times I've been yelled at by a passenger who simply expected some food on a long flight.'' How to defuse this mile-high standoff? Mr. Bowman avoided a pillow fight by not responding to the projectile cushion. He vowed to ''develop a thicker skin'' as a traveler and said he would think twice before asking an attendant for help again. Humor can take the edge off a tense situation, too. Allowing flight attendants to practice their stand-up comedy routines does wonders for airlines like Southwest and Song. And having a flight attendant sing an in-flight safety announcement makes her seem more like an in-flight M.C. than an enforcer. But laughter will get you only so far. The Federal Aviation Administration recently conducted a study on flight attendant fatigue and promised to release it in June, according to the Association of Flight Attendants. So far, it has not. Ms. Caldwell, the union spokeswoman, says her constituents are being pushed beyond their limits. No kidding. But don't expect relief anytime soon. As long as the airline industry keeps bleeding
RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky
The airlines reflect the underlying "bottom line" culture. There is a grimness and cost-cutting and race to the bottom for the middle class on down. Going up in income, there is a great deal of conspicuous consumption. Though many wealthy people find it "chic" to shop at WalMart and travel coach class. I took my Ph. D. (lo those many years ago) with Alfred E. Kahn, the"father of deregulation." He went to the CAB under Pres. Carter. We argued in seminars over the pros and cons of dereg. Kahn's position is that dereg. has increased consumer welfare since with lower prices more people can afford to fly. My point is that not all industries are suitable for dereg. Those with very high fixed costs and very low (near zero) marginal costs might be better (for investors, consumers, workers, national security) off with a degree of regulation. We also need a degree of predictability in national transportation systems. It isn't at all like the corner store going bankrupt, or changing its hours capriciously for one reason or another. arthur -Original Message-From: Lawrence deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 12:10 PMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'FUTUREWORK (E-mail)'Subject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky I dont know just when it happened, but some years ago the flight attendants started stating that they were there to ensure passenger safety, dropping the notion of service. But the growing rudeness of the attendants seem paced by the growing rudeness of the airlines themselves, toward more passenger crowding, smaller seats, less leg-room, poorer food, longer enforced seat-belt periods, fewer pillows and blankets, etc. Some European airlines seem to have followed suit, from the Airbuss early minuscule overhead bins, to the sorry food of KLM, and British Airways notorious flight delays. So why would a lowly attendant think of providing courteous behavior to the passenger? The Asian airlines Singapore, Thai, Garuda, Cathay Pacific, etc. still seem to be service-oriented. And here in the US we have SouthWest and Blue, which are showing that inexpensive and unregulated fares are compatible with good and cheerful service. Now, if SW would only fly to Colorado! And Paris. Happy skies, Lawry From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOMSent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 10:15 AMTo: FUTUREWORK (E-mail)Subject: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky Unfriendly workplace in the sky. Deregulation has led to a strange sort of competition with everyone feeling stressed. Time for re-regulation? == Business/Financial Desk; SECTCITINERARIES: SOUNDING OFF Looking for Friendly Skies? Stay on the Ground By Chris Elliott 851 words 23 August 2005The New York Times SKIP BOWMAN didn't see it coming. Otherwise he would have raised his hands to ward off the impact, or at least ducked. Mr. Bowman, a composer and musician from Portland, Ore., had boarded a flight home from Houston recently and noticed his seat did not have a pillow. So he asked a flight attendant for one. She instructed him to swipe it from another seat. That didn't seem right to him. ''Then she grabbed a pillow herself,'' he recalled. ''And she threw it at me.'' Things are getting a little tense on commercial flights these days. And no wonder. As the busiest summer in the history of commercial aviation winds down, many crew members have reached a breaking point. Overworked, underappreciated, worried about job security as one airline after another struggles to avoid bankruptcy, they are showing an emotional side that is taking passengers like Mr. Bowman aback. ''Airlines are constantly making work more stressful for the flight attendant with increased duty time, inadequate rest periods, and understaffed flights,'' said Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the 46,000-member Association of Flight Attendants. While no one keeps track of the number of thrown pillows or rude comments from flight attendants, plenty of anecdotal evidence suggests that their mood is darker than it has ever been. Several months ago, I was flying from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Dallas with my infant son. When I asked a purser to point me to a restroom with a changing station, she just rolled her eyes. ''I wouldn't know,'' she sniffed. ''I don't do babies.'' Such an exchange would have been unthinkable before airline deregulation. Now, passengers like me who are scolded by an airline employee almost feel lucky that they aren't also escorted from the plane and thrown into a security force holding cell. ''When fli
RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky
re-regulation *might* raise prices. but it will bring back predictability and a necessary degree of trust and confidence in the national transportation network. now airlines routinely cancel flights when the load factor is low and shunt the passengers onto a later flight. what is offered to passengers ( seat size, snacks, pillows, head sets,) is also routinely changed as airlines compete with each other. the flying experience carries increasing anxiety for the traveller. in addition to the flight itself we now have homeland security as well as arbitrary cancellation of flights, switching aircraft, changing flight numbers, etc. airports used to be special places. now they are like bus depots. in some ways the inter-state bus system is more predictable. arthur -Original Message-From: Harry Pollard [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 2:09 AMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'FUTUREWORK (E-mail)'Subject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky Yep, re-regulation will raise prices and keep the great unwashed off the planes. Then they can be used by those who really deserve them government and corporate all expense paid travelers. Confronted by mostly well-dressed and obviously important people, the stewardesses beg pardon flight attendants will be on their best behavior. Oh, for the good old days. Harry *** Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 818 352-4141 *** From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOMSent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 7:15 AMTo: FUTUREWORK (E-mail)Subject: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky Unfriendly workplace in the sky. Deregulation has led to a strange sort of competition with everyone feeling stressed. Time for re-regulation? == Business/Financial Desk; SECTCITINERARIES: SOUNDING OFF Looking for Friendly Skies? Stay on the Ground By Chris Elliott 851 words 23 August 2005The New York Times SKIP BOWMAN didn't see it coming. Otherwise he would have raised his hands to ward off the impact, or at least ducked. Mr. Bowman, a composer and musician from Portland, Ore., had boarded a flight home from Houston recently and noticed his seat did not have a pillow. So he asked a flight attendant for one. She instructed him to swipe it from another seat. That didn't seem right to him. ''Then she grabbed a pillow herself,'' he recalled. ''And she threw it at me.'' Things are getting a little tense on commercial flights these days. And no wonder. As the busiest summer in the history of commercial aviation winds down, many crew members have reached a breaking point. Overworked, underappreciated, worried about job security as one airline after another struggles to avoid bankruptcy, they are showing an emotional side that is taking passengers like Mr. Bowman aback. ''Airlines are constantly making work more stressful for the flight attendant with increased duty time, inadequate rest periods, and understaffed flights,'' said Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the 46,000-member Association of Flight Attendants. While no one keeps track of the number of thrown pillows or rude comments from flight attendants, plenty of anecdotal evidence suggests that their mood is darker than it has ever been. Several months ago, I was flying from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Dallas with my infant son. When I asked a purser to point me to a restroom with a changing station, she just rolled her eyes. ''I wouldn't know,'' she sniffed. ''I don't do babies.'' Such an exchange would have been unthinkable before airline deregulation. Now, passengers like me who are scolded by an airline employee almost feel lucky that they aren't also escorted from the plane and thrown into a security force holding cell. ''When flight attendants have nothing to be happy about, they stop caring,'' said James Wysong, a flight attendant and author of the book ''Air Travel Tales From the Flight Crew: The Plane Truth at 35,000 Feet,'' writing under the wryly chosen pseudonym A. Frank Steward. He cites recent cuts in pay and benefits as the main reasons his colleagues have turned hostile. ''An airline employee's job dissatisfaction is passed on to the consumer,'' Mr. Wysong said. ''You can hardly kick someone in the posterior and expect them to pass on a smile.'' Another flight attendant, Sharon Wingler, described this summer as ''the perfect storm'' for her profession. ''We've all taken pay cuts and many of our companies are struggling to survive,'' Ms. Wingler said. ''We fear losing our
RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky
I don't think anyone has mentioned 3rd world or skin colour but you. As Dr. Freud might say: Hm. The issue is outsourcing of maintenance and, perhaps, not knowing the paper and parts trail of what is being done to the aircraft. What kinds of replacement parts are being used? How competent are the mechanics? What about drug testing? arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Lawrence deBivortSent: Friday, August 26, 2005 10:13 AMTo: 'Salvador Sánchez'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky Ive been following this matter of outsourcing airline maintenance carefully. It seems that some of the comments hide a bias against 3rd world maintenance. But is there really any reason to think that maintenance performed by El Salvadorans would be inferior to that performed by US, Canadian, or European crews? I doubt it. We white folks havent quite yet digested the understanding that people from the third world are just as intelligent as we are, and, increasingly, just as educated and skilled. To that I would add the likelihood that they are more motivated to do a good job, and under fewer pressures to cut corners. Let us remember that some of the best eye-care in the world is now available in India. Why not the nest airplane maintenance? Cheers, Lawry From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Salvador SánchezSent: Friday, August 26, 2005 11:03 AMTo: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: Re: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky Thanks, Harry, but please do not misunderstand me. If I can choose, I would NOT fly in a airlinethat outsources its maintenance and mechanical work. And if I have to, I will surely be scared to death while enough statistical evidence about safety comes to me. Furthermore, if I know that a mexican airline (I am mexican) outsources it´s maintenance in a foreing country, taking out jobs that can be done by mexicans, I will actively go against that practice. I have to say that Ido not look forcheaper things orlower prices. I pay what I have to payfor products and services, thinking not only in my immediate needs and desires but in the future of my children, of the country and of the societyas a whole. So I am very careful about the globalization discourse, about thebenefits of the internalization of the economy. What's the real price of destroying a secular commercial structure, closely tied to the community structure,of loosing the skills that cost so much effort to get (mechanical skills, for example), even of changing theface of towns and neighborhoods (to say the less) to have the chance of buying cheap chinese (or mexican, or wherever) products in a Wal-Mart? One additional point: in Aeromexico and Mexicana,our two biggest airlines, you still can find a smiling crew and good service. And decent snaks and beverages. Their ownersare about to sell it. Some bigbusiness is going to come and get it, maybe Iberia. Good bye to good service. Good bye to the smiling on board personnel. For a lot of people good bye to their jobs. For many of those who can keep their jobs, good bye to the pleasure of working as a pilot or as a flight attendant, or as a mechanic or as a clerk. And we will save two or three --or one hundred, it´s the same--miserable dollars while somebody somewhere gets even richer at our expense. I will be very happy to pay what I have to pay, believe me. Salvador Salvador, Good point! One has to wonder how many maintenance failures have occurred during the thousands of millions of miles these in-sourced, or outsourced planes have flown? Maybe they are doing something right? Harry *** Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 818 352-4141 *** From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Salvador SánchezSent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 1:16 PMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; Christoph Reuss; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: Re: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky How do you know? Is it public information? Salvador From: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM To: Christoph Reuss ; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 1:01 PM My colleague will not fly on any airline that outsources its maintenance and mechanical work.arthur-Original Message-From: [EMAIL
RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky
es have
flown?
Maybe they are doing something
right?
Harry
***
Henry George School of Social
Science
of Los
Angeles
Box
655 Tujunga CA
91042
818 352-4141
***
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Salvador
SánchezSent: Thursday,
August 25, 2005 1:16 PMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; Christoph
Reuss; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: Re: [Futurework] Unfriendly
workplace in the sky
How do you
know? Is it public information?
Salvador
From: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM
To: Christoph
Reuss ; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca
Sent:
Thursday, August 25, 2005 1:01 PM
My colleague will not fly on any airline that
outsources its maintenance and mechanical
work.arthur-Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED][mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Behalf Of Christoph ReussSent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 2:51
PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject:
RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the
skyHarry Pollard
wrote: Yep, re-regulation will raise prices and keep the great
unwashed off the planes.Harry surely prefers cheapo
airlines that save on maintenance.Better dead than red, right
Harry?http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/08/25/france.air.reut/index.html?section=cnn_latestFrance
'to publish air blacklist' Thursday, August 25,
2005; Posted: 8:41 a.m. EDT (12:41 GMT) Photo: 121
died when Helios airliner slammed into mountains north of Athens.
PARIS, France (Reuters) -- France says it will soon publish its own
blacklist of airlines and countries with poor air safety records, after
a spate of air crashes raised concerns passengers were being kept in the
dark over safety.Transport Minister Dominique Perben, who
indicated last week Paris supported a
Europe-wide blacklist, told Le Monde newspaper France
wanted to move quickly to allay public fears."In the coming
days, the French civil aviation authority (DGAC) will publish different
lists on the Internet," Perben told Le Monde on Thursday. "As in the
United States and
Britain, we will provide
passengers with all the information at our disposal."Airline
safety has become a sensitive political issue after three fatal crashes
in less than two weeks. On Tuesday, 40 people died in
Peru's northern jungle when a
Boeing 737-200 of the state-run TANS airline crashed.Some 121
people died when a Cypriot airliner slammed into mountains near
Athens
on August 14.Two days later, 160 people died when a Colombian
jet crashed in Venezuela, including 152 French nationals
from the French-administered Caribbean island of
Martinique.Demanding
tougher international scrutiny of airlines, Perben told Le Monde Paris
would publish a list of airlines banned from landing in
France and name the states
whose planes were banned from the country.In addition, the DGAC
civil aviation authority would publish a list of regular and charter
airlines whose aircraft have permission to fly from France.
It would also name the airlines likely to be chartered by authorized
airlines, Perben said."At the end of the year, we will publish
rules forcing tour operators and companies that charter other (airlines)
to tell passengers, when they buy their ticket, who the carrier will
be," Perben told Le Monde.France
has been pushing for a so-called "Blue Label" for reliable airlines but
has run into opposition from the airline industry. Perben said he had
told airlines he wanted the scheme in place by the end of the year or
early 2006 at the latest.The French drive mirrors one by the
European Union.European Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot
said last week the EU executive was planning to introduce a blacklist of
airlines whose aircraft had been grounded for safety reasons.The
measure, to be set up under an EU accord that predates the
Venezuela crash, only needed
a vote in the European Parliament to come into force, Barrot told French
radio.Once the measure was approved, Europe's air safety agency would be able to
organize information-sharing on grounded airlines, said Barrot. The data
would have to take the form of a blacklist, as in the
United
RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky
As Pres. Clinton might say "it all depends on what you mean by 'clean up our history' " I have just finished watching a programme on Afghanistan. The madness was there before the Russians and before the Americans. The racism toward the lower classes is so very sad. The needless killing and exploitation and slavery ( the latter ending only in 1919) seems to be part of the human drama. I don't have much to do with PC guilt. The good guys become the bad guys and the bad guys later become the good guys. And as Kurt Vonnegut might say, "and so it goes." As I said in an earlier posting it seems that all groups, in all regions, have to some degree "blood on their hands." arthur -Original Message-From: Lawrence deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 5:44 PMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'Salvador Sánchez'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky People HAVE done the math, and that is why outsourcing takes place. I know from our previous discussions, Arthur, you put your country before others, but the fact remains that we are moving toward a unified world, and we should be equally concerned with the well-being of all, and not just that of those we look alike, or sound alike. Morally, if not in practice, the days of racism and nationalism are over. Those who have personally benefited from being white, Christian, colonialist and European or neo-European need to look beyond that privilege, recognize the huge cost to the people of the world that Europeans have exacted over the last 500 years, and start to build a world that will work for everyone. True, it means a loss of that privilege -- and long overdue it is. Just think, you and I have the opportunity to begin redressing a long-standing wrong. I know you dont like going back into history, but it is ungracious of you to so argue, as you are one of the beneficiaries of the wrongs that were committed, and continue to be committed. So until we clean up our history, we will be subject to the accusations of and counter-actions by those who our ancestors exploited and ourselves today exploit. Lawry From: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 3:01 PMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; Lawrence deBivort; Salvador Sánchez; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky I would also add the foregone employment, taxes paid, good jobs, etc., when outsourcing goes to a country with lower labour, environmental,etc., standards. While prices may be somewhat lower, and consumer welfare might be somewhat higherthe loss of good jobs and taxes paid at home (to me) might add up to a net loss to the country rather than a net gain. Perhaps outsourcing as a strategy should be given a closer look. Using "bizz-talk"we should "do the math." arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOMSent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 2:54 PMTo: Lawrence deBivort; Salvador Sánchez; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky I don't think anyone has mentioned 3rd world or skin colour but you. As Dr. Freud might say: Hm. The issue is outsourcing of maintenance and, perhaps, not knowing the paper and parts trail of what is being done to the aircraft. What kinds of replacement parts are being used? How competent are the mechanics? What about drug testing? arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Lawrence deBivortSent: Friday, August 26, 2005 10:13 AMTo: 'Salvador Sánchez'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky Ive been following this matter of outsourcing airline maintenance carefully. It seems that some of the comments hide a bias against 3rd world maintenance. But is there really any reason to think that maintenance performed by El Salvadorans would be inferior to that performed by US, Canadian, or European crews? I doubt it. We white folks havent quite yet digested the understanding that people from the third world are just as intelligent as we are, and, increasingly, just as educated and skilled. To that I would add the likelihood that they are more motivated to do a good job, and under fewer pressures to cut corners. Let us remember that some of the best ey
RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky
I
apologize ifmy last posting wasa bit abrupt.
Interesting the range of deep values on this list.
Values
that we should "value" , recognizing that we aren't likely to sway the
others.at the same time learning (upon reflection) that those with whom we
share "cyber-space" approach real world events in a very different wayand
that it is worth noting this difference and appreciating
same.
Sometimes the smallest remark by the other can (over time)have a
lasting impact as that remark is matched against the ever-evolving reality of
everyday life.
collegially,
arthur
-Original Message-From: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 7:00 PMTo: 'Lawrence
deBivort'; 'Salvador Sánchez'; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly
workplace in the sky
As
Pres. Clinton might say "it all depends on what you mean by 'clean up our
history' "
I
have just finished watching a programme on Afghanistan. The madness was
there before the Russians and before the Americans. The racism toward
the lower classes is so very sad. The needless killing and exploitation
and slavery ( the latter ending only in 1919) seems to be part of the human
drama.
I
don't have much to do with PC guilt. The good guys become the bad guys
and the bad guys later become the good guys. And as Kurt Vonnegut might
say, "and so it goes."
As I
said in an earlier posting it seems that all groups, in all regions, have to
some degree "blood on their hands."
arthur
-Original Message-From: Lawrence deBivort
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 5:44
PMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'Salvador Sánchez';
[EMAIL PROTECTED];
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly
workplace in the sky
People HAVE done
the math, and that is why outsourcing takes
place.
I know from our
previous discussions, Arthur, you put your country before others, but the
fact remains that we are moving toward a unified world, and we should be
equally concerned with the well-being of all, and not just that of those we
look alike, or sound alike. Morally, if not in practice, the days of
racism and nationalism are over. Those who have personally benefited from
being white, Christian, colonialist and European or neo-European need to
look beyond that privilege, recognize the huge cost to the people of the
world that Europeans have exacted over the last 500 years, and start to
build a world that will work for everyone. True, it means a loss of that
privilege -- and long overdue it is. Just think, you and I have the
opportunity to begin redressing a long-standing
wrong.
I know you don't
like 'going back into history', but it is ungracious of you to so argue, as
you are one of the beneficiaries of the wrongs that were committed, and
continue to be committed. So until we clean up our history, we will be
subject to the accusations of and counter-actions by those who our ancestors
exploited and ourselves today exploit.
Lawry
From:
Cordell, Arthur: ECOM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 3:01
PMTo: Cordell, Arthur:
ECOM; Lawrence deBivort; Salvador Sánchez; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly
workplace in the sky
I would also add
the foregone employment, taxes paid, good jobs, etc., when outsourcing goes
to a country with lower labour, environmental,etc., standards. While
prices may be somewhat lower, and consumer welfare might be somewhat
higherthe loss of good jobs and taxes paid at home (to me) might add up
to a net loss to the country rather than a net
gain.
Perhaps outsourcing
as a strategy should be given a closer look. Using "bizz-talk"we
should "do the math."
arthur
-Original
Message-From:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur:
ECOMSent: Sunday, August
28, 2005 2:54 PMTo:
Lawrence deBivort; Salvador Sánchez; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly
workplace in the sky
I don't think
anyone has mentioned 3rd world or skin colour but you. As Dr. Freud
might say: Hm.
The issue is
outsourcing of maintenance and, perhaps, not knowing the paper and parts
trail of what is being done to the aircraft. What kinds of
replacement parts are being used? How competent are the
mechanics? What about drug
testing?
RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky
I have remorse for what was done
to others in the name of "progress." I recognize the incomplete genocide
of aboriginals just about everywhere. What we do today and tomorrow
has meaning. We can't right the wrongs of the past through any amount of
money or handwringing.
arthur
"Happiness is an imaginary condition, formerly attributed by the
living to the dead, now usually attributed
by adults to children, and by children
to adults." (Thomas Szasz)
"All human beings should try to learn before they
die what they are running from, and to, and why." (James
Thurber)
-Original Message-From: Lawrence deBivort
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Monday, August 29, 2005 9:36
AMTo: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM; 'Salvador Sánchez';
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject:
RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky
I would agree that
generally all groups seem to have blood on their hands, but am surprised that
you would cite Vonnegut to dismiss any remorse or compensatory action or
obligation. You may not be into guilt, but you and others benefit today from
harm that your ancestors did to others, and you do not, morally, have the
option of dismissing the matter.
I believe one of the
key measures of the worth of a society is precisely how it goes about
addressing its past wrongs. And pointing to the wrongdoings of others is
not a good way to begin.
Lawry
From:
Cordell, Arthur: ECOM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 7:00
PMTo: Lawrence deBivort;
Salvador Sánchez; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly
workplace in the sky
As Pres. Clinton
might say "it all depends on what you mean by 'clean up our history'
"
I have just finished
watching a programme on Afghanistan. The madness was there before the
Russians and before the Americans. The racism toward the lower classes
is so very sad. The needless killing and exploitation and slavery ( the
latter ending only in 1919) seems to be part of the human
drama.
I don't have much to
do with PC guilt. The good guys become the bad guys and the bad guys
later become the good guys. And as Kurt Vonnegut might say, "and so it
goes."
As I said in an
earlier posting it seems that all groups, in all regions, have to some degree
"blood on their hands."
arthur
-Original
Message-From: Lawrence
deBivort [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 5:44
PMTo: Cordell, Arthur:
ECOM; 'Salvador Sánchez'; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly
workplace in the sky
People HAVE done
the math, and that is why outsourcing takes
place.
I know from our
previous discussions, Arthur, you put your country before others, but the
fact remains that we are moving toward a unified world, and we should be
equally concerned with the well-being of all, and not just that of those we
look alike, or sound alike. Morally, if not in practice, the days of
racism and nationalism are over. Those who have personally benefited from
being white, Christian, colonialist and European or neo-European need to
look beyond that privilege, recognize the huge cost to the people of the
world that Europeans have exacted over the last 500 years, and start to
build a world that will work for everyone. True, it means a loss of that
privilege -- and long overdue it is. Just think, you and I have the
opportunity to begin redressing a long-standing
wrong.
I know you dont
like going back into history, but it is ungracious of you to so argue, as
you are one of the beneficiaries of the wrongs that were committed, and
continue to be committed. So until we clean up our history, we will be
subject to the accusations of and counter-actions by those who our ancestors
exploited and ourselves today exploit.
Lawry
From:
Cordell, Arthur: ECOM [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 3:01
PMTo: Cordell, Arthur:
ECOM; Lawrence deBivort; Salvador Sánchez; [EMAIL PROTECTED];
futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly
workplace in the sky
I would also add
the foregone employment, taxes paid, good jobs, etc., when outsourcing goes
to a country with lower labour, environmental,etc., standards. While
prices may be somewhat lower, and consumer welfare might be somewhat
higherthe loss of good jobs and taxes paid at home (to me) might add up
to a net loss to the country rather than a net
gain.
Perhaps outsourcing
as a strategy should be given a c
RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky
, Arthur: ECOM; Christoph Reuss; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: Re: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky How do you know? Is it public information? Salvador From: Cordell, Arthur: ECOM To: Christoph Reuss ; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Sent: Thursday, August 25, 2005 1:01 PM My colleague will not fly on any airline that outsources its maintenance and mechanical work.arthur ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky
I agree that the victors write history. They may or may not have more blood on their hands. arthur -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2005 7:22 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] Unfriendly workplace in the sky I have just finished watching a programme on Afghanistan. The madness was there before the Russians and before the Americans. As were the Brits. As I said in an earlier posting it seems that all groups, in all regions, have to some degree blood on their hands. The degree varies greatly. But this is covered up as history is written by the victors, which tend to be those with the most blood on their hands... Chris SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword igve. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] Unions and Temps and Strikes
Looks like a demonstration of "the reserve army of the unemployed" Using Temps Proves Potent At Northwest 29 August 2005The Wall Street JournalB1 A LITTLE OVER a week into the first major strike at a U.S. airline in seven years, the battle between Northwest Airlines and its mechanics union is shaping up to be a case study on the potency of substitute workers in today's labor market. On one side is the nation's No. 4 airline, financially hemorrhaging and so determined to wrest 25% wage cuts from its workers that it spent tens of millions of dollars and 18 months preparing for a strike that might never have materialized. On the other side is a small union that grew over the past decade largely by fomenting dissent at rival unions and then nabbing the discontents. Even though it alienated its labor brethren, the mechanics union was convinced it could cripple the airline in short order, partly by undermining public confidence in Northwest's safety. Union officials have derided the substitute mechanics as "understaffed and undertrained" workers who "won't even know where the tools are." But with people fretting about job security -- particularly American jobs being outsourced abroad -- this strike highlights the emergence of a new threat in labor disputes: the homegrown replacement worker more beholden to the pocketbook than to any lofty principles of organized labor. Replacement workers have always been used to beat union strikes. In the early part of the 20th century, employers sometimes took advantage of the animosity between immigrant groups, hiring workers from one group to replace strikers from another. In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan stepped in to keep the public flying, famously firing thousands of striking air-traffic controllers and dispatching replacements to the control towers. The Northwest battle is being closely watched, though, as the labor movement finds itself at a crossroads, trying to stem several decades of declining membership across broad areas of the work force, as well as internal divisiveness. After eight days, Northwest is clearly winning -- and may well break the strike if things keep going its way. Northwest said Friday that its flight-cancellation rates and the number of planes out of service have recovered to levels it considers acceptable. On Friday, the airline was able to complete about 98% of its schedule. A chart it provided yesterday showed normal operations. "We're very comfortable with where we sit right now," says Andy Roberts, Northwest's executive vice president of operations. And in recent days, the company has been vocal about the fact it is considering taking on the temporary workers permanently, adding that striking mechanics are still welcome to come back to work if they accept Northwest's new terms. The relative stability of Northwest's operations could change quickly, however, if any accident is caused by a maintenance error and travelers become reluctant to fly the carrier. Many think a clear victory by the airline could result in more aggressive tactics by companies. "The success that Northwest is having will embolden companies to be more aggressive in using replacements in the future," says John Budd, professor of human resources at the University of Minnesota. Some striking mechanics have been surprised by how seamlessly their jobs have been filled by an alternate work force. "I would have hoped there would be more airplanes grounded and not flying," says Terry Koons, a 50-year-old aircraft maintenance technician in Detroit who worked for Northwest for 18 years and is a member of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, or AMFA. As a result of the strike, Mr. Koons, who lives in Riverview, Mich., says he missed a $1,300 mortgage payment this month, and isn't sure how he will pay car insurance bills for his two daughters, ages 18 and 20. He has canceled the cable TV and shut off the air conditioning. He says he thought Northwest's use of replacement workers and uncompromising stance toward AMFA signaled a new level of hardball tactics toward unions. Companies "have never been this aggressive toward the labor movement, not for many, many years," he says. Efforts to use replacement workers recently have been mostly in the manufacturing sector at companies such as Caterpillar Inc., the Bridgestone/Firestone subsidiary of Japan's Bridgestone Corp., and copper-mining company Phelps Dodge Corp. Most were defeats for labor, but took place out of the public eye. Experts say the Northwest case could have a far greater impact because the company is pulling it off in full view of the public and other unions. Yet some observers say Northwest's ability to withstand the strike by AMFA occurred under unique circumstances that won't have broad application for future labor disputes in and out of the airline industry. "Northwest has been able
RE: [Futurework] Gone with the Water
For a catastrophe that was predicted for 50 years there was just about no disaster plan in place. Criminal. There will be plenty of blame to go around. e.g., why weren't the levees better protected. why weren't the pumps equipped with emerg. power. why weren't the fleet of New Orleans city buses pressed into service for those "who had no cars or couldn't otherwise drive." etc. arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Karen Watters ColeSent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 2:30 PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: [Futurework] Gone with the Water The catastrophe in Mississippi and Louisiana was predicted and feared for some time. FEMA officials, besides environmental scientists and civil engineers, dreaded what theyve compared to a 9/11 or major California earthquake happening. Already some on the RRR (radical religious right) are claiming that Hurricane Katrina, the eye of which depicted on weather channels they say resembled a first trimester fetus, was Gods punishment for the baby murder clinics in New Orleans and its sinful neighbors. No doubt some will also blame the casinos and the Mardi Gras culture. Below are key story extracts from an October 2004 National Geographic article about the disaster-in-waiting in New Orleans. Its a prescient depiction of an engineers nightmare, and the price we will pay, not for gambling and abortion clinics, but for ignoring environmental precautionary measures while catering to the avarice of money greed and energy foolishness. In the human, economic and ecological disaster yet unfolding, let us hope that a consensus forms to restore and rebuild a wiser, more sustainable redevelopment. KwC Gone with the Water The Louisiana bayou, hardest working marsh in America, is in big troublewith dire consequences for residents, the nearby city of New Orleans, and seafood lovers everywhere. The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea levelmore than eight feet below in placesso the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it. Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. When did this calamity happen? It hasn'tyet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great. Just as the risks of a killer storm are rising, the city's natural defenses are quietly melting away. >From the Mississippi border to the Texas state line, Louisiana is losing its protective fringe of marshes and barrier islands faster than any place in the U.S. Since the 1930s some 1,900 square miles (4,900 square kilometers) of coastal wetlandsa swath nearly the size of Delaware or almost twice that of Luxembourghave vanished beneath the Gulf of Mexico. Despite nearly half a billion dollars spent over the past decade to stem the tide, the state continues to lose about 25 square miles (65 square kilometers) of land each year, roughly one acre every 33 minutes.A cocktail of natural and human factors is putting the coast under. Delta soils naturally compact and sink over time, eventually giving way to open water unless fresh layers of sediment offset the subsidence. The Mississippi's spring floods once maintained that balance, but the annual deluges were often disastrous. After a devastating flood in 1927, levees were raised along the river and lined with concrete, effectively funneling the marsh-building sediments to the deep waters of the Gulf. Since the 1950s engineers have also cut more than 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) of canals through the marsh for
RE: [Futurework] Gone with the Water
Maybe the lesson that will emerge from this is that, finally, we must pay attention to the infrastructure. We have to think long term. Longer than the next quarter's bottom line. A society that will continue must build and maintain infrastructure. Not glamourous but oh so important. Useless to blame the current administration. We are dealing with a culture of "now" of the short term. Somehow it has become OK to say I won't deal with now "its not on my watch." Infrastructure refers to bricks and mortar and services such as health and education. The gambling casinos are emblematic of where dollars and concerns were focussed. Glitz and games. athur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Karen Watters ColeSent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 2:30 PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: [Futurework] Gone with the Water The catastrophe in Mississippi and Louisiana was predicted and feared for some time. FEMA officials, besides environmental scientists and civil engineers, dreaded what theyve compared to a 9/11 or major California earthquake happening. Already some on the RRR (radical religious right) are claiming that Hurricane Katrina, the eye of which depicted on weather channels they say resembled a first trimester fetus, was Gods punishment for the baby murder clinics in New Orleans and its sinful neighbors. No doubt some will also blame the casinos and the Mardi Gras culture. Below are key story extracts from an October 2004 National Geographic article about the disaster-in-waiting in New Orleans. Its a prescient depiction of an engineers nightmare, and the price we will pay, not for gambling and abortion clinics, but for ignoring environmental precautionary measures while catering to the avarice of money greed and energy foolishness. In the human, economic and ecological disaster yet unfolding, let us hope that a consensus forms to restore and rebuild a wiser, more sustainable redevelopment. KwC Gone with the Water The Louisiana bayou, hardest working marsh in America, is in big troublewith dire consequences for residents, the nearby city of New Orleans, and seafood lovers everywhere. The storm hit Breton Sound with the fury of a nuclear warhead, pushing a deadly storm surge into Lake Pontchartrain. The water crept to the top of the massive berm that holds back the lake and then spilled over. Nearly 80 percent of New Orleans lies below sea levelmore than eight feet below in placesso the water poured in. A liquid brown wall washed over the brick ranch homes of Gentilly, over the clapboard houses of the Ninth Ward, over the white-columned porches of the Garden District, until it raced through the bars and strip joints on Bourbon Street like the pale rider of the Apocalypse. As it reached 25 feet (eight meters) over parts of the city, people climbed onto roofs to escape it. Thousands drowned in the murky brew that was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000 were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. When did this calamity happen? It hasn'tyet. But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City. Even the Red Cross no longer opens hurricane shelters in the city, claiming the risk to its workers is too great. Just as the risks of a killer storm are rising, the city's natural defenses are quietly melting away. >From the Mississippi border to the Texas state line, Louisiana is losing its protective fringe of marshes and barrier islands faster than any place in the U.S. Since the 1930s some 1,900 square miles (4,900 square kilometers) of coastal wetlandsa swath nearly the size of Delaware or almost twice that of Luxembourghave vanished beneath the Gulf of Mexico. Despite nearly half a billion dollars spent over the past decade to stem the tide, the state continues to lose about 25 square miles (65 square kilometers) of land each year, roughly one acre every 33 minutes.A cocktail of natural and human factors is putting the coast under. Delta soils naturally compact and sink over time, eventually giving way to open water unless fresh layers of sediment offset the subsidence. The Mississippi's spring floods once maintained that balance, but the annual deluges were often disastrous. After a devastating flood in 1927,
RE: [Futurework] Gone with the Water
I agreee that Bush has not been of much help. But the lack of attention to infrastructure is part of the consumer culture. Bush is just carrying on as have previoius Presidents. The buses could have taken the people anywhere. Out of the "bowl" that is New Orleans. To higher ground. To a military reservation, to state parks. Anywhere. In the private culture of the US people were told to evacuate. They could have been assisted mightily by using some city owned buses. Take them anywhere. Now many who could have been moved are dead or dying. arthur -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Karen Watters ColeSent: Wednesday, August 31, 2005 7:57 PMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Gone with the Water Arthur wrote: For a catastrophe that was predicted for 50 years there was just about no disaster plan in place. Criminal. There will be plenty of blame to go around. e.g., why weren't the levees better protected. why weren't the pumps equipped with emerg. power. why weren't the fleet of New Orleans city buses pressed into service for those "who had no cars or couldn't otherwise drive." etc. Well, a cynical reply as to the lack of Bush preparation to the threat in the Gulf Coast is that those states were not swing states, like Florida. Already, Bushs choice to head up FEMA is under scrutiny. After the GAO suggested changes in 1992, Clinton appointed James Lee Witt, who is credited with reorganizing and revitalizing it. But Bushs 2 appointments have been his 2000 campaign manager and now an Oklahoma lawyer whose only other emergency management experience was as an assistant city manager. In other words, he restored FEMA to its previous history as a backwater place to award political buddies and fundraisers. The Bush-Cheney White House has a well-documented history of pushing political appointments onto scientific, medical, environmental and national security positions. What was the name of that guy from New York Gulianis former police chief better known as a Rambo talker than a problem-solver? As to the question of city buses a good one where would those people have been taken? Did FEMA have plans to evacuate hundreds of thousands to other sports domes in the South? Ive heard that the storm pumps in NO were only prepared to deal with heavy rains 4-5 inches not flooding from the lake. Ive worked with civil and structural engineers and have great sympathy for the problem theyre facing. You can bet that those who are warning about similar problems in other areas are getting a friendly ear from hometown mayors and governors today. Are these people destined to live in concrete houses and trailers, as survivors of Hurricane Andrew have in Florida? Think of the economic impact of 9/11 and multiply that several times. The shortage of fuel has already hit jet fuel prices, and the ripples are just beginning. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] The Battle of New Orleans and Lake George
A smattering of interviews with refugees from NOLA indicate that they don't want to go back. Time will tell but it from a public policy point of view NOLA should be rebuilt elsewhere. arthur -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 1:33 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: Re: [Futurework] The Battle of New Orleans and Lake George * # of days engineers and crews expect to need to dry out NOLA: 36-80 Even after these 36-80 days, most buildings will be damaged beyond repair, if only for the toxic molds that will overgrow every piece of wood in them in that tropical climate. Perhaps NOLA should simply be abandoned and left standing as a memorial for neo-con idiocy and the effects of CO2 still denied by Dubya. * $ Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offered the Red Cross: $1,000,000 Not bad, after Pat Robertson's fatwah against Chavez, and the U$ authorities not prosecuting Robertson for it... Chris SpamWall: Mail to this addy is deleted unread unless it contains the keyword igve. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
RE: [Futurework] Well, No Free Trade in Cuba
Amid the reams of copy devoted to the flood story, the day's most insightful remark came from an unlikely source: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who said, How can a city under sea level not have an evacuation strategy? In the months to come, such simple questions will be central to understanding the events of the past few days. from Maisonneuve MediaScout [EMAIL PROTECTED] -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOM Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 10:48 PM To: Christoph Reuss; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] Well, No Free Trade in Cuba Mayor Nagin is getting a bit too much favourable press. He is emblematic of the Big Easy. Ordering a mandatory evacuation and overlooking the 150,000 or so who had no way of leaving NO. Criminal. This man is the mayor. The top public servant. This event will show the complete failure of governance in that area. I have yet to see on TV a press conference which has the Mayor, the Chief of Police and the Fire Chief. Where are the latter two officials? Why did the police desert their posts in large numbers? NO has long been seen as a corrupt place. The events before and after the hurricane seem to substantiate this view. arthur -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Christoph Reuss Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 3:28 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: [Futurework] Well, No Free Trade in Cuba [Before anyone cries Commies!, let me say that Switzerland's civil protection also includes 100% of the population. Ain't protectionism terrible?] http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/090305Y.shtml The Two Americas By Marjorie Cohn Saturday 03 September 2005 Last September, a Category 5 hurricane battered the small island of Cuba with 160-mile-per-hour winds. More than 1.5 million Cubans were evacuated to higher ground ahead of the storm. Although the hurricane destroyed 20,000 houses, no one died. What is Cuban President Fidel Castro's secret? According to Dr. Nelson Valdes, a sociology professor at the University of New Mexico, and specialist in Latin America, the whole civil defense is embedded in the community to begin with. People know ahead of time where they are to go. Cuba's leaders go on TV and take charge, said Valdes. Contrast this with George W. Bush's reaction to Hurricane Katrina. The day after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, Bush was playing golf. He waited three days to make a TV appearance and five days before visiting the disaster site. In a scathing editorial on Thursday, the New York Times said, nothing about the president's demeanor yesterday - which seemed casual to the point of carelessness - suggested that he understood the depth of the current crisis. Merely sticking people in a stadium is unthinkable in Cuba, Valdes said. Shelters all have medical personnel, from the neighborhood. They have family doctors in Cuba, who evacuate together with the neighborhood, and already know, for example, who needs insulin. They also evacuate animals and veterinarians, TV sets and refrigerators, so that people aren't reluctant to leave because people might steal their stuff, Valdes observed. After Hurricane Ivan, the United Nations International Secretariat for Disaster Reduction cited Cuba as a model for hurricane preparation. ISDR director Salvano Briceno said, The Cuban way could easily be applied to other countries with similar economic conditions and even in countries with greater resources that do not manage to protect their population as well as Cuba does. Our federal and local governments had more than ample warning that hurricanes, which are growing in intensity thanks to global warming, could destroy New Orleans. Yet, instead of heeding those warnings, Bush set about to prevent states from controlling global warming, weaken FEMA, and cut the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for levee construction in New Orleans by $71.2 million, a 44 percent reduction. Bush sent nearly half our National Guard troops and high-water Humvees to fight in an unnecessary war in Iraq. Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Paris in New Orleans, noted a year ago, It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq. An Editor and Publisher article Wednesday said the Army Corps of Engineers never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security - coming at the same time as federal tax cuts - was the reason for the strain, which caused a slowdown of work on flood control and sinking levees. This storm was much greater than protection we were authorized to provide, said Alfred C. Naomi, a senior project manager in the New Orleans district of the corps. Unlike in Cuba, where homeland security means keeping the country secure
[Futurework] New Orleans Power Elite doing just fine.
New Orleans Power Elite doing just fine. Old-Line Families Escape Worst of Flood And Plot the Future --- Mr. O'Dwyer, at His Mansion, Enjoys Highball With Ice; Meeting With the Mayor 8 September 2005The Wall Street JournalA1 NEW ORLEANS -- On a sultry morning earlier this week, Ashton O'Dwyer stepped out of his home on this city's grandest street and made a beeline for his neighbor's pool. Wearing nothing but a pair of blue swim trunks and carrying two milk jugs, he drew enough pool water to flush the toilet in his home. The mostly African-American neighborhoods of New Orleans are largely underwater, and the people who lived there have scattered across the country. But in many of the predominantly white and more affluent areas, streets are dry and passable. Gracious homes are mostly intact and powered by generators. Yesterday, officials reiterated that all residents must leave New Orleans, but it's still unclear how far they will go to enforce the order. The green expanse of Audubon Park, in the city's Uptown area, has doubled in recent days as a heliport for the city's rich -- and a terminus for the small armies of private security guards who have been dispatched to keep the homes there safe and habitable. Mr. O'Dwyer has cellphone service and ice cubes to cool off his highballs in the evening. By yesterday, the city water service even sprang to life, making the daily trips to his neighbor's pool unnecessary. A pair of oil-company engineers, dispatched by his son-in-law, delivered four cases of water, a box of delicacies including herring with mustard sauce and 15 gallons of generator gasoline. Despite the disaster that has overwhelmed New Orleans, the city's monied, mostly white elite is hanging on and maneuvering to play a role in the recovery when the floodwaters of Katrina are gone. "New Orleans is ready to be rebuilt. Let's start right here," says Mr. O'Dwyer, standing in his expansive kitchen, next to a counter covered with a jumble of weaponry and electric wires. More than a few people in Uptown, the fashionable district surrounding St. Charles Ave., have ancestors who arrived here in the 1700s. High society is still dominated by these old-line families, represented today by prominent figures such as former New Orleans Board of Trade President Thomas Westfeldt; Richard Freeman, scion of the family that long owned the city's Coca-Cola bottling plant; and William Boatner Reily, owner of a Louisiana coffee company. Their social pecking order is dictated by the mysterious hierarchy of "krewes," groups with hereditary membership that participate in the annual carnival leading up to Mardi Gras. In recent years, the city's most powerful business circles have expanded to include some newcomers and non-whites, such as Mayor Ray Nagin, the former Cox Communications executive elected in 2002. A few blocks from Mr. O'Dwyer, in an exclusive gated community known as Audubon Place, is the home of James Reiss, descendent of an old-line Uptown family. He fled Hurricane Katrina just before the storm and returned soon afterward by private helicopter. Mr. Reiss became wealthy as a supplier of electronic systems to shipbuilders, and he serves in Mayor Nagin's administration as chairman of the city's Regional Transit Authority. When New Orleans descended into a spiral of looting and anarchy, Mr. Reiss helicoptered in an Israeli security company to guard his Audubon Place house and those of his neighbors. He says he has been in contact with about 40 other New Orleans business leaders since the storm. Tomorrow, he says, he and some of those leaders plan to be in Dallas, meeting with Mr. Nagin to begin mapping out a future for the city. The power elite of New Orleans -- whether they are still in the city or have moved temporarily to enclaves such as Destin, Fla., and Vail, Colo. -- insist the remade city won't simply restore the old order. New Orleans before the flood was burdened by a teeming underclass, substandard schools and a high crime rate. The city has few corporate headquarters. The new city must be something very different, Mr. Reiss says, with better services and fewer poor people. "Those who want to see this city rebuilt want to see it done in a completely different way: demographically, geographically and politically," he says. "I'm not just speaking for myself here. The way we've been living is not going to happen again, or we're out." Not every white business leader or prominent family supports that view. Some black leaders and their allies in New Orleans fear that it boils down to preventing large numbers of blacks from returning to the city and eliminating the African-American voting majority. Rep. William Jefferson, a sharecropper's son who was educated at Harvard and is currently serving his eighth term in Congress, points out that the evacuees from New Orleans already have been spread out across many states far from their old
[Futurework] Wal Mart and FEMA
flexible supply lines can have a big pay-off - At Wal-Mart, Emergency Plan Has Big Payoff 12 September 2005The Wall Street JournalB1 THE FEDERAL Emergency Management Agency could learn some things from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. On Wednesday, Aug. 24, when Katrina was reclassified to a storm from a tropical depression, Jason Jackson, the retailer's director of business continuity, started camping out in Wal-Mart's emergency command center. By Friday, when the hurricane touched down in Florida, he had been joined by 50 Wal-Mart managers and support personnel, ranging from trucking experts to loss-prevention specialists. On Sunday, before the storm made landfall on the Gulf Coast, Mr. Jackson ordered Wal-Mart warehouses to deliver a variety of emergency supplies, from generators to dry ice to bottled water, to designated staging areas so that company stores would be able to reopen quickly if disaster struck. Then, when the hurricane knocked out Wal-Mart's computerized system for automatically updating store inventory levels in the area, he fielded phone calls from stores about what they needed. He also alerted a replenishment team to reorder essential products, such as mops and bleach. And by Tuesday, scores of Wal-Mart trucks, some escorted by police, were setting out to deliver 40 generators and tons of dry ice to company stores across the Gulf that had lost power. Katrina is the biggest natural disaster Wal-Mart has ever had to confront. Initially, 126 of its stores, including 12 in the New Orleans metropolitan area, and two distribution centers were shuttered because they were in Katrina's direct path. More than half ended up losing power, some were flooded and 89 have reported damage. But by this past Friday, all but 15 of the idled stores had reopened. From Boutte, La., to Pass Christian, Miss., Wal-Mart frequently beat FEMA by days in getting trucks filled with emergency supplies to relief workers and citizens whose lives were upended by the storm. Wal-Mart's speed in responding to Katrina underscores the extent to which it and other big-box retailers like Home Depot Inc. have become key players in responding to natural disasters. Whereas FEMA has to scramble for resources, Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart has it owns trucks, distribution centers and dozens of stores in most areas of the country. It also has a specific protocol for responding to disasters, and it can activate an emergency command center to coordinate an immediate response. In the short term at least, the hurricane has helped boost Wal-Mart's tattered image, damaged by a major sex-discrimination suit and allegations that it provides workers stingy pay and benefits. The 33-year-old Mr. Jackson, who has an undergraduate degree in emergency management and a masters in security management, is effectively the quartermaster-general in Wal-Mart's efforts to provide supplies -- and quickly revive sales -- in areas hit by hurricanes, tornadoes or floods. "People know they can get what they need at Wal-Mart," said Richard Stinson, manager of the Wal-Mart supercenter in Laplace, La., as he walked the aisles of his packed store late last week. "It's because of what we can supply, our ability to get the merchandise in the building, the associates to get it on the shelf." Still, he noted, there are still items -- mops for flooded floors, paper plates and cups, socks, underwear, air mattresses -- he can't keep on the shelves. The store on Highway 61, the main street in Laplace, lost power and water like all its neighbors in suburban New Orleans. Mr. Stinson's first call from his cellphone was to Mr. Jackson's emergency center. The center sent six loss-prevention employees, who helped secure the building and merchandise, assisted by local sheriff's deputies who kept watch during the first dark nights. The emergency center also arranged to send generators and got Mr. Stinson's list of immediate needs. Laplace, which is 30 miles west of New Orleans, suffered comparatively little flooding and damage, but it became a refuge for evacuees who had. The center also supplied such goods as cereal, peanut butter, crackers and water to area shelters. The store regained power four days after Katrina. Employees showed up for work in small but growing numbers, two immediately after the storm and 200 by late last week, out of a total of 407. Some employees came from other Wal-Mart-owned stores, including Stephen Cortez, an employee at a shuttered Sam's Club in hard-hit Metairie, another New Orleans suburb. The store, like others up and down the Gulf Coast, has lines of people waiting to come in. Late last week, more than 100 people waited in 95 degree heat for their turn to shop. The store didn't sell its small supply of ice, keeping it instead to cool water for waiting customers. Local deputies guarded the line to keep people from cutting in. At the request of
RE: [Futurework] Contentsofhttp://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/090605_greeks_gifts.shtml
I think everybody is a little bit on the mark with this. I also think that 20-20 hindsight is a game everyone can play and enjoy. My 20-20 is that it was a disaster and there is enough blame to go around. I would start with the mayor and governor then move on to Fema. When the hurrican veered east away from NO (weather modification techniques ??) everyone let down their guard but were blindsided when the levee was breached. Poor planning. Poor execution. Dismal governance. arthur -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Harry Pollard Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2005 4:24 AM To: 'Natalia Kuzmyn'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: RE: [Futurework] Contentsofhttp://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/090605_greeks_gifts. shtml Natalia, I think we all breathed a sigh of relief when on Monday it appeared that Katrina had veered east and was likely to miss New Orleans. Then on Tuesday we found the levee had broken. Yet, this wasn't apparently because of lack of attention. I've heard that the section that gave way had recently been upgraded and was not an earthen wall but a concrete wall several feet thick. On the Tuesday, the hurricane didn't disappear. It continued north spewing tornados in every direction. In such cases, the military is long gone. They fly their aircraft away until the storm is over, then bring them back when its safe. On the ground, I suspect there wasn't much chance of moving anything through the storm as it moved slowly towards Ohio. I understand that Bush had declared Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama disaster areas before the hurricane hit. This cuts red tape and makes FEMA aid easier to get into stricken areas. The city had an evacuation plan and scores of buses were available to evacuate those without cars. As we know, the buses were parked in a low level area and were soon waterlogged. The Mayor is responsible for the evacuation and he blew it completely. Those buses complete with drivers should have been on the freeways ready to go as soon as the weather allowed. As it was the great majority of the population were in that giant traffic jam out of New Orleans before the hurricane. The Feds can't order the National Guard into action. The Governor does and apparently she didn't give the order for a couple of days. There again, many of police and fire personnel skipped duty to look for their families and obviously can't be blamed for inadequacies - though they did very well The first Search and Rescue team to arrive came from BC - a splendid contribution. But where do you start in a disaster area somewhat near the size of Britain. Wherever you start, all the rest are kept waiting - and properly complaining. I rather suspect that the powers that be thought that the Dome and the Convention Center had taken care of many problems - not perhaps realizing until too late that they had become problems of their own. In any event, those people were supposedly safe, while many people clinging to roofs or trapped in attics were not. Most critics seem to have forgotten the sheer magnitude of the task. Governments tend to be unwieldy in action at the best of times. In the LA Northridge earthquake, several bridges on the Santa Monica Freeway were smashed sending many hundreds of thousands of cars through the surface streets. The government engineers in charge contracted for their repair but offered a large bonus for every day they brought the job home ahead of time. The freeway bridge were rapidly repaired and those millions of commuters were off the surface streets in, I believe, only about 6-8 weeks. They accomplished this by not doing through channels. They were fired. Harry Henry George School of Social Science of Los Angeles Box 655 Tujunga CA 91042 818 352-4141 -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Natalia Kuzmyn Sent: Wednesday, September 07, 2005 6:09 PM To: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca Subject: [Futurework] Contents ofhttp://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/090605_greeks_gi fts.shtml GREEKS BEARING GIFTS Paul Krugman at the New York Times and Clinton FEMA Director James Lee Witt Leading America Into the Next Slaughter By Michael C. Ruppert (c) Copyright 2005, From The Wilderness Publications, www.fromthewilderness.com. All Rights Reserved. May be reprinted, distributed or posted on an Internet web site for non-profit purposes only. September 6, 2005 1100 PST (FTW) ndash; Following is a story by Paul Krugman of the New York Times which basically lays the blame for all these ldquo;failuresrdquo; (how sick we are of hearing that word after 9/11) at the feet of Bush funding cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) since 2001. If you have been watching TV at all ndash; who hasnrsquo;t? ndash; you have also seen former Clinton FEMA Director, James Lee Witt
[Futurework] Jobs and Katrina
Job Outpouring For Evacuees Sparks Backlash 13 September 2005The Wall Street JournalB1 AFTER HURRICANE KATRINA, the influx of thousands of jobless people into new cities has ignited an unusual labor quandary: Many evacuees have arrived to the open arms of employers -- touching off resentment from some longtime unemployed locals. In places such as Houston, Baton Rouge, La., and San Antonio, where evacuees have arrived en masse, employers have blended hiring needs with a groundswell of compassion. Local outlets of McDonald's Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp., PetSmart Inc. and others have visited evacuee sites to pursue Katrina victims. Flyers at one shelter last week read, "San Antonio Jobs for Katrina Evacuees," and listed more than 60 employers with contact names and phone numbers. Each had called a local radio station vowing to offer jobs to hurricane victims in the city. That irritated Joe Dominguez, a 55-year-old construction worker in San Antonio out of a job for seven months. He fumed that local businesses were making an extra effort to open jobs for the victims. "It's not right," he said. "I can understand they need to work, but a lot of people [who were already] in San Antonio need jobs, too." In Northern Louisiana, and other places close to the storm zone, the impulse among companies to reach out has been phenomenal. The Houston office of WorkSource, a nonprofit organization that helps people find jobs, has received so many faxed job forms from companies offering to hire Katrina evacuees that staffers have had to change the fax machine's toner cartridge several times a day. There have been hundreds of requests for a range of jobs including barbers, truckers and technology workers. About 60 companies have asked to hire Katrina evacuees only, said Leonard Torres, a senior business consultant with the organization. Mr. Torres said it appears that a number of the jobs are being created just for evacuees. After setting up an evacuee-hiring hot line last week, the Texas Workforce Commission saw its switchboard light up, with 708 companies calling in postings for 8,428 openings. The state commission writes unemployment checks and helps people find jobs. At a Dallas job fair for evacuees on Thursday, 38% of the 2,100 attendees received job offers or had offers pending -- a far higher rate of success than at most job fairs, said commission spokeswoman Ann Hatchitt. Ms. Hatchitt said the commission checked to make sure there wasn't a statute that bars employers from focusing their hiring on Katrina evacuees. "What we have to look for is whether or not a protected class is being discriminated against," she said. "No one is discriminating against a protected class." She adds that the job fairs are available to everyone, and that some nonevacuee Texas residents have attended. San Antonio's unemployment rate in July was 4.9%, according to the latest available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is roughly in line with the national rate -- but San Antonio has swelled in recent days by an estimated 13,000 people from Katrina-ravaged areas. While many employers want to help victims of a disaster, does that gesture come at the expense of others in need of jobs? PetSmart, a Phoenix-based chain of about 760 pet-supply stores, is recruiting workers for its San Antonio-area stores at an evacuee center in that city because the company wants "to help out as much as we possibly can," said spokesman Bruce Richardson. "There's no established policy that we're going to be hiring one person over another one depending on whether they were evacuated. We're just sensitive to the need." At McDonald's, Steve Russell, senior vice president of human resources in the U.S., said the chain hasn't launched a program to hire evacuees, although individual McDonald's franchisees may be reaching out to them. He wouldn't say whether evacuees will get preference over other applicants, but said the company's focus is on hiring the right people. After volunteering to pass out food in the Houston Astrodome after Katrina hit, Erica Milburn was moved to do more. As the office manager of GrowthForce LLC, a small bookkeeping firm in Kingwood, Texas, she decided to hire one of the victims. The company didn't expect to add another entry-level bookkeeper for a few months. But Ms. Milburn sped the process along. The company interviewed three people displaced by the storm for the $12.50-an-hour position and offered the job to a bookkeeper from Gulfport, Miss. GrowthForce didn't consider any nonevacuees. "These are people who have lost everything," said Ms. Milburn. "Someone [not affected by Katrina] might have been looking for a job for awhile but I'm sure they have a home they can go to. . . . It's just the right thing to do." But some of the unemployed who weren't affected by the hurricane view themselves as indirect victims. Richard Richardson lost his $7.50-an-hour
[Futurework] mayor of NO moves to Dallas.
Subject: mayor of NO moves to Dallas.Dallas DigsTuesday, September 13, 2005By Brit HumeNow some fresh pickings from the Hurricane Grapevine:New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin (search) greeted President Bush when he arrived in Louisiana last night, and was at his side as he fielded questions on the Katrina relief efforts this morning. That quality time with the president, however, marks the mayor's first visit to the disaster area since Wednesday when Nagin pulled up stakes and moved his family to Dallas. The Dallas Morning News reports that Nagin has already bought a house in the city, and enrolled his daughter in school.When the Mayor appeared on "Meet the Press" on Sunday from Dallas, he was never asked about his presence there, or his decision to move his family. ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
[Futurework] the meaning of/in work
CUBICLE CULTURE Storm Survivors Long For the Normal Hassles Of a Day on the Job 14 September 2005The Wall Street JournalB1 TONY DICARLO was having a good year. He got married, a license to practice law and a job at a firm in his old neighborhood of St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans. Then Hurricane Katrina mowed through the Gulf Coast -- and through his best laid plans. He fled the storm to Little Rock, Ark., and the first thing he did was look for work. "I got here at two o'clock on Wednesday and by three o'clock I was looking for a job." Rather than just a salary, he was searching for a sense of purpose. After borrowing clothes, Mr. DiCarlo began work this past Monday, albeit as a law clerk. "It's just nice to be in an environment where I can be productive and not just sitting at home," he said after his first day. The will to work is one of the few things Katrina didn't destroy. It's one of the things the survivors are trying to do to reclaim some semblance of normality. But it won't be easy for many. Economists estimate that as many as one million people are out of jobs in the affected areas. Some companies still can't find their employees, and their employees still don't know whether there is a job to go back to. Nancy Martinsen, executive director of the Staffing Association of Arkansas and one of the countless good souls trying to help Katrina's victims find work, says work may be the only source of stability and identity for them. "A lot of who they are is in the swamp water in New Orleans and the Gulf," she says. SUSAN JOHNSON, a legal administrator who fled New Orleans with 10 members of her extended family, has been trying to get her kids in school without documentation and take care of her invalid mother while worrying about her nephew, a New Orleans policeman, and about medical insurance, because her husband was told by his company his insurance would run out. She would give just about anything to have to deal with the little hassles of her job, like having to redo old documents that grew stale. "Right now I'd love to be able to reprint those jobs again," she says of her bosses' work. "I worked for lovely people." Brandy Wilkinson, a high-school physics teacher from Metairie, La., crammed into her friend's apartment -- along with six other people -- in Tupelo, Miss. She's talking to local schools. "I really hate grading papers and I hate grading homework," she says. "But I'd grade every paper in the world just to be back there." Work also seems to ease a sense of indebtedness that thousands of people feel as perfect strangers in newly adopted towns across the country have given aid. The outpouring of help breaks up Troy Fink who evacuated his family from their Chalmette, La., home on Aug. 28 and headed north, landing in a hotel in Tupelo, Miss. The plumber rented a modest home for his family and suddenly the man from the bank he visited brought some furniture. When he visited the staffing firm Manpower, a woman there pulled a television and microwave out of the offices and gave it to him. "She said, `If you don't bring it back, that's fine,' " he recalls. He already has had a job interview. "If we get back into a daily cycle of me going to work and my girl in school, it'll be kind of like it was back home," he says. Whereas home often provides a refuge from work, Katrina's destruction has turned work into a refuge from homelessness. "To focus in on work and relationships we have at work has been the best catharsis I can think of," says Robbie Vitrano, founding partner of the New Orleans advertising firm Trumpet. WITH HIS PARENTS, two kids, his wife, and a cat and dog, Mr. Vitrano evacuated before Katrina slammed the city, staying with friends in the wooded area of Covington, La. After the storm hit there, he spent two days chainsawing his way out and ended up in Atlanta, where an affiliate firm offered his company office space. They just opened the office on Sept. 1. "The ability to be useful again and be in a functional mode was something we were all drawn to," he says. For most, a job would be a distraction from the destruction. Zon Palmer, a 38-year-old preschool teacher from Mandeville, La., who ended up in Little Rock, has found a job waiting tables. "The more I slow down and stop," she says, "the more I focus on it and depression sets in." Work is the easiest way to not deal with the horror, adds Beth James who is trying to figure out if she can reclaim the soap-making equipment she used to employ single mothers, now scattered throughout the South, to produce Queen B soap. "You feel like you're moving forward," she says. Ms. James herself missed the storm because she was home nearby in Opelousas, attending to affairs after her father died three weeks ago. She called her husband, a musician, and told him to pack as if he'd never return. "So, I have about 20 guitars and nothing else," she says. Brenda Dugas, a
RE: [Futurework] Minuteman Groups
According to the theories of Sigmund Freud, it is a psychological defense mechanism whereby one "projects" one's own undesirable thoughts, motivations, desires, feelings, and so forth onto someone else (usually another person, but psychological projection onto animals and inanimate objects also occurs). The principle of projection is well-established in psychology. An illustration would be an individual who feels dislike for another person (let's say Bob), but whose unconscious mind will not allow him to become aware of this negative emotion. Instead of admitting to himself that he feels dislike for Bob, he projects his dislike onto Bob, so that the individual's conscious thought is not "I don't like Bob," but "Bob doesn't seem to like me." "the operation of expelling feelings or wishes the individual finds wholly unacceptable ? too shameful, too obscene, too dangerous ? by attributing them to another." -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Lawrence deBivortSent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 10:48 AMTo: 'Darryl and Natalia'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Minuteman Groups Hi, Natalia, People often assert that they hate and denounce most in others those things that they hate in themselves. I have found this phenomenon intriguing for many years, for it provides a short-cut to understanding how a person views themselves, consciously or subconsciously. People often also accuse others of things they themselves do. I think the reason for this is that we know ourselves at a deeper level then we know others, so we reflect and project our own sense of ourselves on others. Yes, it is very revealing. Thanks for your post. Cheers, Lawry From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Darryl and NataliaSent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 12:16 AMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: [Futurework] Minuteman Groups All mail scanned by NAV Ever desperate for an excuse to bear arms, new groups of US citizens have been not only congregating to discuss concerns about illegal immigrants crossing their borders, they are actually taking it upon themselves to patrol the borders. They say they are worried about drugs, and especially about terrorists. They have been guarding the Mexican border for a while now, and as can be expected, have been subject to accusations of racism. Now a group is prepared to do the same at the Washington border to Canada, and have already begun to wander the nearby woodlands looking for those possible twenty or so per annum that mightsneak across that way.It's a leisurely past-time, just them and their gun accomplishing very little, but walking off the pent up aggression over their loss of American Way of Life, which once included respect for Americans from Canada, I guess. Personally, I think they'd be far more effective if they were to patrol the White House or Dubya's ranch fordangerous terrorists, but the collective hivemind cannot permit the possibility that the patriarchal hero of 9/11 has created for them the most dangeroustime in America. They fail to grasp that the collective subconscious can only sustain an ego by projecting onto those who disagree with their warring minds the intent of harm. As was interestingly demonstrated by Prof. McMurtry of Guelph University Philosophy Department, the US tends to accuse other nations of evils that they themselves are currently or are about to unleash upon the accused. Best recent example is, of course, Iraq's alleged intent to use WMD, and the resultant release of same by US forces upon the people of Iraq. Yesterday, London England was host to 60 countriesfor the biannual Defense Systems Equipment International exhibition. A little one-stop shopping to help feed the $trillion plus per annum industry.Included guests were China, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Columbia, Iraq, Israel...all of whom have questionable human rights records. (I believe this is the one Prince Andrew was involved with two years ago.) So here is Britain, sanctioning these events under the guise of counterterrorism and defense technologies for both governments and corporations, and cryinghorror and amazement over the recent bombings. Then we received theFt.Worth Star Telegram reportabout US 2003 international arms sales, which stated that 20 out of the top 25 of the US best clients were either from undemocratic regimes or from governments with major human rights abuses. We all know the US leads in world arms sales. Can't stop manufacturing WMD. Can't find enough nations to accuse of building them either. If ever there was a nation sofull of guilt, waiting to unload it onto
RE: [Futurework] Minuteman Groups
from http://encyclopedia.laborlawtalk.com/Psychological_projection -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Cordell, Arthur: ECOMSent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 11:00 AMTo: Lawrence deBivort; Darryl and Natalia; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Minuteman Groups According to the theories of Sigmund Freud, it is a psychological defense mechanism whereby one "projects" one's own undesirable thoughts, motivations, desires, feelings, and so forth onto someone else (usually another person, but psychological projection onto animals and inanimate objects also occurs). The principle of projection is well-established in psychology. An illustration would be an individual who feels dislike for another person (let's say Bob), but whose unconscious mind will not allow him to become aware of this negative emotion. Instead of admitting to himself that he feels dislike for Bob, he projects his dislike onto Bob, so that the individual's conscious thought is not "I don't like Bob," but "Bob doesn't seem to like me." "the operation of expelling feelings or wishes the individual finds wholly unacceptable ? too shameful, too obscene, too dangerous ? by attributing them to another." -Original Message-From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Lawrence deBivortSent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 10:48 AMTo: 'Darryl and Natalia'; futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: RE: [Futurework] Minuteman Groups Hi, Natalia, People often assert that they hate and denounce most in others those things that they hate in themselves. I have found this phenomenon intriguing for many years, for it provides a short-cut to understanding how a person views themselves, consciously or subconsciously. People often also accuse others of things they themselves do. I think the reason for this is that we know ourselves at a deeper level then we know others, so we reflect and project our own sense of ourselves on others. Yes, it is very revealing. Thanks for your post. Cheers, Lawry From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Darryl and NataliaSent: Thursday, September 15, 2005 12:16 AMTo: futurework@fes.uwaterloo.caSubject: [Futurework] Minuteman Groups All mail scanned by NAV Ever desperate for an excuse to bear arms, new groups of US citizens have been not only congregating to discuss concerns about illegal immigrants crossing their borders, they are actually taking it upon themselves to patrol the borders. They say they are worried about drugs, and especially about terrorists. They have been guarding the Mexican border for a while now, and as can be expected, have been subject to accusations of racism. Now a group is prepared to do the same at the Washington border to Canada, and have already begun to wander the nearby woodlands looking for those possible twenty or so per annum that mightsneak across that way.It's a leisurely past-time, just them and their gun accomplishing very little, but walking off the pent up aggression over their loss of American Way of Life, which once included respect for Americans from Canada, I guess. Personally, I think they'd be far more effective if they were to patrol the White House or Dubya's ranch fordangerous terrorists, but the collective hivemind cannot permit the possibility that the patriarchal hero of 9/11 has created for them the most dangeroustime in America. They fail to grasp that the collective subconscious can only sustain an ego by projecting onto those who disagree with their warring minds the intent of harm. As was interestingly demonstrated by Prof. McMurtry of Guelph University Philosophy Department, the US tends to accuse other nations of evils that they themselves are currently or are about to unleash upon the accused. Best recent example is, of course, Iraq's alleged intent to use WMD, and the resultant release of same by US forces upon the people of Iraq. Yesterday, London England was host to 60 countriesfor the biannual Defense Systems Equipment International exhibition. A little one-stop shopping to help feed the $trillion plus per annum industry.Included guests were China, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Columbia, Iraq, Israel...all of whom have questionable human rights records. (I believe this is the one Prince Andrew was involved with two years ago.) So here is Britain, sanctioning these events under the guise of counterterrorism and defense technologies for both
[Futurework] this should be interesting
International News Spreading the gospel according to Chavez 19 September 2005The Globe and MailA1English NEW YORK -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez looked fully at home in the pulpit of Manhattan's Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew as he preached the gospel of social justice so widely embraced by North America's liberal Christians. Fingering a crucifix that he had pulled from his breast pocket, Mr. Chavez assured his audience that he is no godless Communist, but an authentic Christian who is merely following the biblical injunction to serve the poor. I love my people more than anything. I am willing to give my life for my people, he said, in a clear reference to the recent call from U.S. evangelist Pat Robertson for his assassination. But Jesus Christ whom Mr. Chavez so often invoked in his speech did not have oil. Venezuela does, and its President scored a major propaganda coup this weekend by promising to supply some of the poorest communities in the United States with cheap heating oil this winter to offset record prices. The populist Latin American leader has been engaged in an ongoing war of words with White House officials and U.S. conservatives, who accuse him of attempting to spread socialist revolution throughout the region. He, on the other hand, accuses Washington of planning to invade his oil-rich country and assassinate him. On the weekend, Mr. Chavez took his message directly to the American people, portraying himself as friend of the poor and downtrodden, even in the United States, while casting U.S. President George W. Bush as a defender of the rich and powerful. On Saturday, Mr. Chavez toured the South Bronx, a depressed, violent neighbourhood populated mainly by blacks and Latinos and was greeted like a rock star. In a meeting with community leaders, he outlined a plan to have subsidized heating oil delivered by Citgo Petroleum Corp., a Houston-based refiner and marketer that is wholly owned by the Venezuelan national oil company. Citgo refines nearly 900,000 barrels of petroleum product a day in the United States, and owns 14,000 gas stations. Mr. Chavez said the company could deliver directly to schools, hospitals, community centres and seniors residences, cutting costs by avoiding the middle man. Mr. Chavez, whose government provides subsidized fuel to the poor in his own country and in some Caribbean countries, including Cuba, said he would like to see three projects running by winter to deliver subsidized fuel to neighbourhoods in New York, Chicago and Boston. The populist President was in New York for the summit of world leaders at the United Nations, an exercise he denounced as being hijacked by the United States and its powerful allies. He appeared on ABC's Nightline, where he accused the Bush administration of planning an invasion of Venezuela, and sat for interviews with the New York Daily News and Newsweek. On Saturday night, he addressed a boisterous, packed house at a United Methodist church in the affluent and liberal Upper West Side. The 1,000-strong audience was a mélange of blacks, Latinos and whites; front pews were populated by union bosses and church leaders from various congregations. Mr. Chavez arrived on the arm of U.S. civil rights leader Rev. Jesse Jackson, who spoke later, slamming the Bush administration for failing the poor of New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and praising Mr. Chavez's hand of friendship. The Venezuelan leader was preceded in the pulpit by a United Methodist minister and a Roman Catholic priest, who recounted Mr. Chavez' s efforts to deliver literacy programs, health care and basic necessities to the poor, and the United States's historic support of brutal right-wing dictators in the region. The stocky, 51-year-old leader then continued his wooing of the American people, and New Yorkers in particular. Starting today, you know that I fell in love. I fell in love with the Bronx, and with New York, he told his rapturous audience. For the first time, I have met the soul of the American people. -- ___ Futurework mailing list Futurework@fes.uwaterloo.ca http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
