>From: robert weissman <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subject: [corp-focus] SIGNS OF THE TIMES >Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 12:45:27 -0400 > >SIGNS OF THE TIMES >By Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman > >Using a statistical lens, two just-released books shed light on the >ravages of corporate globalization. > >Vital Signs 2006-2007 from the Washington, D.C.-based WorldWatch >Institute contends that "the health of the global economy and the >stability of nations will be shaped by our ability to address the >huge imbalances in natural resource systems." > >The Least Developed Countries Report 2006, issued by the United >Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), argues that >while there have been relatively higher rates of economic growth in >the Least Developed Countries (LDCs, a UN-designated group of the >world's poorest 50 countries), it is "not translating into poverty >reduction and improved human well-being." > >Here are 20 factoids from the reports, the first 10 from Vital >Signs, the second 10 from The Least Developed Countries Report: > >1. Global oil consumption in 2004 was 3.7 billion tons, about eight >times more than in 1950. Coal consumption was two-and-a-half times >more than 1950, and natural gas more than 15 times greater. > >2. 2005 was the warmest year ever recorded on Earth. Atmospheric >concentrations of carbon dioxide reached 379.6 parts per million for >2005. > >3. Thanks largely to Hurricane Katrina, weather-related disasters >caused more than $200 billion in damage, nearly double the previous >record. Three of the 10 strongest hurricanes ever recorded occurred >in 2005. > >4. More money was spent on advertising in 2005 than ever before -- >$570 billion, about half of which was spent in the United States. >The global figure is 11 times more than was spent in 1950, measured >in constant dollars. > >5. More than 37 million people have died from AIDS over the last two decades. > >6. The world's governments spent more than a trillion dollars on the >military in 2004, the highest figure since the end of the Cold War. > >7. An estimated 20 percent of the world's coral reefs have been >effectively destroyed. > >8. Twelve percent of all bird species are threatened. > >9. A billion people worldwide live in slums. > >10. More than 300 million people worldwide are obese. U.S. obesity >levels have doubled since 1990, to about 40 percent. Chinese levels >have doubled during the same period, now standing at 7 percent. > >11. Per capita, for every 100 researchers and scientists doing R&D >in rich countries, there are only two in LDCs. > >12. In 2004, LDCs had a combined trade deficit of $6.5 billion. >Exclude the oil exporters, and the combined deficit was $18.6 >billion -- more than 50 percent of the size of non-oil-exporting >LDCs' exports. > >13. LDCs imported $7.6 billion in food in 2003, while exporting only >$2.2 billion worth of food. > >14. The average years of schooling in LDCs is three years. > >15. About one-in-five high-skill workers in LDCs (defined as some >college or technical school education) was working in a rich country >in 2000. > >16. Thanks to International Monetary Fund and World Bank structural >adjustment programs, governments in LDCs are only half the >proportional size of rich country governments, with LDCs devoting >only 3.5 percent of their national economy (GDP) to state >administrative services. > >17. Between 1991 and 2004, only 20 U.S. patents were granted to >citizens from LDCs, compared with 14,824 from other developing >countries, and 1.8 million to citizens of rich countries. > >18. Labor productivity in LDCs is one-ninety-fourth the level of >rich countries. > >19. There are 3 percent as many phone lines per person in LDCs as in >rich countries. > >20. LDC energy consumption is 1.6 percent the level of rich countries. > >Not all the news is so bad. Malnourishment is declining quickly in >about a third of LDCs. Globally, infant mortality is at a record low >-- although gains are coming very slowly in the poorest countries. >(Only four LDCs are on target to meet the Millennium Development >Goal target of reducing under-five mortality by two-thirds by 2015.) >Bicycle production is rising rapidly, with 101 million bikes >manufactured in 2003 (the latest year for which data is available), >nearing record levels. Global production of photovoltaic cells -- >which generate electricity from sunlight -- increased 45 percent in >2005, with current levels six times the amount produced in 2000. > >Overall, however, there's no way to look at the data in these two >books and conclude anything but that the current way of doing things >is not working. > > >Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate >Crime Reporter, <http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com>. Robert >Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational >Monitor, <http://www.multinationalmonitor.org>. Mokhiber and >Weissman are co-authors of On the Rampage: Corporate Predators and >the Destruction of Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press). > >(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman > >This article is posted at: ><http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2006/000251.html>
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