Globaloney

In this section we will look at the current growing concerns and focus of NGOs on Globalization, the devastating impacts on millions of peoples being abused by economic globalization, the power shifts taking place, and look for realistic positive solutions (possibly Binary Economics) and contributions.

The IMF and World Bank's "Structural Adjustment Programs" (SAPs) have worked to structurally adjust the developing societies with a few rich at the top and has (SAP)ed the middle and lower classes. The IMF and the World Bank will come into the United Nations to tell how wonderful the SAPs work, and then the Ambassadors, Ministers and people from the countries will follow with stories about the disasters in their countries from SAPs. The developing country's governments say, "Your Gloalization and Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) have NO HUMAN FACE!"

Classic example of this is a recent Charlie Rose show with George Soros (1st week in January 1999) where Mr. Soros said, "...you can expect a disaster in Brazil because of the requirements the IMF and World Bank will impose on Brazil to bail them out." Similar to the Asian countries (Thailand, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia). In other words SAPs impacts are totally predictable.

"If you are a white male over 40 years old living in the USA (Europe), you're DONE in the job market."

"Best you can do is start your own business." You are going to be replaced by a younger and cheaper worker (no benefits). . . normally a woman (they accept lower pay). If not that, technology will do it!

"Our education system in the developed world will have to be totally replaced . . . most workers will have from 8 to 14 totally new jobs (careers) in their life times."

“Despite a recovery in world financial markets, the global economy is in a slow-growth mode that is sapping standards of living in already hard-hit developing and transition economies, says a United Nations Report released today.

The transition economies that were in a growth mode, but have lost their momentum.

UN Under-Secretary General for Economic and Social Affairs Nitin Desai, who presented the new report; “The World Economy in 1999” on July 1, 1999 said the financial crisis of the past two years, and the ensuing economic slowdowns, have dealt a stunning blow to the world development prospects.

The international economic environment is aggravating the difficulty of economic recovery, the reports says. The dollar value of world trade fell in 1998. Commodity prices remain low, and developing and transition countries have suffered an enormous loss of net financial flows.”

“It might be tempting to leave the economic and social issues to others, there is now the challenge of economic and social crisis, which really means the challenge of globalization and the global governance.

Unless we tackle the underlying distortions and imbalances in the global economy, unless we start the kind of global governance that is needed, we must expect more [political and military] conflicts and even more intractable ones. Economic and political security are closely interconnected.”

Dr. David Korten, Author of the much read "When Corporations Rule the World" has just released his latest attack on the Transnational Corporations and the Power Elite Super Rich.
Mr. Korten's "The Post-Corporate World" Asks; Communism is Dead. Is Capitalism Next?

As capitalism's "miracle" economies collapse one after the other in the face of global financial instability, the fate of capitalism itself has become the great unspoken question.

This book is a "Shot Heard Around The World" fired directly at the Transnational Corporations, their ownership, greed, and the whole Capitalist system.

**First Generation Videotape: "Conversations with David and Robert" A videotape (1:46 hr/min) is available at cost of $10.00 (plus $3.32 if shipped Priority Mail) This is not a substitute for the deep and detailed content of the two books (or the authors complete thinking) but it is a stunning, powerful and provocative insight into a major global social change underway.
Contact: Dr. Larry T. Gell 1-212-687-1775 fax: 212-697-2363 or l gell@undp.org

“President Clinton wants to increase military spending by $110 billion over the next six years. Republicans want to spend even more! For next year, Mr. Clinton will request $269 billion. Under the 1997 balanced budget agreement, any increase in defense spending must be paid for by tax increases or reduction in domestic programs.” [pulling the social safety nets, wanted by the Republicans]

Steven Forbes, who wants to become your President, also wants further tax cuts for the rich and corporations. We wonder just who is going to pay for the military increase in the end? see UPDATE!! below.

The latest check of the National Debt Clock on 42nd Street and Avenue of the Americas in New York City indicates that America’s current debt is $5,640,906,859.521.00 and increasing at the rate of $10,000.00 per SECOND! [Thanks mainly to the Republican policies of President Ronald Wilson Reagan.] Your family’s share of the National Debt is now $72,805.00 as of January 23, 1998. Please save your money. They might just be asking for it soon!

UPDATE!!! The Super Rich Elite Steven Forbes (multi-billionarie) announces his candidacy for the President of The United States, March 15, 1999. His platform is to "bring back the Reagan Legacy" . . . God help us . . . maybe $20,000-per-second debt!

[PS: Japan has much of that obligation, so don’t worry about Japan’s current financial crisis. . . they will be back!]

The MAI - Multilateral Agreement on Investment being drafted by the OECD. The MAI aims to liberalize international investment by severely restricting the ability of the communities and governments to control and challenge the actions of the multinational companies. Negotiated by OECD countries and brokered by big business, the treaty is open to Developing Countries who will be bound by its rules, despite the fact that they have not been party to the negotiations. Kind of ignoring the international agreements (already agreed to by the countries at the United Nations) and rewriting the rules established by the 52 years of negotiations and agreements of the UN. Monitoring the MAI, IMF and the WTO will give you a good look at the fairness of Globalization; who really wins and who loses. The World Bank's record on the impacts of "structural adjustment" might give you an indication of how things are going.

One more reason for the focus of the people on the corporations. Their actions speak louder than their words! They have successfully had the “Transnational Corporations Department” of the UNCTAD disbanded and closed in Europe. This was the only body inside the United Nations which was monitoring and tracking the Transnationals success in globalization.

George Soros on The Charlie Rose show December 29, 1998, "On Brazil, you can expect an unavoidable crash and economic recession soon due to the World Bank's policy of 'structural adjustment," which includes cutting "social safety nets" (costs to governments budgets, which hampers their ability to pay the interest on the banks debt) imposes taxes and higher interest rates on the masses to recover (take back) their assets. Similar requirements imposed on Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Korea etc. End result on millions of people is loss of jobs, food, homes, and the accompanying violence against one group or another being blamed for the deteriorating conditions. Outside sources are responsible (and we know who they are and where the monies went), yet people inside the country take the blame and the brunt of the frustrations.

A bunch of 27 years olds sitting on Wall Street monitoring their computers determine it is time to withdraw instantly huge invested funds (billions$) in Indonesia. Brilliant move! Once again they make millions for their shareholders. But, what is the cost to the human beings living in Indonesia. And will the real story be told to the Americans? Here is just one of the letters received from Indonesia:

Subject: Capital Markets: What its all about?
(Who gets hurt as from Globalization and the making of fast bucks!)

I recently received the following message from a friend in Indonesia. I'm forwarding it to the ICC list-server so that we can, for a moment, remember exactly why an ICC is so necessary. Sometimes, in the hustle and bustle of votes, brackets and delegations its hard to remember why we got involved in the first place. This world needs a international criminal court so that some kind of justice can be brought to bear in situations like the horrific ones described below. [The real people (money managers) who caused the conditions, by pulling their money rapidly out of Indonesia, should be held accountable and responsible for taking advantage of the fragile Developing and Emerging Markets.]

Here I submit a victim's account of being raped during the May riots here in Jakarta.

"My name is Vivian, and I am 18 years old. I have a little sister and brother. As a family we live in what is supposed to be a "secure" apartment. At 9.15 am, May 14th, 1998 a huge crowd had gathered around our apartment. They screamed, "Let's butcher the Chinese!",

"Let's eat pigs!", "Let's have a party!" We live of the 7th floor and we got a call from a family on the 3rd floor saying that the crowd had reached the 2nd floor. They even chased some occupants upstairs. We were all very frightened. In our fright we prayed and left everything in God's hands. Afterward we left our room and went upstairs to the top floor, as it was impossible to go downstairs and escape. We got to the 15th floor and stayed with some friends. Not long afterwards we were surprised because some of the crowd coming out of the elevators right before we entered the room. We hurried into the room and locked the door tightly.

At that time we heard them knock at the other rooms loudly and there were some screams from women and girls. Our room was filled with fear. We realized that they would come to us. So we spread throughout the room hiding in the corners. We could hear girls of 10 to 12 years old screaming, "Mommy,...mommy...mom...mom...it hurts" That time I didn't know that these little girls were being raped. After about half an hour the noise diminished and we had some guts to go out and check. It was indescribable. A lot, some of them young girls, were lying on the floor. "Oh my God, what has happened?" Seeing all of this we screamed and my little sister Fenny, screamed hysterically and hugged her father. Tears started coming down from my eyes. With our friends, a newly-wed couple, we started going downstairs. Reaching the 10th floor, we heard a scream for help. The scream was very clear and we decided to go down and see. But as we turned we saw a lot of people. I saw a woman in her 20s being raped by 4 men. She tried to fight back but she was held down tightly. Realizing the danger we ran as hard as we could. But unfortunately the mob caught Fenny. We tried to rescue her, but could not do anything. There were about 60 of them. They tied us up with ripped sheets, myself, my father, my mother Fenny, Donny, Uncle Dodi and my Aunt Vera. They led us to a room. Uncle Dodi asked what they wanted, but they did not reply.

They looked evil and savage. One of them grabbed Fenny roughly and dragged her to a sofa. At that time I knew she was in great danger. I screamed loudly but one of the mob slapped me in my face. My father who also screamed was hit with a piece of wood and he fainted. My mother has fainted when Fenny was dragged to the sofa. I could only pray and pray that disaster would not befall us. Uncle Dodi kept trying to stop them by offering money. His efforts were fruitless. And in the end 5 people raped Fenny.

Before beginning with the raping they always said "Allahu Akbar" (an Islamic phrase in Arabic meaning "God is great".) They were ferocious and brutal. Not long afterward, around 9 men came to the room and dragged me. I also saw them forcing and dragging my Aunt Vera. But at that time I passed out and everything went blank. I became conscious at around 5 or 6 p.m.. My head hurt and I realized I had no clothing on my body. I cried and realized my family was still there. My father was hugging my mother and little bother Doni. I also saw uncle Dodi lying on the floor and Aunt Vera was crying over his body. I felt so weak and fainted again.

The next day I was in the Pluit hospital. My father and mother were beside me. With all the pains on my body I asked, "Mom, why Fenny. Mom?" I felt a stinging pain as I said these words. My cheeks were swollen. My mother cried again and couldn't speak any words, while my father, holding back his tears, managed to smile at me.

After 4 days in treatment, my condition has improved. With a sad look, my father told me then what had happened. After I fainted 7 people raped me. At that time my father still couldn't see well after being hit with a piece of wood. They raped me repeatedly. Then my father said "Vivian, Fenny is gone..." I was confused and cried out, "Why Dad?" My father couldn't answer. He told me to rest and went out of the room. I cried over and over again, feeling that my life had no meaning any more.

A week ago, after I was released from the hospital I was told everything that had happened. When Fenny was raped she kept on fighting and so she was repeatedly slapped by her rapists. The last time she fought Fenny spitted on one of them. Offended, the man grabbed a knife and stabbed Fenny's stomach over and over again. Finally she died with blood over her whole body. My father told me that uncle Dodi had the same fate watched by aunt Vera who was also raped.

"God...why should all of this happen? Where are you God? Are you still alive?" My aunt Vera now stays with her parents. She is in shock. Her face is blank and refuses to eat. Almost every hour my mother and I cry over all these happenings.

This is one of many victims. Hundreds of women and children were raped, mutilated and killed by Muslim mobs. Some had their vaginas ripped apart, their bodies cut into pieces.

Over 5000 of the Chinese Indonesian's shops were looted and burned down. A few days ago anther 63 shops were burned in Tegal, Central Java. The city of Solo is burned down. There is no protection and no justice in this country any more. Yesterday I was in the Kelapa Gading area and that area was spared from destruction. The police and military had guarded all the entry roads. The people there had collected large sums of money from door to door and paid for their protection. A similar situation took place in the Pondok Indah area. For the people who cannot pay millions to the armed forces there is no protection.

Right now the hundreds of thousands of thugs, robbers, rapist, and killers live all around us. They are our neighbors. There is no punishment for the criminals and no justice for the victims. Yet, all Indonesians call themselves believers in

God almighty. What a hypocrisy. Shouting "God is great" when raping women and children is a blasphemy against a Holy God. Pray that God will anoint His preachers and missionaries throughout this nation with the power of the Holy Spirit to preach the message of repentance. God's word in 2 Chronicles 7:14 needs to be proclaimed boldly. There is no room for preachers filled with fear who think of evacuation and other selfish plans. Pray for Revival in all our churches. Some Christians are putting signs on their shops "Owned by Muslim". May God forgive them. Healing of this nation filled with crime and injustice is bringing God's judgment and punishment. Healing and Salvation can only come with a national repentance at all levels in the government, armed forces and society. Then we need to share the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the One and Only Savior. No one will ever receive forgiveness and see heaven except through God's appointed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

This came in from friends in Jakarta..please read on and say a prayer for these victims.

Two nights ago, I heard on the BBC the report of hundreds if not thousands of Chinese women experiencing trauma from the atrocities done to them mid-May, particularly in Jakarta. I was very disturbed, and angry for the lack of justice even now. Just now, I received the email below and I thought I would circulate it around to friends on my personal email list. This is for your prayer. If you can do something about it, even better. Rodney

Please forward this "Yellow Ribbon" to all friends around the world to show our solidarity and sympathy for the victims of the riots and chaos in Indonesia last

May 13-15. Many Chinese Indonesian citizens were abused, tortured and killed. Their houses and stores were looted and burnt. Hundreds of Chinese Indonesian girls/women (aged 10-55) were sexually harassed and gang raped brutally. Some victims were even raped in front of their family members or in front of inhuman cheering crowd. Some of them were even thrown into the fire and burnt to death after being raped. Yet, not many actions seem to have been taken to investigate all this or to help the victims. And not very many people seem to know or care about what happened. Please help to spread the news and let the world know. We need help to get more international attention to help Chinese Indonesians, who are now living in fear in Indonesia. Please pass this ribbon around as the symbol of campaign against human rights violations, injustice, and racism towards Chinese Indonesians.

"Stay the course...a thousand points of light." and the "New World Economic Order." Restructuring, Downsizing and the Shifting Economic Priorities of Globalization...and their implications for the people of the world.

What is happening? and... What are the implications? Is it the "best of times" and/or the "worst of times?" What are the Challenges, Problems and Opportunities? How can we all form better Partnerships to solve our awareness and consciousness of the shrinking global village, and the conditions, problems and needs of all of the players in society. Are the Corporations in control and the Governments and People all being downsized...marginalized? Is the money and power shifting to the Corporations. Do the corporations have a value system...ethics, morality or religious beliefs? Are they aware of their new responsibilities and are they sensitive to peoples issues?

Here are a few sites that are beginning to look more closely at the world of the Multinationals-MNCs and Transnational Corporations - TNCs...

The People-Centered Development Forum at http://iisd1.iisd.ca/pcdf
Corporate Watch at http://www.corpwatch.org
Council on Economic Priorities at http://www.accesspt.com/cep

Stay tuned. And if you have any points of view, relevant websites, etc...let us know. Send your inputs to the Administrator of The NGOs Network. We especially would like to hear from both Corporations and Governments. We are your partners. We want to help you solve the problems you are creating.

The core of NGO concern about corporate accountability is quite straight forward. Market deregulation and economic globalization are increasing the power and reducing the public accountability of the world's largest corporations. Behind the carefully crafted public relations images of socially and environmentally responsible corporate citizenship, lies a rather different reality. The only way that a corporation can meet the incessant demands of their shareholders to increase their profits at an annual rate of from 10 to 20 percent is to capture an ever greater share of the world's economic gains while passing on to others their costs Noam Chomsky calls it privatizing gains and socializing costs. This process is actively destroying the fabric of human societies and the life support systems of the planet. There can be no sustainability until we end it.

History has consistently proven that when power becomes concentrated in unaccountable institutions it will be abused to the detriment of the larger society. Global corporations are no exception.

Yes. Global corporations should be responsible. But it is naive to believe that they will be responsible unless there are well developed mechanisms for holding them accountable to the human interest. We must create such mechanisms.

This is a global issue that requires action at a global level to curb the power of global corporations and put into place mechanisms to assure their accountability to humanity. Here we face a dilemma. The global institutions that have taken unto themselves the responsibility for managing the global economy&emdash;the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, International Standards Organization, the OECD, G-7, and others&emdash;are wholly undemocratic and dominated by corporate interests.

The only consequential international body that can credibly represent the human interest in this matter through an open and democratic process is the United Nations. The obvious body for placing these issues on the United Nations agenda is the CSD, which is the one UN body that brings a broad long-term perspective to bear on issues of equity and sustainability. Therefore I strongly support the proposal to establish a CSD Sub-Commission on Corporate Accountability and urge that it give particular attention to measures that would hold corporations accountable for full costs of their operation.

When talking of corporate responsibility, we must take into account the fact that the corporation is one of the most authoritarian and undemocratic institutions ever created. In the absence of the restraining hand of strong governments and labor unions, the CEO of a major corporation may at any time hire, fire, and reassign staff, open and close plants, add and drop product lines, and change transfer pricing almost at will with virtually no recourse by the people or communities affected either inside or outside the organization.

Together the processes of deregulation and globalization have effectively removed governments and labor unions as effective restraints. Meanwhile, day by day the largest corporations continue to consolidate their power through mergers, acquisitions. and strategic alliances. The statistics are sobering.

Of the world's 100 largest economies, 51 are corporations. Only 49 are countries. The economy of Mitsubishi is larger than that of Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country and a land of enormous natural wealth.

The combined sales of the world's top 200 corporations are equal to 28 percent of the world GDP.

These same 200 corporations employ only 188 million people, less than 1/3 of one percent of the world's population&emdash;even as downsizing continues.

In 1995 the total value of mergers and acquisitions for the world exceeded any prior year by 25 percent.

The primary accountability of these corporations is to the global financial markets in which each day $1.4 trillion in foreign exchange changes hands in the search for speculative profits wholly unrelated to any exchange of real goods or services.

Whose interests are represented by these financial markets to which the world's most powerful corporations are beholden? In the United States 77 percent of shareholder wealth is owned by a mere 5 percent of households. The broader population that holds a beneficial ownership through pension funds is represented in corporate governance by a few hundred fund managers who have no accountability to the beneficial owners beyond protecting the security of their benefits.

Globally the share of the world's population that has a consequential participation in corporate ownership is far less than 1 percent. This concentration of power in corporations accountable only to a tiny global elite denies the most basic principles of democratic governance.

It also denies any concept of equity or economic justice as it leads directly to the massive concentration of wealth in the hands of those whose financial interests the world's mega- corporations serve. Foremost among them are the world's 447 billionaires whose combined total assets are roughly equal to the combined annual incomes of the poorest half of humanity 2.8 billion people.

How does such a tiny portion of the world's population gain control of such a disproportionate share of the world's wealth?

Market advocates commonly claim that a firm's profits reflect its value added contribution to the society. But that isn't necessarily the case. A global economy with open borders and a massive surplus of unemployed labor gives the global corporation enormous power to use the jobs it has not yet eliminated as a bargaining tool to bid down wages and working conditions, environmental, health, and safety standards? and to demand outright subsidies from government. Essentially the corporation tells workers and the community, "If you want the jobs I can bring, then you must absorb more of the costs of my operation."

Ralph Estes, author of "Tyranny of the Bottom Line and Corporate Social Accounting," has compiled estimates from a number of studies of the costs that corporations externalize onto U.S. society. He came up with a conservative total annual figure of $2.6 trillion.

Particularly disturbing is the fact that many forms of cost externalization involve the absolute, and sometimes permanent, destruction or depletion of the real productive capital of the society. For example:

... Consider the case of corporations that hire girls and young women in places like the Mexican maquiladoras under conditions that result in permanent vision losses, allergies, kidney dysfunctions, and repetitive stress injuries that render them unemployable after three to four years. By age twenty, their lives destroyed, they are cast out as depleted human capital.

... Corporations now commonly hire workers in insecure jobs with inadequate pay. The resulting stress of the economic insecurity and the inherent difficulties of attempting to maintain self and family on less than a living family wage results in family breakdown and violence. This depletes the social capital of society.

... When corporations strip mine forests, fisheries, and mineral deposits, dump wastes, and sell toxic chemicals that do not break down naturally in the environment they deplete the earth's natural capital and destroy the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people.

Cases such as Shell Oil in Nigeria, Texaco in Ecuador, Freeport Mining in Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, and countless others less publicized demonstrate that these are not mere hypothetical examples.

Market theory is quite clear that a market allocates efficiently in the public interest only so long as producers bear the full cost of the goods they sell. Unfortunately, the global economy both rewards and facilitates the shifting of costs from the corporation to the society. The result is massive and deeply destructive inefficiency that systematically works against both equity and sustainability.

The irony is that the many of the most basic principles of a market economy are consistent with the requirements of equity and sustainability. The problem is that our existing global economy rewards those who fail to honor these principles and punishes those who do. United Nations action is urgently needed to call attention to this problem and to work with member governments on putting in place the necessary instruments by which corporations can be held accountable for living by the principles on which socially efficient market allocation depends.

To this end, I believe the CSD should establish a Sub-Commission on Corporate Accountability that would consider the following three proposals among others.

1. Market Efficiency Audits. An annual Market Efficiency Audit should be made a mandatory legal requirement for any corporation with $5 million or more in either sales or assets. This audit would account for the corporation's externalized costs the total public subsidy of its operations. As with financial accounting, the goal would be to arrive ultimately at a single bottom line number that could be compared to the corporation's total sales, profits, and tax payments, and to averages for its industry and for all corporations in order to assess its relative market efficiency. A score of 100 percent market efficiency would mean it has born the full costs of its operation.

The full audit report, as certified by an independent public audit authority, should be a public document and readily available to any interested party. A summary of the results should be included in the firm's financial prospectus for review by current and prospective owners.

The result should be reflected in the labeling of the corporation's products. Just as a shirt label might report the cotton content, it might also indicate that the public subsidy content is say. $15. Thus the buyer will know the uncompensated cost to society of his or her purchase and be able to make a choice in favor of the more responsible producers.

2. Tax shift. To make human societies more equitable and sustainable we must increase employment opportunities and reduce the burden we place on the environment. Yet in most countries tax policies work in exactly the opposite direction, actually providing incentives for corporations to eliminate secure family wage jobs and to push their environmental costs onto the community. This anomaly can be corrected by taxing resource extraction and pollution and using the proceeds to eliminate payroll taxes. These measures at the same time create market incentives in favor of full cost internalization.

3. Protection of Community Standards. Nations and localities all around the world are under great pressure to reduce public standards regarding wages, working conditions, health, safety, and the environment in the name of global competition. The United Nations should be working to put in place international agreements that recognize and protect the right of any country or community to establish and enforce environmental, wage, labor, health, workplace and other standards for the purpose of assuring fair market competition by requiring those who produce and/or sell goods and services in the community to operate on a full cost internalization basis.

Together these measures would move the global economy in the direction of honoring one of the most basic of market principles. They would almost surely lead to a much needed restructuring of the corporate sector as the market purges the inefficient and subsidy dependent.

They would also raise the prices, and thereby reduce the use of many harmful market goods&emdash; such as automobiles&emdash;in favor of more sustainable alternatives such as public transportation. Traumatic as the resulting transition might be for the corporate world, the end result will be a healthier business community, healthier societies, and an increase in both the legitimacy and efficiency of the world's market economies.

David C. Korten is the author of "When Corporations Rule the World" (West Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press & San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1995), president of the People-Centered Development Forum, and board chair of The Positive Futures Network, publishers of Yes! A Journal of Positive Futures.

“Think Globally and Act Locally:” And we will give you plenty to do “Locally.” You can start by looking for jobs. Excuse us while we dump you , take your money and go ACT Globally. PS: Do not take this personally, It is just business! And this is the era of “Big Business” . . . remember it is the “End of Big Government.” Your President has informed you in his "State of the Union" address 3 years ago.

BP Oil acquires AMACO Oil and announces another 2,000 USA jobs to be cut, after just dumping 10,000 USA jobs recently. - Radio 4/1/99

PBS, Nightly Business Report of December 30, 1998 reports that over 860,000 jobs have been “dumped” in America this year measured to November 1998. And 100,000’s hundreds of thousands of workers have been given “pink slips” (layoffs) this Merry Christmas. Now if that bothers you, there is always plenty of football games and other goofy things on television for you to watch. See television.

Never Ending "Downsizing" . . . tens of millions of workers have been downsized in America.

November 17, 1997... GM announces another downsizing! This time it will only be 42,000. Now that's not too bad. Unless of course you are being let go. Just in time for Christmas! They always manage to get the timing right. Must have to do with stocks

Kodak announces with glee to Wall Street today, Tuesday, November 11, 1997 that they will have to lay off another 10,000 workers. Did you ever notice how they manage to time it towards Christmas. That's the "masters of management." I wonder if that is taught at our better graduate schools of business. They said that they have to compete in the global economy and cutting more fixed costs (people), will definitely make their company ratios look a lot better to the Wall Street Investors for the future of Kodak stockholders. Besides that, with Clinton's "Fast-Track" to South America - hey, we never saw cheaper labor so close. PS: I wonder if this means we all in the USA can look towards cheaper film? After all, the Fed's are watching that old bug inflation you know. Can't image that they would get the cheap labor and then jack the prices up like Nike (NYTimes article this week)...can you?

The World Bank says the layoff rate in the USA is around 8,000 a day! Means, tens of millions got dumped since Ronald Reagan 1980 walked into office. Thank you Kodak for not letting us down...or is it off?

Company:	Layoffs:
General Motors	42,000
Kodak	10,000
Woolworth Corp	9,200
Citicorp	9,000
International Paper	9,000
Fruit of the Loom	7.700
Montgomery Ward	7.700
Levi Strauss	6,400
Boeing Corp 3/98	20,000

This is a tiny example of downsizing, we can't possible keep up with the magnitude of the layoffs.

Do you think, if they keep this up, the people will not have any money to buy their products? Christmas retail sales were way off this year, leaving the retailers with a lot of inventory to sell off at deep discounts after Christmas. Now there's a great way to run a small business. You'll be bankrupt, and of course the Rich will get back yours and their assets.

Well, that’s not a problem; if the companies are manufacturing overseas, they are probably selling their products overseas. See, there is no problem. Keep buying their stocks. Hum, maybe that's why the market keeps going up.

Well, if you have been "downsized," why don't you become an Entrepreneur...

Suppose you have been trained by our universities to be a cog-in-the-wheel, fit into that big corporation - you know . . . the one that left the country! Just think of the opportunities to be your own entrepreneur, own your own business, run it all yourself. After all, 85 % fail in the first two years of start-up. Think of the challenge. Could that be why the Government just changed the bankruptcy laws this past week...so that you can not protect your personal assets, like your home any more? Anybody else notice they didn't change the bankruptcy laws for the corporations.

Look, we can always build more prisons and put more police on the streets. John Gambling on NYC talk radio this week, told the story and recommend you avoid driving through a town in Florida where they now have 1 police officer for each 80 residents with nothing to do, but look for people to arrest or give tickets to.

We suggest you read Dr. John Kenneth Galbraith's book, "A Journey through Economic Times" 1996. Especially his brilliant summary chapter. "If you can not give your people jobs, you will have to control your people; you will have to build more prisons and put more police on the streets." Hum.

Look, you must have patience..."trickle down" will work if you give it enough time. It's just that the people at the top do not have enough wealth yet to start the "trickling." ...down that is. Did I see the word "trick" in that? You could always buy some stock too...and start your own "trickle up" program. Don't let them eat cake! Let them eat stock!!

No region has suffered such steep economic declines and social reversals. These countries have experienced the sharpest declines in income and life expectancy of any countries on Earth. The number of people who have been pushed into poverty is greater than the combined total population of France, United Kingdom, Netherlands and all of Scandinavian countries.

These transition economies of the FSU and CEE grew less than Africa and experienced greater inflation and rising inequality than Latin America. Up to 45 per cent of their populations could be counted as poor in 1993-1995.

All this even after Harvard professor Jeffery Sacks' (sic) globalization economics of "structural adjustment." for Russia. Or was it because of . . . ?

Does anybody know why you have to go all the way to “deepest and darkest” Africa to see real global news on television? And, you can see at least three (3) major international television stations competing to bring you the best of the global news 24 hours a day! Namely, the British BBC, the European ITC and yes even a completely different CNN. All this done by the magic of satellites. Don’t we have satellites here in America? And, what is all this blaw blaw about “other countries having to open up their countries markets to free trade.” No wonder the countries at the United Nations are telling the American’s, “We asked for your help, not your people and your culture, especially your tv programming!”

You can get a preview of what I am talking about by going up to Canada. Seems satellites manage to beam into that part of North America, but have trouble coming south of the border.

Are we to assume the Media in America thinks we all are dysfunctional idiots, sitting home waiting for the next sport show, the latest gossip on the TV tabloids, the soaps, some good violence shows, etc. . . waiting to be entertained?

You needed an outcry from concerned Americans just to get them to promise to put on some decent programming for our children. All this stuff just doesn’t sell for their advertisers (our corporations.)

Some of us would like to be educated and informed . . . thank God for the Internet, America’s only hope! I am sure they will try to restrict that too!

President Clinton's opening sentences on the big Social Security Conference held December 1998 referred to the Chilean Model of Social Security as maybe the way to go. The USA has had Pinochet here in America selling the Chilean Model to Americans for months and is current over in England to sell it there (See Margaret Thatcher's UN Letter).

The World Bank likes the Chilean Model also and has made presentations to countries at the UN on the benefits of such. The UN has also brought in speakers from Chile. There exists a excellent videotape on the UN meetings where you get to hear first-hand from the workers and labor unions of Chile. See below.

The Chilean Model basically says, convert the Governments responsibility for the Social Security over to a "privatized" (private sector corporations) system. Let each citizen Caveat Emptor be responsible for their own future and manage and make their own investments. AT&T did this for my sister-in-law and when the Russian and Asian Markets crisis came late in 1998, her investments and future retirement dropped by a whopping 50%. Remind you of the benefits we got sold on the privatization of the healthcare system in America and the cost cutting, bottom line managed HMOs?

Poor Mrs. Clinton tried to get a decent Healthcare System for the people of America, and they have been trying to run her and her husband (The President) out of Washington ever since. Get the President! By the "Holier than Thou." club.

Basically, so far the benefits are as follows: If you are big Government, and you have been spending the Social Security instead of investing it, then the Chilean Model is great. You get rid of your obligations and you get to downsize the government, cut the budget, continue the dismantling of the "entitlement system," pull another "social safety net" etc, etc. "Stay the course, a thousand points of light." If you are a private sector Fund Management company you will come into a massive amount of money to freely invest globally in all those risky Russian and Asian markets. You can wheel and deal, put the money in fast, and pull it just as fast. It's FUN! Remember Indonesia. And, the risk and loses are on the future retirement funds of some nameless investor. What a game!

If you come from Chile and you are not in those two categories, you must be the the worker Middle Classes and Poor (well the Poor probably don't have anything to invest anyway). Then your future is a big gamble with no guarantees. You might as well buy lottery tickets or head for the Gambling Casinos of Macao, China. BETTER YET, JUST GIVE THEM YOUR MONEY AND MAKE IT EASY FOR THEM. Otherwise, they will have to go to all that trouble to pass laws to tax you for it.

I'm not sure we can trust Pinochet? The Spanish don't! I hope this is not another one of those "trickle" down theories. I keep seeing the words . . . TRICK and DOWN in there someplace.

As of the last check there are now 25 states that have new laws on the books and more states to come. The law basically says; If a citizen speaks out against a Corporation they are libel and can be brought to trial, and sued for their assets. Remember the Texas (meat packing) vs Oprah Winfrey case? And to think, after a guest told her what the meat packing industry was feeding their cows, she only said, "Well, I won't eat anymore meat if that is the case." It is not over yet. If Texas wins this trial case, it will have to go all the way to the Supreme Court. And if we are not diligent, it may be the end of the Freedom of Speech in America.

One more move by your friendly Corporation's new power and their long arm of the law in America. In their own words, see the Steven Forbes editorial of October 5, 1998.