Friday, November 17, 2006

G20 Meeting in Melbourne

Forthcoming will be the exciting gabfest of G20. The economic forum that will discuss among other things, globalisation and the to cure world poverty.

I feel warm and fuzzy inside to learn that globalisation has helped relieve poverty.
Knowing the multi-national corporations are using children in factories in Vietnam to make Nike shoes and other numerous consumer goods that are sold at grossly inflated prices in the Western countries - is good. Exploitation = humanitarianism. Everybody benefits, it's a win-win situation.

Also, globalisation means that multi-nationals can avoid paying taxes to countries that are hosts to their enterprises. Through complex accounting schemes and elaborate money trails, they hide their real profits and avoid taxes that are supposed to benefit the host countries.

There's the option to bribe government officials in third world countries to turn a blind eye to safety and environmental issues. So the colloquial expression regarding wombats with it's double meaning "they eats roots and leaves", can be applied to multi-nationals, they reap, plunder and leave.

I'll give you just one small example, the Island of Nauru, was plundered for it's natural reserves of super phosphate. This is used as a fertilizer. The result is that Nauru is now an uninhabitable moonscape.
The people of Nauru might be rich, but they have no country.

I could give many more examples but what's the point?

Poverty and economic growth were my favorite subjects when studying Economics. I will write about the solutions to poverty in another blog.

3 comments:

Travel Italy said...

Not only are we allowing mega corporations to rape and pillage the earth but also their own economies. Last night I was hopping mad. We have a new level of alarm here is the US, Hungry people are now called the FOOD INSECURE.

The startling fact is that now 12% of Americans are now Food Insecure. Translated that means that they are unable to afford to put sufficient calories on the table on a regular basis...

50% of the population cannot afford to buy fresh fruits and vegetables.

So we have reduced the poor around the world and created a "newer, poorer America..."

Lexcen said...

I feel there is a need for discussion regarding the oncoming catastrophe facing the Western world.
There is the threat of Islam - I will elaborate on that in other blogs.
There is the crisis of food as you outline.
There is also the imminent threat of oil supplies not just running out (but world panic induced by the expectation of oil running out) which would inflate the price of oil and every commodity associated with it.

Small Business USA said...

Lexcen I guess you hit a nerve with this guy. He feels threatened, uses inappropriate language and has to hide behind the unknown. He must be part of the Regan Cronies or current Corporate America Management. He is upset because their foul actions are no longer things unseen. The poor baby has to take responsibility for his beliefs and actions.

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