Thats Capitalism (WS 45) 358 billionaires in the world have a net worth of $760 billion, equal to the wealth of 45% of the world's population. The 200 largest multinational corporations control over 25% of the planet's economic activity. Meanwhile, according to the international Labour Organisation, 30% of the planet's workforce - 820 million people - are either underemployed or unemployed. ***** Bernie Cahill, executive chairperson of Aer Lingus, presided over job losses and wage freezes in the national airline. He hammered his message home; nobody should expect a steady job or a reasonable wage. Of course such rules don't apply to him. As well as his Aer Lingus job, he is the chairman of Larry Goodman's massive Irish Food Processors and has gone for the hatrick by also being chairman of Greencore, the state sugar company. ***** Right in the centre of the "free world" state labour inspectors reported earlier this year that they had found over 2,000 sweatshops in New York City. Mostly exploiting non-English speaking and illegal immigrant workers, the average pay was £1.67 per hour for a 12 hour day. No overtime is paid, underage labour is common. Fire exits are often padlocked and sprinkler systems unmaintained. The authorities have no plans to add to the just 20 inspectors employed to investigate, nor to increase the maximum fines of £1,000 (first offence)/£2,000 (subsequent offences) for employing 'off-the-books' workers in these near slavery conditions. ***** Children in Dublin's Inner City have to wait up to six years for some dental treatments, according to the Inner City Teachers Group. They revealed that one 12 year old found by the school dental service to need braces was told that there is a six year waiting list and that he would be 18 before he gets them. The teachers group complained that there are also six year waiting lists for children needing treatment for cleft palates. ***** The School of the Americas (SOA) is the unlikely name given to a military training academy set up by the US government in 1946 to "promote democracy in the Americas". Since that time 'graduates' from the academy have played brutal havoc with the human rights of people throughout south and central America. One example deserves mention. The UN sponsored Truth Commission,which looked into atrocities carried out in El Salvador during the civil war there, found: ¥ Romero assassination: two of the three officers cited as being ringleaders were graduates of SOA. ¥ El Mozote massacre of Salvadoran civilians: of twelve officers cited, ten were from the SOA. ¥ Massacre of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter: of 27 officers cited, 19 were from the SOA. ***** Allied Irish Bank gave its five executive directors a 35% pay increase. Each of them earned an average of £626,000 last year. These are the people who refused to pay bank staff their 6.5% claim three years ago and tried to break their union, the Irish Bank Officials Association. ***** Raoul Cedras, formerly of Haiti, has moved to a beach home in Panama courtesy of the US government. The former dictator will have his rent paid by them for the next year. After that Cedras will have to fend for himself. But to make things easy, the US government is freeing the assets he stole and siphoned off to the USA during his period of power in Haiti. Who says crime doesn't pay? ***** No recession for the directors of Cement Roadstone, which has recorded a pre-tax profit of £116 million (up 52%). Last year they were paid an average £532,664 each, an increase of almost 48%. Of course none of their staff got rises like that. The people who do the work were limited to the 3% PCW increase. ***** Cholera is a disease caused by poverty and poor sanitation. Get rid of poverty and cholera usually disappears in turn. What is surprising, however, is that it is making a comeback in countries where it has been unknown for most of this century - like the Ukraine, Romania and Albania. Recent reports indicate that the disease is most widespread in Romania, but in the Ukraine last October it killed 20 people and put another 800 into hospital. Most commentators put the return of this deadly disease down to the collapse of the health services in those countries. With privatisation all the rage, nobody wants to take over the 'unprofitable' business of keeping people healthy through basic sanitation. So much for the 'free market'. ***** 600 Northern Bank staff in the six counties are to have their pay cut by up to £5,000 a year. The IBOA has described the cuts as "outrageous at a time when the bank is showing such strong profitability" ***** According to the Centre for Economic Investigation for the Caribbean, the minimum cost of living for a Dominican family of four in 1993 was $276 per month. Westinghouse, one of the major US multinationals operating in the Dominican Republic's Free Trade Zone, was paying its workers $99 per month during this period. During the period 1980-92, real wages declined by 46% under austerity programmes applied to the Dominican Republic by the IMF and USAID (a branch of the US government). ***** The World Bank's 'World Development Report' for 1993, entitled Investing in Health, reports that life expectancy in at least eleven African countries has declined since 1986 when 'Structural Adjustment Programmes' of the World Bank were first applied. In Tanzania alone, female life expectancy has dropped six years over the period of reform. ***** Last year the slaughter in Rwanda hit the headlines. But one aspect of the violence that received less attention than might have been expected was the involvement of the Catholic Church. The United Nations Centre for Human Rights in Kigali has indicated that there is "strong evidence" that at least a dozen priests were involved in murder. Two priests and two nuns are already in prison. Other are accused of "supervising" gangs of killers that marauded, killing Tutsis. One Tutsi priest has been quoted as saying that "the bishop and the archbishop could have stopped the killing, but they didn't speak out". *********************************************** That's capitalism [WS 46] Cholera is a disease caused by poverty and poor sanitation. Get rid of poverty and cholera usually disappears in turn. What is surprising, however, is that it is making a comeback in countries where it has been unknown for most of this century - like the Ukraine, Romania and Albania. Recent reports indicate that the disease is most widespread in Romania, but in the Ukraine last October it killed 20 people and put another 800 into hospital. Most commentators put the return of this deadly disease down to the collapse of the health services in those countries. With privatisation all the rage, nobody wants to take over the 'unprofitable' business of keeping people healthy through basic sanitation. So much for the 'free market'. ***** In Ireland the rich are having a ball. In 1965 wealth and property taxes represented 25% of the total tax take. By 1990 this had shrunk to just 5%. Although the European Union suggests 30% as a minimum figure for corporation tax, firms here get away with paying a maximum of 10%. And if the bosses don't want to pay these minimal sums, no bother. Nobody has ever served a jail sentence in Ireland for tax evasion. ***** According to the Centre for Economic Investigation for the Caribbean, the minimum cost of living for a Dominican family of four in 1993 was $276 per month. Westinghouse, one of the major US multinationals operating in the Dominican Republic's Free Trade Zone, was paying its workers $99 per month during this period. During the period 1980-92, real wages declined by 46% under austerity programmes applied to the Dominican Republic by the IMF and USAID (a branch of the US government). ***** In the last tax year only 5,000 self-employed admitted to incomes over £25,000 a year. There must be an awful lot of poor shopkeepers, doctors, architects, dentists, auctioneers and consultants out there. ***** The World Bank's 'World Development Report' for 1993, entitled Investing in Health, reports that life expectancy in at least eleven African countries has declined since 1986 when 'Structural Adjustment Programmes' of the World Bank were first applied. In Tanzania alone, female life expectancy has dropped six years over the period of reform. ***** Last year the 26 county economy grew by 7% (and the government expects it to grow by 5% in 1995). This level of growth is the highest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development. Exports grew by 13.9% last year, while imports only rose by 11.9%. A healthy picture? No, just for the rich. The government expects official unemployment figures to also rise, to 278,400 this year. ***** Last year the slaughter in Rwanda hit the headlines. But one aspect of the violence that received less attention than might have been expected was the involvement of the Catholic Church. The United Nations Centre for Human Rights in Kigali has indicated that there is "strong evidence" that at least a dozen priests were involved in murder. Two priests and two nuns are already in prison. Other are accused of "supervising" gangs of killers that marauded, killing Tutsis. One Tutsi priest has been quoted as saying that "the bishop and the archbishop could have stopped the killing, but they didn't speak out". ***** Allied Irish Banks, who tried to break the IBOA bank workers union and get out of paying a 6.5% rise in 1992, have just declared yet another increase in profits. In the six months up to June 30th their profits jumped 10% to £161.7 million. ***** In Clinton's USA a white minor accused of drugs offences has a 1 in 70 chance of being transferred to an adult court (which can hand down a harsher sentence). A black minor has a 1 in 18 chance. *************************************************** ** What a waste! ** We're commonly sold the lie that poverty and suffering are the result of there not being enough resources to go around. Yet the United States has spent $4 trillion on its nuclear weapons program over the past 50 years, according to a report "Atomic Audit: What the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal Really Cost," published by 'The U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project'. The $4 trillion represents between one-quarter to one-third of all 'defence' spending since World War II. It includes most, but not all, of the program's direct, indirect and overhead costs. Spending on the nuclear weapons program has dropped but $25 billion annually is still being spent on nuclear weapons and about $250 billion overall on war preparations. ******************************************************* ** Liars caught out ** EL SALVADOR A regional American newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reported in June that U.S. Army commandos killed 83 leftist guerrillas in El Salvador in 1985 in a secret raid. The report confirms what had long been suspected: that U.S. military personnel were actively engaged in combat operations during El Salvador's long civil war. The newspaper said that it based its report on interviews with an ex-Ranger who took part in the raid, a former Army special operations officer and a former government official involved in the cover up. The US government has always denied that it sent troops to help the Salvadorean dictatorship in its terrorist campaign against the rebels. *************************************************** ** Looking after No.1 ** While the US authorities slash welfare payments to single parents and their children, they are giving enormous handouts to their rich pals. $10 billion was spent last year on subsidies to people with mortgages in excess of $250,000, what might be called a 'mansion subsidy'. Another $200 million in subsidies went to big farmers who have incomes over $5 million a year.