by

Sweatshops on Wheels by Chris Hedges

by Chris Hedges
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Truthdig
April 15, 2013

CAPiTALiSM KiLLS

Image by Metro Centric via Flickr

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The deterioration of the nation’s public transportation, like the deterioration of health care, education, social services, public utilities, bridges and roads, is part of the relentless seizing and harvesting of public resources and programs by corporations. These corporations are steadily stripping the American infrastructure. Public-sector unions are being broken. Wages and benefits are being slashed. Workers are forced to put in longer hours in unsafe workplaces, often jeopardizing public safety.

[…]

via Truthdig

Chris Hedges spent two decades as a foreign reporter covering wars in Latin America, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. His latest books are Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, Death of the Liberal Class, and The World as It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress.

Copyright © 2013 Truthdig

see

Failed Privatizations — The Thatcher Legacy by Michael Hudson

Noam Chomsky: Can Civilisation Survive Really Existing Capitalism?

Ralph Nader: Income Inequality and The Minimum Wage (HR 1346)

Richard Wolff: Capitalism’s Destructive Power + Wolff Urges End to Austerity, New Jobs Program, Democratizing Work

9 thoughts on “Sweatshops on Wheels by Chris Hedges”

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  4. I just watched the superb 2003/4 Canadian documentary that I missed way back when, in the dark ages after 2001 ~ The Corporation.

    One of its central themes is the counter-intuitive issue of the corporation as having the legal rights of a person.

    This really is a fact of huge consequence, because it compels us to formulate what has to be the acceptable role of corporate business in the context of society generally. It is therefore about citizenship. With the explosion of multinational globalism this has now become increasingly urgent. “Social responsibility” is not enough, it is a lame excuse for business as usual. It is clear to me that if these (toxic) brands have “legal” person-hood, then they must also be legally bound and accountable for their combined social and biospherical interactions ~ in a word, their living “relationships.” Of course they are not.

    So this allegedly intractable problem is actually soluble, once we invoke the science of ecology, and subsume all sociologically drawn theories of economics to it. It is clearly of key moment that financiers, industrialists, entrepreneurs, lawyers, judges, aides and politicians are properly educated, since at present these “persons” certainly do NOT act within “society” according to what should be defined as a sufficiency of duly educated and credentialed propriety or legitimate qualification.

    Thatcher’s often decontextualized or misattributed quote about there being no such thing as society, applies to corporate ideologues & all presidential wannabes particularly, and rings ironically true.

    The Spectator (April 8th) offers us the full quote ~ but no source:

    ‘I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand “I have a problem, it is the Government’s job to cope with it!” or “I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!” “I am homeless, the Government must house me!” and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first… There is no such thing as society. There is (sic) living tapestry of men and women and people and the beauty of that tapestry and the quality of our lives will depend upon how much each of us is prepared to take responsibility for ourselves and each of us prepared to turn round and help by our own efforts those who are unfortunate.’

    The Guardian (also April 8th) provides a shorter version, dating its provenance from a 1987 interview with Women’s Own ~ of all magazines!

    “They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there’s no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours.”

    Did she say…except through people?

    Economics is just a discipline after all, not a science; neither is ethics a true science. Ecology however is a well established science, and one that arguably incorporates all others (whatever Edward O Wilson says about physics as both the apex and foundation;) so the obvious solution is to educate ourselves fully and immerse ourselves in it and encourage others to familiarize themselves with its deeply relevant “universe(s) of discourse.”

    Forget about “political” economy, it is political “ecology” ~ or die.

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