Realist,

You are an ignorant fool. If corporations are so good then explain this:

COCA-COLA
- Discrimination and abuse of workers’ rights;
- Assassination, kidnapping and torture of workers for protesting bad labour practices;
- Water privatisation.

DOW CHEMICAL
- Developed and perfected Napalm;
- Health disaster of millions of Vietnamese and U.S. Veterans caused by it’s lethal Vietnam War defoliant, Agent Orange;
- Provided materials to Saddam Hussein for the production of chemical weapons;
- Worst peacetime chemical disaster in history when a chemical leak from it’s UCC pesticide plant in Bhopal gassed thousands of people to death and left more than 150,000 disabled or dying.

Dow still refuses to address it’s liabilities for this.

CHEVRON
- Left 600 unlined oil pits in the Amazon rainforest;
- Dumped 18 billion gallons of toxic production water into rivers used for bathing water. Local communities have suffered severe health effects, including cancer, skin lesions, birth defects, and spontaneous abortions;
- Hired private military personnel to open fire on peaceful protestors who opposed oil extraction;
- Responsible for widespread health problems in California, where one of Chevron's largest refineries is located causing rheumatic fever, liver problems, kidney problems, tumors, cancer, asthma, and eye problems;
- Rape, summary execution, torture, forced labor and forced migration in Burma.

NESTLE
- Forces approx 109,000 child labourers to work in hazardous conditions;
- Nestle is also notorious for its aggressive marketing of infant formula in poor countries in the 1980s resulting in the death of approx 100 000 infants.

In Italy in 2005, police seized more than two million litres of Nestle infant formula that was contaminated with the chemical isopropylthioxanthone.

WAL-MART
- Exploitation of workers worldwide;
- Child labour;
- Verbal and Physical worker abuse in the US;
- Blacklisting of workers who defend their rights;
- Union busting.

Just tell me if you’d like me to keep going? The list is endless.

You’re hardly what I'd call a "Realist" and you certainly have a lot to learn…

An intriguing essay, Sharon, especially when surveying the history of political economy. One wonders what Max Weber, one of the fathers of political economy would think of it, especially as he predicted that capitalism might destroy itself through becoming over-bureaucratic as it tries to save itself.

You have explained it so well, it has one looking for the old global elite, which surely must still have a lot to do with it. The Trilaterists and Bilderbergers, the former largely financed by the Rockefellers and Morgans, et al, and to which George W Bush also belongs, as well as Tony Blair. It is said they also pay homage to Cecil Rhodes, who believed that surely a righteous God would have a place in heaven for the leaders of British colonialism.

Also seemingly sure they have an alotted place in heaven are the new ultra-right-wing American born-again religous right, also having connections in our own Aussie-land with the Howard and Costello- backed Hillsong Church.

Yes, as mentioned in one of our commentaries, big business is now again calling the government tune as in the days of the East India Company, and incidently as it also did before Maynard Keynes found the cause of the 1930s Great Depression. Even us oldies as lads remember the cry about the The Roaring Twenties being ruined by too much freedom for Big Biz, or the middle-men. It is so interesting that the political economic theories that were given the boot by Keynes and Roosevelt during the Great Depression are now back in vogue once again.

Part Two.

It was the English philosopher John Locke’s cry for more freedom for business marketing not long after Britain’s Glorious Revolution in 1688 which helped greatly to spur on British colonialism as well as big business. Such was also backed by the church which further revived the Old Testament fable about a Promised Land and the need for God’s people to replace those that are evil. Adam Smith much later preached the same message with Laissez-faire and the need for more individual competion in marketing - but Smith did warn that because competition was based on human greed, there was the problem that terms like freedom and liberty could be abused. For example, a person can be given the freedom or liberty to kill another, as during wartme.

“Oh Liberty, what crimes have been committed in thy name,” wrote Madame Roland after she had watched Marie Antoinette die under the guillotine during the French Revolution.

So, we might say that it is up to us to watch 17th century words or terms like neo-liberalism or the free-market even more carefully these days, especially when they come out of the mouths not only of world figures like George W Bush or Donald Rumsfeld, but also our corporate leaders, most of them more interested in making an extra couple of billion rather than how the double-speak of certain terms or words can influence a very gullible public to accept what Professor Beder says is happening today with corporate business theory.

What is far more serious, however, is how the dot-com craze has changed the minds of students not only about political and social justice as was proven with their protests during the Vietnam War, but because they now seem to be getting a thrill about being part of a new young entreprenerial class, as Sharon has spoken about. Certainly this must be very disconcerting for young social scientists. However, there is hope because social scientists are usually also qualified historians, and it is them that will very likely contribute to the much needed change that surely has to come.

This enslavement will only increase as long as the sheep (voters) continue to vote for political parties. Considering, all parties constantly state they represent their party and their party represents its backers (donors) not the people, nothing will change.

All parties get more than 90% of their resources from major corporations, except for the money they are stealing from the public purse to funds their election campaigns. They heavily subsidise corporations with our money and sell of our assets and resources for nothing, so corporations can charge us more for less and less.

Privatisation is a perfect example of this, everything thats been privatised has cost us billions. I would like someone to name one substantial benefit the people have got from privatisation. Competition, means major corporations competing with each other to see who can destroy small business the quickest and get the most work and profits from the people. For this they offer less pay, conditions and reduced servicing.

Politicians, then leave public office with huge unfunded super and pensions, then blatantly take a plush job with one of their corporate supporters.

It boils down to one fact, people are to stupid, controlled, fearful and lacking in intelligence to vote for people (independents), rather than corporate slaves. They prefer to listen to the false and lying promises they are given and then watch as those promises turn into lies and the opposite happens. True rational logic displayed by the populace.

You can have all the semantic debates you like, but continuing to vote for the two faction single party system we have and this slide into economic enslavement will continue to accelerate.

Executives also assisted by our Government representatives who are suppose to be looking after the Average Australian Citizen.

Jumpin "JOHN" Flash - It's a GAS,GAS,GAS


Priminister Howard has said that the ACCC would investigate the higher than normal prices of fuel, in light of the Queens Birthday long weekend.

Although that "sentence" raised the Average citizens heads at the possibility that John Howard actually said anything about this ongoing issue.

The consistent increases during holiday period and long weekends does suggests that the oil companies are taking the average motorist for a "RIDE".

Western Australia is the only State that the price of fuel has not jumped so dramatically because it won't be enjoying the lousy rest break they give the average Australian citizen, in a yearly grind of tax paying.

Jumpin "John" flash, dismissed any suggestion that the ACCC would be given more powers to investigate fuel price rises.

Its a GAS, GAS, GAS!

Alchemist, not all people in Australia are as "stupid, controlled, fearful and lacking in intelligence" as you might think. At the last Federal election, enough were (unfortunately), which led to the Coalition Government gaining control of the Senate, but from what I hear amongst the rank and file of the working people, at the 2007 elections, they won't make that mistake again. There is the beginnings of a groundswell of aggitation within the general population against corporate power and it's influence on political parties but at present, there doesn't seem to be a leader strong enough to guide this aggitation into a pulpable voting force. Also, most people wouldn't know exactly which independants they should vote for and who just might begin to pull large corporations into line. Personally, I don't think much will change at the next election unless Government policy begins to infringe on the ability of "mum and Dad" voters to continue to add value to their share portfolios, although this faction of voters may well begin to lose that ability after the next election as the brakes comes off the "Work Choise" legislation and those same ordinary mums and dads suddenly find themselves with either a very much reduced income, or no job at all. Perhaps then, the tide will turn