From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Wed Sep 28 2005 - 19:27:28 EDT
---------------------------- Original Message ---------------------------- Subject: New Orleans story and a metaphor for the world economy From: "Jurriaan Bendien" <adsl675281@tiscali.nl> Date: Wed, September 28, 2005 5:51 pm ========================================================= Strangest story I heard about the fracas in New Orleans was on BBC radio the other night. Congressman Waxman from California cited a case, where the government had contracted out a clean-up and repair job to a contractor, who sub-contracted it. The sub-contractor also sub-contracted it, and the next sub-contractor also sub-contracted it, and so on. Waxman remarked, how that meant the actual work was done at a fraction of the total cost to the govt, with all the intermediaries taking a slice of the action. In the US, they call it "cronyism". This was really a beautifully succinct metaphor about what really happens in the "financialised" world economy as a whole. Private enterprise is supposed to deliver individual reponsibility and initiative, but in fact some take responsibility for the real work, and others take responsibility for claiming the money from that work. Property is 9/10ths of the law, simple as that. For people like me, who don't have property, the other 1/10 is what we get. And then people say, we should be grateful too :-) Ain't life wonderful :-) Jurriaan
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