Drift Away

"Day after day I`m more confused, yet I look for the light through the pouring rain"....

Don`t have much to say as of late, shaking my head wondering why, wondering why our media has turned into simple minded repeat after Simon, 200 plus members of the BC Liberal spin/ communications gang, also known as Simons, well, at least as far as our cowardly media is concerned they are Simons, ....Simon says...

And like trained seals they flap their flippers, begging for Simon to handfeed them herring, doesn`t anger me anymore it saddens me..Keith Baldrey is the epitome of a social and professional loser, obsessed with Twitter followers, he believes he is important, he isn`t, no spine, no guts, no courage, no soul, no talent, unless you count being a blind mouse gorging on Liberal cheese a skill...

Christy Clark`s war on teachers, thanks Adrian Dix, that`s on you, imagine declaring through the backdoor that LNG plants and infrastructure don`t require an environmental assessment, that is beyond sick it`s deranged, who needs a stinking environmental assessment, can`t even one media figure of standing put 2 and two together, the big energy companies aren`t building anything in British Columbia unless they get it all, carte blanc power to obtain free land, construct, no taxation and free power, go through our provincial parks, conservancies and protected areas, and no environmental assessment or we`ll take our LNG ball and go home, halfway through 2014 and still not one final investment decision..

The big race, hurry hurry hard...build build build before Australia, Papua New Gunea, East Africa, Qatar and the mighty USA get there first, oops, nevermind they are already there while British Columbia muses about what colour socks to wear with our running shoes..

 "And I`m feelin` the strain, oh, ain`t it a shame" oh, give me the beat, boys and free my soul"

School districts now must sell assets, sell schools, sell property and pay for their own earthquake upgrades, all those old brick and mortar schools laying in wait, ready to crush, maim and snuff the life out of our children, a BC Liberal promise made a decade ago to earthquake proof all schools in short order just got cancelled, no money, Christy Clark doesn`t care about children, or families she cares about what oyster bar she is seen in and with who..

Those million new workers claim, and by 2020, yet those troublesome school districts refuse to sell all the silverware, all their assets, who needs future thinking when LNG will be the end all to every need imaginable..

When the big earthquake comes and a school collapses it will not be an unpreventable accident it will be an on purpose, with malice of forethought, with knowledge it was coming, some towns have but one schools, an entire community with all their children dead, kinda reminds me of that tragic Korean ferry disaster..

Selling assets to claim a balanced budget, wheelchair fees, MSP increases, hydro rates skyrocketing, ferries cut, more booze, more slot machines, more bridge tolls and transit increases, all those heinous acts while a corrupt Government proclaims a $trillion dollars is within reach..

Been busy, working 14 hours a day for the last 2 months, was hoping to finish the task at hand by May 1st, it will take another week at least, mom is selling her home, I have fixed everything, the list is long, my leg is thrashed, can`t even walk when I wake up, it takes 3 coffees and 4 Advil just to take the edge off, that`s why the days are long, can`t stop midday or I won`t be able to restart, not sure what mom wants to do, she might move in with me in Garden bay, one level house and no stairs, she can`t manage her big Burnaby home with the steep walkway on her own, we aren`t leaving any money on the table, from an old house to a brand new sparkling treasure, she`ll do well, it will give her options, a domestic house person to assist her?, her own new home? or...Or with me, she`s a political junkie and loves my cooking, ..Well, she did divulge her recipe secrets to me..

"I wanna get lost in your rock `n` roll and drift away"

Need to go fishing, ocean is calling, damn home, one man, hundred repairs, house is looking really good and boy do I miss my dad, May 1st is his birthday, MAYDAY, think I`ll have a beer and raise the glass to memories and theatre of the mind, when I fish everything is dad, including duct tape and clamps, that`s how my dad fixed everything..

Near $200 million for training workers for jobs that don`t exist, what ship-building jobs and when, what LNG jobs, there still isn`t a single final investment decision, these big energy companies aren`t hiring British Columbians even if they do decide to build, talked to a high ranking energy expert and he explained it like this, ...

"why would British Gas want to train an entire green workforce when they have an experienced LNG plant build crew with idle hands ready to go?"

No new money for training workers for imaginary jobs merely redirecting Paul`s education money for Peter, and Simon says that the media promote this fraud of cutting education funding through stealth, where`s the herring Keith Baldrey?

"The world outside looks so unkind I`m countin on you, you can carry me through"

I`m hoping John Horgan lights a fire under the NDP and gets down to brass tax and call this BC Liberal Government out for the wholesale fraud they`re engaged in, my dad taught me to take no guff and call a spade a spade and oh how I wish I could hand him a screaming reel, to see his eyes light up, big grin and pride, pride in his only son...

"Families First" bullshit, a media made up of sock puppets, at least we beat Enbridge, that project is dead, your help was vital in destroying Janet Holder, don`t know if we can stop Kinder Morgan..

Mom is so happy, her house hasn`t looked this good since the day we moved in, dad, mom and my siblings, 40 years later and the clock never stops, at best you can hold the pendulum at bay but for a moment....CAPP has taken control of our federal Government and every provincial Government too, they won`t come to our rescue we the people are going to have to do all the dirty work..

"And when my mind is free you know your melody can move me and when I`m feelin` blue the guitars come through to soothe me"

Christy Clark and Co. are complete failures, a school drop-out for a painted premier, and a media that closes it`s eyes and reports what Simon says, they shed no tears and care of nothing, I wonder what the parents of Keith Baldrey, Vaughn Palmer and Bill Good would say to their children, I`m curious, think they are proud, seeing their children as liars, spinners and yes men...

Thanks Dad.....and Happy May 1st Birthday, let`s go fishing...

"Oh, give me the beat boys and free my soul I wanna get lost in your rock `n` roll and...."


Drift Away.....

 The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Full Of Tears
 

Illusions

Written by Mark Taliano

 

 

 

Canadians are forever being informed, explicitly or implicitly, that the solution to the crisis of the day, or decade, is a freedom-sounding word called “privatization”.  This, the free-marketeers tell us, will solve our problems.

 The reality is invariably the opposite.  “Privatization” -- also known as bailed-out, highly subsidized corporatism – is in fact the problem, not the solution.

 Furthermore, the crises being addressed are often manufactured for the express purpose of rolling out a parasitical regime of corporatization that profits from calamity, even as its “host”, the public, is fleeced.

Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein identifies the process as the “shock doctrine” and/or “disaster capitalism”; author, environmental activist, and economist Winona LaDuke calls it “predator economics”; writers call it neoliberalism, and corporate media pretends it doesn’t exist. 

 A tattered thread is woven into a seemingly endless series of crises, and it is the public sector, the commons, that is invariably being exploited.  

 Neo-conservative strategists disguise  the real problem, and deflect attention from it, using a myriad of strategies, all of which serve to instil what insurance whistle-blower Wendel Potter calls FUD – Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt—in the collective mental landscape of the masses.

 

Instead of identifying the real problem – neoliberalism/predator capitalism/shock economy—neo-cons typically scapegoat other polities.

 According to neo-con politicians, union bosses and their minions, as well as public servants, and public institutions, are the causes of our economic woes, even as these are some of the few remaining polities that mitigate the damages caused by predator capitalism.

 Two of Canada’s “emblematic” institutions, currently being undermined so that they can be replaced by inferior models, are “universal” health care, and Canada Post. 

 Canada’s public healthcare system is in distress.  Community hospitals are closing, wait-times are long, and the public is dissatisfied.  Corporate messaging proclaims that since the status quo of public universal healthcare is failing, then the answer must be privatization/corporatization.  Consequently, the 2004 Health Accord has not been renewed, and the federal government will be cutting $36 Billion http://www.canada.com/health/Federal+health+cuts+will+total+billion+over+decade+Premiers/7000240/story.html over ten years from its Canadian Health Transfers (CHT’s) to the provinces.

 he manufactured crisis in healthcare is chronic under-funding, and the solution is more comprehensive public funding, not corporatization.  Since 1981 hospital funding has decreased significantly as a share of Canada’s  health care budget.

 

Corporate health care is less efficient, and more expensive, than public health care.  The more it is corporatized, the more expensive (and less accessible ) health care becomes.

 A CUPE article entitled, "Public Health Care Costs Less, Delivers More”

clearly shows that the “private” components of health care far exceed its public counterparts in costs even as they deliver less. Listed below are some (of numerous) examples identified in the article:

 

• Ontario paid 75 per cent more to for-profit labs than it had to non-profit community labs over the    previous 30 years, for the same tests.¹⁰

 

• Public-private partnerships are 83 per cent costlier to finance than public projects.¹¹

 

* (Canadians) spend roughly half of what the private US system spends per person,¹⁶ and we get better coverage and outcomes.

 

• Studies comparing US and Canadian outcomes for heart attacks, cancer, surgical procedures and chronic conditions show that Canada does at least as well, often better.²¹

 

• A recent Canadian study found that expedited knee surgery in a for-profit clinic costs $3,222 compared to $959 in a public hospital (with worse return-to-work outcomes).²⁴

 

Clearly, the false “solution” is making a bad situation (under-funding) worse.

 

Canada Post is also suffering from a manufactured crisis.  Marianne Lenabut argues in "What Happened To Canada" that Canada post ran a profit for the last 16 of 17years, and that it has yet to receive a tax-payer bailout.  Yet the “solution” to the illusory crisis has been the creation of a real crisis, consistent with Shock Doctrine economics.  Canada Post is being restructured so that service costs increase dramatically even as services are deteriorating: bulk stamps will cost .85 cents and a single first-class stamp will cost a dollar, door-to-door urban delivery is being ended, and 8,000 postal positions are slated to be eliminated. 

 

The crisis is being engineered so that the public will become frustrated, blame the victim (Canada Post), and welcome a false “market-based solution” so that the private sector can roll in, and further erode the public domain.

 

 

 

James Clancy of the National Union Of Public And General Employees argues in "President's Commentary: Privatization is not the answer at Canada Post, modernization is" that “when the final play is made in this game, Canadians will see private companies selling mail service at a higher cost.  There will be no accountability mechanism if this happens because the public will no longer own the service.”

 These two important examples are, nonetheless, the tip of the iceberg. The list is long, but the strategies are consistent: create a crisis to undemocratically impose inefficient, expensive corporate models in domains best suited to public funding.

 

Internationally, the same strategies are being used, and the descriptors are the same: predator economics, shock doctrine economics, neoliberalism.  But, when supranational polities such as the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund (IMF) impose these strategies on other countries, the process is called colonialism.

 

 Written by Mark Taliano

 

 

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The Straight Goods

 

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

CAPP President Dave Collier Debunks LNG Job Numbers, Sends Warning Shot Across BC Liberal Government Bow

So grandiose were Christy Clark and Rich Coleman`s promises as to the bounty British Columbia would reap from exporting liquid natural gas that as expected, as expected the big climbdown was coming, and today it arrived.....

Let me refresh you on just some of the ridiculous spin.....

Pamela Martin....."What would you do with a $trillion dollars from LNG"

Christy Clark, Rich Coleman and the BC Liberals, all off them..

"We have an opportunity for a $trillion dollars windfall.....We can pay off our provincial debt...We could remove our provincial sales tax.../..We will create a $ 100 billion dollar prosperity fund for future generations......Revenue sharing with First Nations....Monies for northern communities affected by an influx of LNG employees and infrastructure.....Crdebts paid off....Bridge tolls removed....Capital build monies for schools and hospitals..."

All these 2013 pre-election promises, all that largesse being paid for with LNG cash from Asia, from Japan and China.....Roads paved with gold and unicorns for every child in British Columbia....

Our spineless corrupt media, they helped sell it, they are still attempting to sell it, especially BC Liberal flagship T.V. station Global B.C. and BC Liberal booster club, also known as cknw radio..

Oh how they promoted Christy Clark`s snake oil elixir, a mere handful of alternative media outfits and a few dedicated bloggers shredded the BC Liberal`s LNG fantasy..

David Broadband and The Straight Goods tore the advertised LNG fiscal numbers and employment numbers from ear to ear....

In fact, a post last month I stated that very soon both the financial returns promised, the employment numbers proferred would soon see a giant climbdown from earlier claims, as in before the 2013 election earlier claims...

Let me remind you what Rich Coleman said about employment numbers if just 3 LNG plants were built....

Rich Coleman on February 22/2014 made this outrageous statement while giving a 30 minute speech on LNG..

Read it carefully..


And I quote..



I get a kick out of some of the other folks out there saying: 'You're behind schedule.' "No we're not. We're actually right on the time frame that I established."

One thing that works in the government's favour is the scale of the enterprise. The values are so vast that even delivering a fraction of the potential could count as a win.

Coleman said: "They say: 'They can't all go ahead.' "I say: 'OK. Let's have three.' That's $100 billion. That's 100,000 jobs."

It's that comfort level that's giving him the kicks, and the amusement. snip..


http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=9cc9a3fd-2f0b-4b77-b2e1-40ddae5a1039&k=33176

_______________

Here is a BC Liberal Government press release a mere 2 months ago....Look at all those promised jobs, look closely at those job projections

_____________


"61,700 jobs are required to support LNG operations including workers required to drill, produce, process and transport the natural gas required to feed the export facilities.  

In additions to these jobs, there will be thousands of spin-off opportunities created and supported as a result of LNG"


http://engage.gov.bc.ca/lnginbc/job-creation/

_________________-


And who could forget what BC Liberal Government Deputy minister Dave Bing said to a business crowd in Vancouver...


 "BC will see a million job openings by 2020, most within the next three years..

There are 47 projects in the province on the books worth over half-a- billion each.

Dave Byng told a business audience on Friday that three quarters of the work associated with them are in northern BC and are associated with liquid natural gas.." snip


_________________________

Dave Bing told a business crowd that BC could never fill all those LNG related jobs with domestic British Columbia workers, or even Canadian workers, Deputy minster David Bing reiterated to this invited business crowd that British Columbia Would definitely require temporary foreign workers...

I think Christy Clark and the BC Liberals have some serious explaining to do...

But before we get there....Here was The Straight Goods totally debunking both the promised revenue numbers and employment numbers advertised by these BC Liberal Government conmen/woman..


BC Liberal job number claims turn to dust


http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2013/05/christy-clarks-lng-plans-and-job.html

BC Liberal LNG promised revenue numbers thrashed and beaten to death here..

http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2014/02/christy-clarks-lng-balloon-starts-to.html


I wasn`t alone, David Broadband through FOI and stymied FOI requests also suggested that Christy Clark and the BC Liberals lied their faces off on promised jobs..


__________________

From David Broadband..at Focus Magazine

Did the BC government fake LNG numbers before last year's election?

 

 

http://focusonline.ca/?q=node/695

By David Broadland, March 2014

"Emails between top-level BC civil servants show Premier Clark’s 100,000 LNG jobs were based on dubious assumptions thrown together at the last minute for her 2013 throne speech. Were those civil servants working for the public interest or Clark’s election campaign?........

Were the Prosperity Fund and the job claims part of an elaborate election ploy? It wouldn’t be the first time a government made an election promise it didn’t intend to keep. A more troubling possibility, though, is that Provincial public service employees and public funds were used to create that election ploy,...... 

 . The initiative appears to have been overseen by Assistant Deputy Minister of Finance Doug Foster. Foster outsourced the work to three private firms and delivered the numbers for Clark’s speech only days before it was made. Foster appears to have been reporting to Neil Sweeney, Deputy Minister, Corporate Policy in the Premier’s Office........



_______________________

And today, April 22nd/2014 the truth was revealed, forget those employment and job numbers advertised by Dave Bing, Rich Coleman, Christy Clark and all BC Liberals.....

As written by David Broadband and The Straight Goods, those advertised job numbers were utter bullshit...

And as for the revenue promises, debt eliminated($70 billion and counting)..plus a $100 billion dollar prosperity fund for future generations, crown debt paid, sales tax removed, tolls removed..

Forget the whole shebang....

Who are we to believe, those BC Liberal liars mentioned above or a spokesperson for CAPP..Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers....

What did CAPP say about BC`s LNG industry???...If it happens....28,000 jobs possible by 2035..

$116 billion added to BC`s GDP by 2035.....

GDP is not Government revenue, to get $100 billion dollars into a prosperity fund for future generations alone...!....Forget about all those other BC Liberal promises, just the prosperity fund LNG would have to add at least $1 trillion dollars to BC`s  GDP by 2035...If what this CAPP editorial on cknw says is true our BC Government would be lucky to receive $7 billion dollars by 2035...

Well, let`s have President of Capp Dave Collier tell you himself...

"Hi, I`m Dave Collier the president of CAPP, Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, Responsible natural gas production is fundamental to the prosperity of British Columbia, B.C. has extensive natural gas resources, enough to meet current demand for many generations, but our traditional markets are shrinking and we need to focus on Global markets where demand is strong and growing, especially in Asia, we could help meet Asia`s demand with this cleanest burning hydrocarbon provided we establish a liquefied natural gas industry on the West Coast that can compete with the global LNG market, the potential rewards are significant, employment in BC`s natural gas sector could grow from the 12,000 jobs today to about 40,000 by 2035, increased natural gas investment could contribute $116 billion to real GDP growth in B.C. between now and 2035, and Government revenue in the way of royalties and taxes are also significant, this is a tremendous opportunity for British Columbia and our industry, to realize it, industry, Government, First Nations and other stakeholders must work together with a sense of urgency to ensure we get this right, the opportunity is now, we should make the most of it"


http://www.cknw.com/audio-vault/

(cue up April 22nd/ 5:00 pm...This editorial from the CAPP president Dave Collier took place at roughly ...5:20 PM...

___________________________

Here it comes folks, cknw is so stupid, they don`t even realize what they aired on their station...CKNW thought it was useful, it wasn`t, it was a shot across the bow from CAPP directed at the BC Liberal Government..

First off, CAPP wants the LNG industry, meaning the plant propossls to NOT have to go through an environmental review, Mary Polak and the BC Liberals have NOT officially rescinded that hideous order in council that made LNG facilities exempt from environmental assesments..

Also, Dave Colliers`s code words

"provided we establish a liquefied natural gas industry on the West Coast that can compete with the global LNG market"

That is code for what Jack Mintz wrote, ..Mintz(who is the on the board of directors for Imperial oil)wrote that the province of B.C. has no legal authority to tax LNG twice, meaning the only tax regime that is acceptable to the LNG industry is the B.C. royalty scheme where the resource is taxed at the wellhead and the wellhead only..meaning it doesn`t matter WHAT any LNG plant sells the resource FOR in Asia or Japan, those export revenues are off limits according to CAPP and Jack Mintz..


Here is the complete story on the Jack Mintz thoughts on LNG taxation..


http://powellriverpersuader.blogspot.ca/2014/03/christy-clark-versus-jack-mintzwho-made.html


So....Here`s the deals....LNG operators want to be exempted from environmental reviews and assessments.....LNG plant owners refuse to be taxed on sales, on export sales, Jack Mintz and the LNG industry believe it is illegal to tax the resource(in this case natural gas) a second time...

Job numbers, straight from the horse`s mouth, the president of CAPP Dave Collier..

"employment in BC`s natural gas sector could grow from the 12,000 jobs today to about 40,000 by 2035"

28, 000 net new natural gas jobs, over 21 years...That my friends works out to roughly 1,300 jobs per year..!

I recommend you listen to the audio vault..

Hmmm...Christy Clark and Rich Coleman have some serious explain to do....

Who to believe on LNG job projections..an industry expert or Rich Coleman and Christy Clark?

I wonder if any of our big BC Media will even bother asking question..

We know Vaughn Palmer and Bill Good wont...And as for Keith Baldrey..He is neither a journalist or media, he`s a belligerent corrupt stooge with a bad hairpiece!

What was it that Christy Clark said during our 2013 election and beyond, and I quote..

"British Columbia can receive 5 to 6 times the North American price for our natural gas in Japan"

Now that`s funny!

One more thing, Kitimat city council officially rejected Enbridge`s northern gateway pipeline tonight...4 to 1..


Like the cat....Back in Black



The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open








 

Curiosity and Answers From Afar, A Christy Clucking Clark LNG Fable

Written by Grant G


Glen Clark in the late 90s told the media that "British Columbia will have three aluminum smelters, count em three" ...Glen Clark`s musings didn`t actually work out too well.....Gordon Campbell sold dozens of BC Rivers to BC Liberal party donors and insiders in the independent power game, Gordon Campbell told our media and the public that British Columbia was going to be an electrical exporting superpower, again, Gordon Campbell`s musings didn`t have the desired effect either, in fact now because of Gordon Campbell`s Liberals BC Hydro is now bankrupt and domestic hydro electric rates are skyrocketing,.....BC hydro has $7 billion dollars of debt stashed in deferral accounts, that is the legacy of Gordon Campbell`s electric superpower dreams, not to mention millions of dead fish..

Timing is everything and for the most part bullshit baffles brains, Christy Cluck Cluck Clark with nothing to lose going into our last provincial election developed a scheming plot based on total fabrication, the $trillion dollar LNG fantasy, Christy claimed BC would pay-off our debt, eliminate tolls, remove our sales tax, create a million jobs, create a $100 billion dollar prosperity fund for future generations, First Nations and northern communities would all reap the rewards, all this largesse coming from LNG, from natural gas exports.....

Pammy Martin tweeted "what would you do with a $trillion dollars" an entire election campaign wrapped around imaginary money generated by an industry that doesn`t even exist in British Columbia, kinda funny when you think about it, our lazy do-nothing media played the game, asked no questions, they pretended Christy Clark`s musings were based in fact...Well, Christy say anything Clark to win really didn`t think her corrupt political party would win, therefore no election promises to worry about...Just blame the NDP for not making it happen....Except something funny happened on route to the polling stations, Adrian Dix stuck his head up his ass and smelled his own celebratory roses before he crossed the finish line.....

What was Christy Clark to do, how can she get out of her grandiose election promises, how long can she run the $trillion dollar wheel of fortune gambit, can she carry the same lie through another election, 2017...Can she actually deliver with...."10 count em, 10 LNG plants, with the first LNG plant up and running by 2015" Christy Clark

We won`t have an LNG plant up and running by 2015...not 2016...not 2017....maybe one plant by 2020, maybe, maybe not..

Timing is everything, resource extraction is fickle and unforgiving, Walter Mines laid off near 800 coal miners yesterday, no notice given, workers donned their hardhats, entered the mine and were told, adios, your laid off.....Such a good corporate citizen Walter mines is, they tossed the workers aside, corporate screws stated that we aren`t making any money, let`s leave the resource in the ground, Walter Mines was not interested in breaking even for the sake of workers and the town of Tumbler Ridge, no profits, no work, no quarter given.....Your fired!

This article isn`t about anything written above, well not really, this posting is about curiosity!

Walter mines stated that coal for export to China had dropped in price from over $200 per tonne to a mere $110 per tonne, curiosity sent me far afield to find out why, why had coal prices declined to such low unprofitable levels and lo n behold the answer hit me in the face like V-8 juice..!

China, Asia, our saviour, energy company`s prey, the elusive, mythical not able to corner Asian buyer of B.C. LNG is entering a recession, China`s GDP has fallen to a 24 year low, China hasn`t seen such anemic growth since 1990, manufacturing for export in freefall, electrical use falling fast, the one truly believable indicator of China`s economy is electrical usage, exports of finished products down down down, imports of raw resources down down down, so worried of civil unrest is the Chinese government domestic interest rates have been cut, stimulus packages rolled out by central Government, railway infrastructure and low-cost housing were targetted, the Chinese Government is in fear of a massive population tearing down their walls, hundreds of millions of Chinese workers surviving pillar to post, no safety-net, nothing, millions of Chinese without jobs makes a beleaguered Chinese government an endangered species....

Wow, curiosity provides an explanation as to why coal prices have crashed, no steel making means no coal imports required, an end to building ghost cities means workers hands go idle, our friend the devil loves idle hands, Australia and Brazil who provide China vast amounts of iron ore are in trouble too, those countries planning on selling high-priced LNG to China are also in trouble, no steel making, manufacturing in decline, imports of raw goodies on the down low means a cascade of economic events and timing is everything considering Japan who for the first time in near decades are now suffering massive trade deficits because of over-priced liquid natural gas are in a big rush to reverse that trend and step one is starting up their shuttered nuclear plants at the same time Australia, USA, East Africa, Papua New Gunea and others have gobs of liquid natural gas export capacity coming online, timing is everything and Christy Clark`s $trillion dollar "10 count en 10 LNG plants with the first one online by 2015", Gordon Campbell`s electrical superpower ambitions along with Glen Clark`s "3 count em, 3 aluminum smelters" are phrases to be enshrined in history like "Dewey Wins the presidency" for scholars, historians and future comedians to feast on...

Indeed....Let energy companies chew up our parks, conservancies, protected areas, spend $12 billion on a Site C dam for gifting  and palm greasing, outrageously with an Order -In-Council remove environmental assessments for LNG plants then bring them back when First Nations rightfully cry foul, First Nations now know with that one brutal order in council that BC Liberals are as trustworthy as a Bernie Madoff investment, they won`t let anything overturn their worm-filled apple cart, don`t scare away the mythical always in hiding final investment decisions, the skies the limits and nothing will stop this latest BC Liberal game of propaganda promises except.....oops..

Simple math..

___________________

 China's growth slows to 24-year low

Growth in retail sales, factory output and investment also slowed, raising the possibility of politically dangerous job losses.
Chinese leaders have signaled they are willing to tolerate growth below the official target so long as the economy keeps creating enough jobs to avoid potential unrest. In a sign of concern about employment, they launched a mini-stimulus in March of higher spending on construction of railways, low-cost housing and other public works.
In a speech last week, Premier Li Keqiang, the country’s top economic official, said the economy still faced “downward pressure” but ruled out additional stimulus. He said Beijing would focus on “long-term efforts to achieve sustainable and healthy development.”
The latest growth numbers are the weakest since China’s economic growth tumbled to 3.8% in 1990 following the crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests that led to Beijing’s international isolation.
Weaker growth could have global repercussions, hurting Asian economies and others such as Australia and Brazil for which China is the leading market for commodities and industrial components.
Chinese imports suffered an unexpectedly sharp contraction of 11.3% in March in a sign of weak raw materials demand from manufacturing and construction.
“A hard landing in China’s economy is one of the biggest risks clouding the outlook for the rest of emerging Asia,” said Capital Economics in a report this week

http://www.japantoday.com/category/business/view/chinas-growth-slows-to-24-year-low-of-7-4
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Timing is everything and unsustainable economic activities will be halted..

________________________


Japan's fuel imports contribute to record trade deficitTOKYO, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Soaring fuel imports in the aftermath of Japan's 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, amid a weaker yen, have contributed to the country's record annual trade deficit, a government official said.
Japan Monday reported a trade deficit of $112.07 billion in 2013, up 65.3 percent from the previous year. "Energy imports have been rising significantly since the nuclear accident," causing per capita costs of around $293 in Japan, Kyodo News quoted Yoshihide Suga, chief Cabinet secretary as telling reporters. "It is important for us to ease such a burden as much as possible." All 50 of Japan's working reactors currently remain offline, pending safety checks.

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2014/01/27/Japans-fuel-imports-contribute-to-record-trade-deficit/UPI-49811390851293/
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Curiosity and asking questions, our domestic media only ask when they can cash their paycheques and as for curiosity, Bill Good won an award for journalism, surely true journalists like Sean Holman and Bob Mackin must be curious as to what kind of hallucinogenic frog the judges were licking...

China`s latest GDP numbers..

 

http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/business/china/chinas-economy-in-13-graphs-20140327-35kif.html?selectedImage=2

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I did mention how unsustainable economic practices will be halted, either by hook, by crook and even if your nickname is the Snook(presiding over Snooklandia)....

In all seriousness friends, Japan has no choice but to start their nuclear facilities, and or build new thorium reactors, I`m not alone in these thoughts..I recommend every B.C. pretend journalist and even those Shaman now occupying the writing desks read this next article...

Who knows, it might just make our mainstream media curious....Well, maybe not.

______________

Why Japan Can't Quit Nuclear Power

Perhaps not. The mostly idled nuclear fleet offers a taste of life without the atom: In summer 2012, the country faced electricity shortages, forcing the government to push citizens toward power-saving measures such as restrictions on big users and reduced air-conditioning. Productivity suffered as workers labored through sweltering heat. Just in Tokyo, electricity costs, already among the highest in the world, rose by an average of 8.5 percent. Eight of Japan’s 10 power utilities reported heavy losses—$8.5 billion total over six months—from the cost of buying more oil and gas to replace idled reactors. The two profitable power companies had little or no generation from nuclear. All this from a temporary stoppage.
If Japan goes to zero nuclear power, as the protesters and former Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda want, the resulting increase in fossil-fuel imports would cause an outflow of national wealth equivalent to 0.6 percent of Japan’s gross domestic product, according to research completed in January by the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan. That would lead to an increase of Japan’s enormous $74 billion trade deficit. “You have to pay a lot, a lot, a lot for LNG imports,” Hirai says. “If something happens in the Strait of Hormuz today, that makes—oh, I don’t want to think about it,” he adds, shaking his head.
A nuclear phaseout would also lead to a rise in electricity prices, increasing the burden on households by $10 billion ($115 per household). Japanese businesses would suffer from hiked electricity costs, with an increased burden of $22 billion. The fallout could cost some 420,000 jobs, according to IEEJ. All of that, in turn, would lead to an approximately $11 billion annual decline in corporate tax revenue and what the institute refers to as a “vicious cycle,” escalating the already massive debt problem faced by the world’s third-largest economy. “We don’t want to pursue such a miserable path,” Hirai says.

GRAVITY’S PULL

Towering along the seashore in Japan’s Shizuoka prefecture is a 60-foot-tall anti-tsunami seawall. The massive structure—one of many countermeasures that Chubu Electric Power has implemented at its Hamaoka Nuclear Power Station since the 2011 temblor—shows just how far, and high, Japan is willing to go to hold on to nuclear energy.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/why-japan-can-t-quit-nuclear-power-20130214


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Curiosity and timing, that`s what this post is about, that and those governmental statements politicos, historians and comedians find so ......useful..



"10 count em 10 LNG plants with the first one up and running by 2015"

 

P.S......The above music video really rocks at about the 3:53 mark and continues through the entire next 16 minutes...


The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open
 

When there is a glut of supply commodity prices crash(British Columbia`s LNG Delusions)

CKNW radio all through April/2014 can be described as nothing more than a spindoctoring propaganda pandering BC Liberal bootlicking ad nauseum drone...."Putting B.C. to work...Skills shortage" jobs jobs jobs, blah blah blah all the while promoting British Columbia as a one trick pony relying on resource extraction.....

Clearly Billy Good and company have the BC Liberal election platform guiding their lame amateur producers...Talk about boring radio....they trotted out guest after guest preaching from the corporate bible, industrial scripture based on lore, on fable, fairy tales and bold-faced lies targeting weak-minded rubes, targeting those who can`t add 1 and 1, targeting those who not only can`t think but those who don`t want to think...Sheep, mindless grass munching sheep..

Corporate scripture indeed, millions of new jobs, resource extraction creating wealth beyond our dreams, drill it, dig it, burn it, boil it and ship it off to China in exchange for more money than we can count.....Oh how sad Billy Good, Global BC, Balderdash Baldrey and Vaughn Palmer have become..

These clowns have turned their backs on the truth, journalistic integrity has been replaced by three stupid monkeys sitting around scratching their asses while eating bananas, my gawd, ....How on earth can they even look in the mirror, so deep into the cesspool of putrid bullshit, descended below the lowest sludge barrel rung....

For years now, at least a decade corporations in Canada have been beating the drum about the need of millions of workers, more jobs than grains of sand on all the world`s beaches...

Such utter bullshit, self serve gas stations, teller-less banking, factories of workers reduced to factories of robots, company X employs 100 workers today in 10 years company X will employ 4 workers and produce more, ......Examples, we have examples right here in British Columbia..

Kitimat-Rio-Tinto smelter upgrade, oh for sure, Rio-Tinto is spending a pretty penny upgrading their smelter in Kitimat, newer, faster, more efficient, once complete can compete is their motto..

The old Rio-Tinto smelter employed 1500 employees while operating, the new upgraded smelter will employ 50% fewer employees...roughly 750 workers..

More aluminum smelted by half the employees......Mines too are becoming more automated, robot trucks, disposable workers, temporary foreign slaves available as easily as ordering a pizza..

  http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Complaints+about+foreign+worker+program+spread/9742306/story.html

The biggest corporations in the world are playing the game of slash and burn workers, oh those so rare skills that can`t be filled, coffee servers, burger flippers, form strippers, ditch diggers, oh indeed, McDonalds, Tim Hortons, Earls, to name a few...

Shouldn`t honest media report how Rio-Tinto`s upgrade is being executed to slash its workforce in half, that`s newsworthy...

Resource extraction, a future tradesmen and women can depend on according to industrial corporate scripture...Remember HD mining, the need of coal miners, well....

I had cknw droning  as background noise today, .....As reported, all month long cknw has been blathering about the need for more trades, welders, miners, the coming boom and creation of 1 million new jobs by 2020...Yet on their newscast, all day long not one word mentioned about the layoff of 700 miners, a longterm layoff at that...

Isn`t the layoff of near 800 hundred miners worth even one mention on cknw`s radio news, ah...but that would be contrary to their month-long blather about job jobs jobs, everywhere are effing jobs..

Here`s the deal, Walter mining paid $3.3 billion dollars several years ago to enter the coal mining game, coal was $200 per tonne, today coal, because of excess supply, a slowdown in China and stockpiles of coal everywhere has dropped to $110 per tonne, ...the Walter group stock value has plunged by over 90%, ....Executives decided it`s more prudent and financially savvy to leave the coal in the ground...

Bang bang bang....Workers, miners in Tumbler Ridge showed up for work and were told to hit the bricks, no notice given, no warning, just peons, expendable workers punted out the door, told to pack their gear and have a good life...!


http://www.vancouversun.com/business/resources/Coal+mine+closures+devastating+shock+Tumbler+Ridge/9740653/story.html

Oh, and what about the hollering by the Port of Vancouver and Delta Port, the urgent need for coal export terminal expansion, oops....I guess they really don`t need those proposed coal terminals after all....

Resource booms come and go, now you see it now you don`t, if ones reads the above linked article two things are apparent, these layoffs are for years, maybe forever, and the most important point in the article, when there is a glut of supply commodity prices crash

I want you to remember that above bolded statement of fact...

What a delicious turn....if one was to believe the incoherent blather from Christy cluck cluck Clark..

"British Columbia LNG will wean China off that dirty thermal coal"

Coal mines in British Columbia employ anywhere from 400 to 600 employees....The largest LNG plant proposed will have roughly 200 to 250 employees, if what Christy Clark said was true any jobs gained in LNG will be offset by job losses in coal mines, net gain in jobs not, ....

So many corporate greed monsters playing the game, use, abuse, bullshit and promise the moon, but soon as the gravy train runs dry those oh so valued tradespeople are discarded like soiled diapers.

When there is a glut of supply commodity prices crash

At present there is no shortage of LNG for sale, plenty of supply with gobs of new supply coming online from places like Papua New Gunea..Australia, East Africa....New supply coming online from the USA too...Furthermore, Asia, China and Japan know how to play the spin game, oh indeed, yes they talk a big game, offering up monies for equity shares, 10% of this plant, 20% of that plant, a nibble here and a bite there, wink, wiggle grease the palm with vague commitments.....Why...?

 When there is a glut of supply commodity prices crash

 Already new LNG plant proposals are finding it near impossible to get longterm gas buying contracts at prices making the investment worthwhile, not by accident but by design..

No LNG liquefication export plant will get built in B.C. unless the provincial Government offers the moon and surrenders 80% of their originally proposed taxation royalty scheme, ...

When commodity prices crash, just like the coal mines the corporation will just lock the doors and send the workers home, there are no guarantees in the resource extraction commodity game...

Our media never talks about this fact, pom pom waving rose coloured glasses wearing corporate owned stooge media concerned with nothing but feathering their personal nests while dropping turds on the gullible sheep below..

There was another interesting article this week, a very important story that our BC media ignored, pretend they never saw it, like children chanting I can`t hear you while their hands are firmly pressed against their ears..

____________________


Solar Cheaper Than LNG in Asia Power Generation, Bernstein Says

Solar power is cheaper in many parts of Asia than electricity from liquefied natural gas, meaning photovoltaics don’t need subsidies to compete with fossil fuels.
The Middle East will consume less oil, off-grid areas in developing markets will reduce kerosene and diesel demand, while Asia, the U.S. and Europe will burn less gas as the adoption of solar accelerates, according to a report by Sanford C. Bernstein& Co.

The market for costly plants built to supply electricity at peak daytime hours could collapse, while distribution utilities which shut out rooftop solar projects that reduce demand for grid power will drive consumers to start storing energy in batteries, according to the report. The rise of solar may begin to depress fossil-fuel prices within the decade.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-04-04/solar-cheaper-than-lng-in-asia-power-generation-bernstein-says

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Here is what we do know, last year Japan bought 39% of all the world`s LNG....Japan spent in 2013 $69 billion dollars on LNG...That with all their nuclear plants shut down...Shinzo Abe is going to start up Japan`s nuclear plants, maybe not all of them but most of them over the nest 2 years, Japan in 2014 will be buying less LNG than they did in 2013 and pay a cheaper price for the gas...

For argument sakes, let`s assume Japan buys $70 billion dollars worth of LNG each of the next 10 years...

$700 billion dollars spent on LNG over 10 years and what would Japan have to show for it?

Nothing!

Nothing but increased greenhouse gas emissions and right back at square one, having to buy, and buy and buy some more gas..

Do any of you really believe Japan will do that....How much clean, green reusable solar, tidal, electrical energy could $700 billion buy?

How much new, clean, nuclear waste free thorium reactors could Japan build with $700 billion dollars?

Fuel for electrical energy generation is in rapid change mode....China and Japan are playing both sides of the same coin....First off China and Japan are moving fast into a new technology era while Canada under Stephen Harper, British Columbia under the BC Liberals are being led by greedy oil corporations, selling a tired old saw that all we can be is hewers of wood and drawers of water, stupid bought and paid for politicians chasing the 19th century past, like a cat in heat or male teenagers following their penis....

Actually, our governments are more like a mule chasing the unattainable carrot because eventually the cat and teenager will find the pot of gold..

  When there is a glut of supply commodity prices crash...

When commodity prices crash corporations discard those oh so valued tradesperson like soiled diapers..

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open
 

Vulture Capitalists Swoop in to Dine on Enbridge`s Still Warm Corpse

Written by Grant G


We sailed straight towards the eye of the hurricane, met its power and prevailed, battered and a little bruised, like a mother screaming while in a laborious state, all that pain is forgotten when the package delivered cries for nurture and touch....Leaves one breathlessly content...


   Kitimat`s non-binding referendum was a victory for the ages, corporate thug with deep cavernous  pockets loaded with loot engaged in carpet-bombing advertising on every national cable channel, every high ranking radio station, print ads plastered in all daily papers, video ads inserted behind articles one clicks to read, even progressive new media like The Tyee took Enbridge money, $60 million dollars Enbridge spent in the last 12 months in British Columbia, $60 million Enbridge spent before the Kitimat plebiscite, ......Enbridge flew near 100 people into Kitimat to persuade, doorknock, canvass and spindoctor, they held barbecues, open houses, fancy glossy mailers arrived in every home in Kitimat and surrounding areas, phones were dialed, workers were visited, lies were told, exaggeration of benefits and denial of risks while answering no questions of substance was planned, practiced and executed.....Saturday April 12th/2014 on the day of Kitimat`s non-binding make or break all the marbles on the table winners celebrate while losers take their ball and go home plebiscite I relaxed, no pressure, content knowing the outcome in advance...

Enbridge go home was the message sent, delivered in person, revenge is a dish best served cold and Enbridge felt a chill wrap around their cajones causing shrinkage a turtle would be proud of..

To be clear, (Janet one with the Orca) Holder and other Donny(dick) Dyck representative voices for Enbridge downplayed the result however, had this corporate thug won in Kitimat front pages would be branded with jumping for joy oil whores, victory is ours, V-day all over again, Billy Good would be calling his stock broker to check on his Enbridge holdings, Balderdash and Vaughn Palmer would dust off their Enbridge-is-a-go-and-we-called-it columns stored under their pillows...

A crushing blow for Enbridge, end of the line, rope cut, already several First Nation`s groups after the NON-BINDING PLEBISCITE result decided to cut ties with Enbridge....Beginning of the end for Northern Gateway...

Kitimat, a resource town, smelters, heavy industry, a working port, terminus for Enbridge`s proposed northern gateway limited liability 49% owned by China pipeline, a town that would have seen most of the very few permanent jobs if built said.....Take your pipe and shove it where the sun don`t shine!

Those results in Kitimat(60% against..40% for) .......Add 10% to the against and subtract 10% to the for...70% opposed ..30% for ....That`s what the result would be if we had British Columbia province-wide vote on Enbridge`s proposal....Guaranteed...

The Dogwood Initiative environmental group is proposing using BC`s recall and referendum process to force a province wide referendum vote...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/northern-gateway-pipeline-referendum-sought-by-dogwood-initiative-1.2609410

And I say....Forgetaboutit....I was part of the HST referendum, gathered up hundreds of signatures on the Sunshine Coast, thousands across our province gathered up the required signatures and forced a referendum...Which the good guys won, British Columbia shoved the HST up Gordon Campbell and the BC Liberal`s ass!

Unfortunately the Dogwood Initiative doesn`t understand the process, they think the HST referendum is the standard, they are wrong, what the Dogwood group is proposing is a guaranteed Enbridge win, how can they be so stupid..The HST referendum was granted special treatment, Gordon Campbell in an attempt to save his sorry ass from exile made an exception...50% plus 1 vote was good enough for victory....however, Enbridge and Christy Clucking Clark won`t be playing nice, or granting a special treatment exemption from the referendum rules..

__________


If the application is approved, a petition is issued to the applicant (called a proponent) 60 days later.

 The proponent then has 90 days to collect signatures of 10% of the registered voters in each electoral district. The proponent may be helped by volunteers when canvassing for signatures.

When all the signed petition sheets are submitted, the Chief Electoral Officer has 42 days to verify that enough valid signatures have been collected. If the verification process shows that sufficient signatures have been collected and the financing requirements have been met by the proponent, the Chief Electoral Officer sends a copy of the petition and draft Bill to a Select Standing Committee of the Legislature.

The Select Standing Committee on Legislative Initiatives must meet within 30 days of receipt of the initiative petition and draft Bill. The Select Standing Committee has 90 days to consider the legislative proposal. The Committee must either table a report recommending introduction of the draft Bill or refer the initiative petition and draft Bill to the Chief Electoral Officer for an initiative vote.
If an initiative vote is required, a vote will be held on September 27, 2014, and on the last Saturday of September in every third year after that date.

 If more than 50% of the total number of registered voters in the province vote in favour of an initiative, and more than 50% of the total number of registered voters in each of at least 2/3 of the electoral districts in the province vote in favour of an initiative, the Chief Electoral Officer must declare the initiative vote to be successful and the government must introduce the Bill at the earliest practicable opportunity.


http://www.elections.bc.ca/index.php/referenda-recall-initiative/initiative/

__________________________

Did the Dogwood group forget how to read....British Columbia during provincial elections, or Federal election at most get about 55% of registered voters actually voting, pathetic turnout, voting has been on the decline for years..

So, let me break it down to simple math......First off....If even one of the 85 ridings falls short of the 10% of required signatures there is no referendum...Enbridge would claim victory...And I have no doubt that we could gather up 10% plus in every riding...

However, here is what Dogwood doesn`t understand, the NO TO ENBRIDGE REFERENDUM....

The no votes would have to get near 100% of the vote to be successful, because only 50% of registered voters vote...Read the above passage from Elections BC.....Dumb-asses.

A vote using our written in law referendum act would guarantee an Enbridge victory!

A province-wide vote on Enbridge is a fine idea as long as it`s a straight vote, our recall and referendum act make it impossible to win, a referendum to be successful requires 50% of registered voters in 2/3rds of all ridings to cast votes against, ...NOT 50% of votes cast, 50% of all registered voters, our last BC election we barely had 55% of registered voters vote....If we had the same turnout in a referendum vote we would require nearly 100% to vote against Enbridge....

The prudent thing to do is wait....

So we wait, as written at The Straight Goods after the NEB gave Enbridge approval, albeit with conditions, as written here in December 2013....We can`t do sweet-fluck-all until Stephen treason Harper gives Enbridge the nod(That nod is expected in June/2014)...However, with the way Harper and the Cons are registering in national polls I have a feeling Harper won`t approve the project, he needs another majority before he rams it through...That`s my gut feeling..

Now, I have been wrong before(I thought Adrian Dix couldn`t blow a 20 length lead with only a nag in pursuit)...If Stephen Harper approves Enbridge`s 49% Chinese owned limited liability northern gateway inc pipeline proposal the Haisla and other coastal First Nations are going to court, British Columbia supreme court and eventually this dispute will end up in the supreme court of Canada..

A place that doesn`t like Stephen Harper...Doesn`t matter, we have a federal election in 2015 and like it or not, as predicted here 16 months ago Justin Trudeau will be prime minister of Canada, and if Thomas Mulcair can pull a rabbit out of the hat and win...Both Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair are opposed to Enbridge`s northern gateway pipeline, it will be a federal election issue in British Columbia..

http://www.threehundredeight.com/2014/04/conservatives-drop-in-ekos-poll.html

So, we will have First Nations battling in court, battling for years where they will eventually win, we also have Stephen Harper`s Con party punted out of office, long before our courts have ruled, plus both Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair are campaigning against Enbridge`s northern gateway..

We have more, today icing was placed on my contentment pie....David Black crawled our from his rock denouncing Enbridge`s proposal, David Black`s altruistic motives are personal greed, not protecting our environment, and the shocker, crony capitalist vulture number two Aquilini held a press conference today in Vancouver, he proposed an $18 billion dollar refinery in Alberta and pipeline to Prince Rupert with First Nation partners, already those far from the coast First Nations who signed with Enbridge are ripping up agreements and cutting ties, as everyone smells a rotting dead horse named Enbridge...

David Black and the Aquilini Group, vulture capitalists come swooping in to dine on Enbridge`s corpse(On the first Monday following the Enbridge`s devastating plebiscite loss), while it`s still warm!

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Northern+Gateway+setback+could+mean+opportunity+aboriginal/9737026/story.html

Put the northern gateway pipeline battle to rest....She is dead, we`ll deal with those other clowns in due time.

Meanwhile, like the cat pictured above, contentment rules the day, can`t you hear me purring.

The Straight Goods

Cheers Eyes Wide Open

 

Corporatocracy and the illusion of Democracy

Corporatocracy and the illusion of Democracy


Written By Mark Taliano

 

 

 

“Freedom” and “democracy” are useful words, but very bankrupt: useful because they serve to advance imperial/corporate agendas, bankrupt because they are empty vessels perennially co-opted.

 When illegal coups are orchestrated to overthrow democratically elected governments in Venezuela, Honduras, Ukraine, or elsewhere, the lies of freedom and democracy are seamlessly attached to the criminal acts. 

 “Freedom” and “democracy” are still cloaking, tacitly or overtly, mass murder and genocide in Iraq, at this moment.

 

As long as the masses are fooled, conquest and regime change, not democracy and freedom, are enabled and perpetuated.  Illegal coups and wars of aggression are about imperial control, setting up puppet dictators, and the imposition of neoliberal economic business models for the corporate extensions of the invading nations.

 Once the vanquished “host” nation is subjugated, its industries are corporatized, and wealth is extracted  for the benefit of transnational corporations, corporate elites, and local oligarchs. The vanquished nations face corresponding losses of political and economic self-determination, human rights, democracy, and freedom. De facto corporate proxy regimes may call themselves democratic, or proclaim freedom, but the words are delusional, even if those being enslaved believe otherwise.

 Transnational corporate monopolies are the drivers behind the malaise.                           

Some of the predominant monopolies, all inter-related and mutually reinforcing, are often prefaced with the adjective “Big”.  They include:

 

                        * Finance

                        * Oil

                        * Military/Industrial Complex

                        * Media

                        * Pharmaceuticals

                                                               

These transnational monopolies  metastasize beneath protective umbrellas of secretly negotiated, supranational “free trade” agreements, and they exert disproportionate control over political economies throughout the world.  Additionally, their leverage is amplified and perpetuated through a matrix of intersecting trajectories that converge to create seamless, reciprocal unions with each other, and with elected polities.

 One strategy used by the resulting “corporatocracy” to increase its political might is the creation of a culture of “crony capitalism.” In this culture, a “revolving door” is created through which personnel from corporations and government come and go, thus creating a mutually empowering relationship, more responsible to each other, than to the voting public.   

 Author Tony Hall reveals the inherent conflict of interest created when a “revolving door” exists between industry-funded regulators and Big Oil. In "Oil Consultant Turned Whisleblower Exposes Fracking Crimes In Alberta",  Hall explains that Gerard Protti, the Alberta Energy Regulator’s (AER) current head, is a former executive of EnCana petroleum corporation.

 Not only is the industry self-regulated, but the “regulator” himself is a former executive of the industry being regulated. “His conflict of interest,” explains Hall, “is illustrative of a culture of conflict of interest that is transforming the governments of Canada and Alberta into wholly-owned subsidiaries of Texas-based and China-based oil and gas companies." 

 Big Oil also works hand-in-hand with Big Media.  Close links between corporate media and the petroleum industry are detailed in a Vancouver Observer article entitled, "Presentation Suggests Intimate relationship Between Post Media And Oil Industry".

 According to the article, the Canadian Association Of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), a powerful right-wing “think tank”, would provide “thought leadership” for the media outlet, and that “topics (would) be directed by CAPP and written by Postmedia.”  In other words, the petroleum industry’s intent in this instance is to control media messaging related to petroleum related topics, thus creating its own platform/infomercial embedded within media that presents itself as “neutral”.  Interestingly, one of the first casualties of the proposed “marriage” was environment reporter Mike De Souza.

 

Corporate media and the military-industrial complex are also welded together.  The Military-Industrial -Media complex profits from keeping countries on a war footing, and  is complicit in unfathomable misery throughout the world. 

 War and war preparations serve as a pretext for vast outlays of money from the public to corporations. Consequently, war friendly media barely reported the huge protests against the illegal invasion of Iraq, but it did spin stories about Iraq’s imaginary Weapons Of Mass Destruction, and the imperatives of invasion.  Meanwhile, once the Shock And awe invasion started, Pentagon inspired nomenclature such as “collateral damage” or  “surgical strikes” continued to anesthetize the public to the horrors of the invasion.  Over one million died as a result of the carnage of the Second Gulf War, and the death rate

is still climbing.

 The interlocked military-industrial-media complex is created by the myriad of intersecting connections between the industries. Peter Philips and Mike Huff, in "Truth Emergency: Inside The Military Industrial Media Empire" describe some of these connections:

 “Only 118 people comprise the membership on the boards of director of the ten big media giants. These 118 individuals in turn sit on the corporate boards of 288 national and international corporations. Four of the top 10 media corporations share board director positions with the major defense contractors including:

William Kennard: New York Times, Carlyle Group

Douglas Warner III, GE (NBC), Bechtel

John Bryson: Disney (ABC), Boeing

Alwyn Lewis: Disney (ABC), Halliburton

Douglas McCorkindale: Gannett, Lockheed-Martin.”

 

Financial monopolies, for the most part overseen by the U.S, are also wedded to the destructive, self-reinforcing web of supranationally protected monopolies.  Honduras is a case in point. 

 Since the U.S orchestrated coup in 2009, transnational corporations, soon to be further protected beneath the umbrella of the Canada-Honduras Free Trade Agreement, have wreaked havoc on Honduras.  Transnational Financing cartels, including the International Monetary Fund, bundle their loans with neoliberal market models, for the profit of foreign investors and Honduran oligarchs.   The loans finance cash crops such as African Palm monoculture plantations, and the results are devastating to almost all Hondurans.

 The plantations dispossess indigenous small-holder farmers, rob the nation of food sovereignty, and destroy indigenous cultures.  Since 2009, oligarchs, in concert with illegal proxy dictatorships, have killed 100 campesinos from the Aguan Valle alone  ---- with impunity.

 Big Pharma , yet another protected monopoly, also creates misery and desperation throughout the world, and its influences are woven into the fabric of lies and omissions perpetuated by the other monopolies.  

 Michael McBane, in Harper Caves In To Big Pharma, argues “(We ) need to take patents out of secret trade agreements and impose conditions that benefit the public interest in exchange for drug monopolies…”

 If the suppression of Big Pharma and its ubiquitous messaging were lifted, Canada could also create a National Pharmacare program, which would save Canadians about $10.7 billion per year.

 Once freed from the devastating tentacles of the transnational monopolies, Canadians will realize that it’s time to call 911 on the corporatocracy. We might then recapture real democracy and freedom, rather than settle for their bankrupt facsimiles.  

 

 

Written By Mark Taliano

 

 

__________________________________________________

 

 

I would like to thank Mark Taliano for keeping his eyes wide open, for looking beyond the curtain, if we the people keep banging the drum, keep opening new eyes as to the extent of this corporate takeover we will win the war.....I have a feeling we haven`t heard the last of Mr. Taliano...

 

 

 

 

The Straight Goods

 

Cheers Eyes Wide Open