Each Day, Capitalism Kills far more Innocents Than Died on 9/11

Angry street protests at the G-20 Summit in London are just a foretaste of what’s certain to follow in many countries, ultimately including the United States, as popular outrage over the “global economic meltdown” spreads.

Because it’s intrinsically and irreparably greed-driven, capitalism works at vicious cross-purposes with public welfare and the common good. Not only does its cruelly exploitative nature inflict great harm on multitudes around the planet, its private-profit obsession undeniably takes lives.

Routinely and on a massive scale. Here’s how:

1) By refusing to acknowledge the environmentally hazardous impact of its unchecked productive processes, and by staying loyal to lucrative fossil fuels, capitalism has become a lethal, worldwide generator of greenhouse gasses. While global warming is very real and tremendously deadly, anti-scientific factions of the capitalist elite refuse to concede its very existence, or that their profiteering priorities are its evident cause.

Meanwhile polar bears drown and butterflies perish, as bellwethers of what awaits all life if current methods, and relations, of ecologically unsustainable manufacturing and transit aren’t altered.

2) Unable to derive sufficient profits by exploiting their own labor and domestic natural resources, leading capitalist powers (i.e., George Bush’s USA) launch unprovoked wars of acquisitive, domineering aggression. Poor teens, faced with poverty wages and a widespread lack of civilian opportunity, enlist for manipulative incentives to unwittingly be sacrificed in rich men’s dirty conflicts for narrow, corporate gain abroad. They die, or get horrendously maimed, along with victimized innocents in the invaded countries into which they’re wrongfully sent.

3) Corporations seeking more profit close domestic factories rather than offer their employees decent wages, proper benefits, and pensions. They run away to Third World locales where virtual slave labor is utilized. Workers’ families at home consequently suffer, being thrust into hardship, having to abandon health insurance often when its needed the most. We’ve all seen “spaghetti feed” appeals for donations for those who’ve become seriously ill but can’t afford medical care. Then we see their names again, in the obituary pages.

Meanwhile, the super-exploitation at capitalism’s overseas plants is barbaric. Children and young women must toil long hours for just pennies a day. On-the-job accidents, illnesses, and countless sweatshop fatalities lie behind the cheap consumer prices featured at Walmart and other big box retailers dotting our strip malls.

4) Driven from the land by unfair agricultural competition unleashed through NAFTA and similar monopoly-favoring agreements, rural residents of underdeveloped countries lose whatever scant livelihood they had. They’re forced into the grinding poverty of sprawling urban slums.

In desperation, many of them “illegally” migrate to the U.S. Seeking only food for their tables, they’re castigated as criminals, and have to secretly cross the border.

Many die beneath the searing sun of our savage, Southwestern deserts.

5) Needing ideological underpinning for the male dominance that perpetuates capitalism’s patriarchy and its immensely profitable wage differential between men and women doing the same work, no meaningful concession can be made to the idea of female equality. Thus obtaining abortions becomes exceedingly difficult, if not illegal. Ruling-class men piously decide that fetuses should be granted imagined rights that supersede the very real rights of already born, living, breathing, socially functioning females.

Women confronted with unacceptable pregnancies are expected to carry to term, no matter the threat to their own health, and regardless how impossibly difficult objective circumstances surrounding motherhood might be.

A quarter million girls and women succumb around the world annually because abortion is outlawed where they once lived.

6) AIDS claims millions of lives, especially in the poorest nations, whose impoverishment can be traced to their plunder by capitalist colonialism, and where death by hunger and other diseases is already obscenely high.

Back when the spread of AIDS was greatest — heading toward a grim pandemic — selfish pharmaceutical firms wouldn’t provide affordable or free anti-AIDS drugs to the Third World. Most still don’t.

Meanwhile, here at home, the homophobia that joins racism and related biases as useful capitalist means of keeping people divided…kept prompt action from being taken to combat AIDS. In fact, it was initially dismissed as a “gay disease” and “God’s punishment,” not to be interfered with.

7) How many people die from exposure to lethal chemicals, whirling machinery, hidden poisons, locked exit doors at burning poultry plants, exploding coal mines, improperly inspected or repaired airliners, collapsing bridges, etc., because corporations and corporate-beholden government won’t spend money on appropriate safety measures?

Or because they’ve busted unions and hired scabs, thereby grievously diminishing quality control all around?

Capitalism’s stubborn aversion to “regulation” means a prospective death sentence for everyone.

We could go on and on, but we’ll cite just one more outrageous example. Some months ago it was disclosed that Big Tobacco has been increasing the amount of addictive nicotine in cancer-causing cigarettes, the better to profitably hook youth, who will stand a one-in-three chance of ultimately dying from smoking.

Only the universal implementation of public-profit/populist-democratic/cooperative economies based on shared, lasting well being, not devastating rape for short-term private enrichment, can save us.

And our earthly home itself.

That’s why we should look favorably upon the 21st Century socialism that’s being built elsewhere, particularly in Latin America.

It’s the lifesaver everyone needs.

Dennis Rahkonen, from Superior, Wisconsin, has been writing progressive commentary with a Heartland perspective for various outlets since the '60s. Read other articles by Dennis.

27 comments on this article so far ...

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  1. Max Shields said on April 3rd, 2009 at 2:55pm #

    I know it’s an easy take on the situation to define it as “capitalism” and the cure is “socialism”.

    But where does this all come from? What you’ve identified Dennis is a pathology. But is the pathology an economic system? Is it capitalism that gave us NAFTA?

    Did capitalism give us Corporate preditories and Military Industrial Complexes and did capitalism use the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution to exploit it and the legal system (which it has come to own) to provide Corporations with all the rights and priviledges of an American citizen – a person?

    The pathology you describe exists, there is no denying it. That capitalism has the seeds of its own destruction and taken to the frantic levels of unfettered “free markets” and reckless immorality that led to it taking over the US political system, one should see that the criminality of capitalism and the cronyism and corruption is something unique to this thing called capitalism. But I rather doubt the world would be free of this pathology if it simply rids itself of capitalism.

    In the end, the labels can change, but who we are and what we do is not merely the result of a particular ism. In the end, we can just flip from one thing to another. People voted for Barrack Obama and thought they were getting real change. For some, simply voting out the Republican Party was change; for ridding ourselves of Bush II was change. But in the end, nothing really changed. And if we don’t understand the problem, and deal with it, not simply as a plug and play solution – pull out capitalism and plug in socialism – we’ll just pretend for a while until it dawns that fundamentally, the lexicon was all that go changed. The propaganda changed. The status quo took on a new set of clothes.

  2. Deadbeat said on April 3rd, 2009 at 3:10pm #

    if we don’t understand the problem, and deal with it, not simply as a plug and play solution

    Since Max you are assuming the author is advocating “plug and play” rather than just comparing how the existing system is actually more harmful than 9-11 to make a comparative point then please tell everyone what the “political correct” vernacular should be and what the “solution” is.

    Of course Max remember that your “ideas” will be henceforth be labeled “Sheildism”. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about Shieldism being co-opted.

  3. Max Shields said on April 3rd, 2009 at 4:03pm #

    The author’s last statement: “That’s why we should look favorably upon the 21st Century socialism that’s being built elsewhere, particularly in Latin America.
    It’s the lifesaver everyone needs.”

    I agree that much of what is coming about in Latin America is a healthier rendition of living communities, but let’s not get carried away. This is not “Marxism”. Call it “socialism” but “socialism” just a catchall for “Not American Corporate Capitalism and neoliberalist tade”. Calling what is not American, “socialism” is a case of grabbing for straws; or as Dennis would have it “life saver”.

    What happened in Cuba, for example, post-Soviet collapse, was NOT a continuation of Marxism (Soviet flavored) but an attempt to survive. Whether there are bits and pieces of what we call capitalism in Cuba is neither here nor there, the point is the island had a massive breakdown and made use of sound ecological solutions. That’s NOT 21st Century Socialism.

    The problem is clear as a bell, it’s before us but if we want to hide behind an old tired ism as a correction we’ll suffer the postponement of more fundamental change and solutions to this condition. The US needs to be re-constituted. Real change is unlikely to ever happen as some kind of Revolt against Washington unless it was done in such a massive way that it could not be denied, and then it would just be mass hysteria. So, far, the TV is still on, the radios are still playing, cars still roam every inch of the American landscape, shopping is down, unemployment is rising, but the tempature is still far far from boiling. The real test is when Obama starts to break a sweat. Otherwise, he’s above the fray, as is the rest of the power elite.

    As far, Deadbeat, as what I’ve posted providing an alternative, well that’s not my intent, though I’ve posted nothing that doesn’t have its origins in well thoughtout and documented works by relatively non-ideologues who are not into the banter of socialism/capitalism.

    If your game is to kick the can, have at it.

  4. bozh said on April 3rd, 2009 at 4:59pm #

    here is an easy question to pose, Will the ruling class [tho stratified] ever of own volition give the working class [also stratified] education that wld be fit for them and wld benefit all classes?
    is not the education/learning more important than sport, games, travel, and many other achievements?

    while amers are technologically well educated, they are less knowledgable than most people.
    and knowledge is not part of technology; it’s the other way around.
    and knowledge or an elightenment for survival and well-being is totally in hands of the ruling class.

    main and only aim of ruling class’ ‘education’ is to ‘teach’ kids to adapt to a fictitious reality; a ‘reality’ which wld be impossible even for fermi to adapt to.
    who can adapt to US hallowed constitution? and since kids can’t and having indeed evaluated that constitution, education, gospels as true and so help me god; and still are troubled, conclude it is me! i am the misfit.
    i have bible, the best education and the country in the world; the best teachers/scientists, politicians so what the hell is wrong with me?
    why am i a nobody, lazy, unmotivated, stupid, depressed, angry, etc?
    they find the answer in drugs, stealing, drink, etc.
    sorry folks, i am not glating! but that is the greatness of america; for plutos, tho. that is the AMERICAN DREAM. if you don’t obtain it, you get the AMERICAN NIGHTMARE. and it is all ‘your’ fault. tnx

  5. Deadbeat said on April 4th, 2009 at 3:20am #

    What happened in Cuba, for example, post-Soviet collapse, was NOT a continuation of Marxism (Soviet flavored) but an attempt to survive

    As far, Deadbeat, as what I’ve posted providing an alternative, well that’s not my intent, though I’ve posted nothing that doesn’t have its origins in well thoughtout and documented works by relatively non-ideologues who are not into the banter of socialism/capitalism.

    Lets see, Shieldsism is a set of ideas that is relatively non-ideological. What a linguistic twist. All Max has do is present a set of ideas then claim them to be “non-ideogical” and anyone who supports Socialism are derided as … “ideologues”.

    The point of ideas is to provide a way of communicating a particular vision for progress. Meaning a set of ideas in order to make the economy more democratic and participatory. Socialism which provide a vision for making the economy function for the people rather than the elites has been distorted and co-opted by such regimes as the Soviet Union. Similarly Democracy has been co-opted by such regimes as the United States. By using the Shieldistic logic then why advocate for since we can measure “Democracy” by observing the lack of Democratic form within the U.S.

    Clearly according to such Shieldistic argumentation if humans will merely replace Capitalism with “Socialism” then why bother it will be deformed anyway since that merely how humans acts. Then by the same logic then why strive for Democracy we see how humans mess that up as well.

    However the flaw with Shieldsism is that the ideas exposed are circular and there are clear error not only in reasoning but in its distortion of obfuscation of the historical record. In other words the point of Shieldsism is to sow confusion by misstating the facts. For example, a main tenet of Shieldsism is to ignore that what occurred in Cuba, especially during the “special period” was indeed keeping with Marxists tenets. The point of Marxism is change. The fact that Cuba was able to make changes that benefited the people is far from what would happen under Capitalism. Somehow the Shieldsists want to “rebrand” the Cuban accomplishments as something other than Marxist due to its own ideological myopia and most importantly — its desire to define CLAIMS.

    There are plenty of you tubes videos about this period.
    And once again I offer a link to an article about Permaculture and Marxism.

  6. Max Shields said on April 4th, 2009 at 4:23am #

    Permacluture and Maxism is like Walmart is a Green Company (because they have put solar panels on some of their big boxes.)

    To make a point Adam Smith and Permaculture: http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/permaculture/2005-September/022451.html

  7. Max Shields said on April 4th, 2009 at 6:39am #

    All economies are mixed, some more heavily nationalized than others. But the crux of economics is that it can either be divergent or convergent with the planet’s limited resources to sustain life.

    There is no doubt that uneconomic growth, the kind most exemplified by the USA (but seemingly replicated by the still labeled Communists in China) is a deadend and on an extremely dangerous trajectory.

    Nationalization of the commons (resources) and those entities inclined to become monopolies (energy producers, healthcare, assurance of open space and farmland, air waves, and the like) should be in the public domain, and not privatized. Whether one calls that “socialism” or not is kind of irrelevant. There have been strong proponents of the latter that consider themselves neither capitalists nor socialists.

    A steady-state economy is the most sane route. And that, as well as permaculture, can be achieved, not with an ism, but with human will and the recognition that the problem is not an “ism” but the acknowledgement and vigilence to implement and sustain.

    I think this calls for a re-constitution of larger nations, not the least of which is the USA. That, I think will happen with a confluence of forces. One is a profound and persistent local/global movement and the other will be the precipitice collapse of our civilization with the significant reduction in energy sourcses, the endless war machine, the bankruptcy of the global economy and the continued climate change that threatens the planet’s life system. You won’t find this in any version of Das Kapital, but so what?

  8. Max Shields said on April 4th, 2009 at 7:22am #

    And let’s not forget, any economic and social transformation must have as its most fundamental precept and central governing principle: living justice.

    Max

  9. bozh said on April 4th, 2009 at 7:55am #

    beat but not dead yet and max have both posited interesting ideas.
    one- introduced by db- about some people asserting that we wld mess up also socialism and it be better then we avoid it, we can accept as valid.

    and as max says we can nationalize farmlands, energy sources, mines, etc., and not call it socialism. yes, i agree.
    small business can be private but police, army, healthcare, education, etc., must be in control of democratic people and not a few plutocrats or their agents. tnx

  10. bozh said on April 4th, 2009 at 9:13am #

    if dennis wld have cast the widest look possible, he wld have not just blamed capitalism for enormous damage to so many people but wld have also looked at the structure of society.
    he wld have espied that the plutocrats, aristocrats, despots have ruled over us for millenia. they, and solely they, rule/manage US.
    he wld have seen that technology comes after knowledge. and plutos have no total monopoly on knowledge but have their way with the technology.
    they had had usurped it since first spear or knife was manufactured.

    plutos have been able to do that because they controled in toto also ‘education’, [dis]information, armed services, money etc.

    this is what we have to tell kids. it wld be nice if i wld be allowed to give kids a lesson of my own or a lesson by an enlightened teacher but we know that canno happen.

    so, as long as oligarchy controls all schooling and [dis] information, they’ll capture kids’ hearts and minds. which means no change is possible or probable. we can expect worsening.
    after all education=knowledge; without it we become no better than an ox, dog, or a murderous biped. tnx

  11. Suthiano said on April 4th, 2009 at 9:54am #

    bozh,

    given what you have said it is quite scary to consider fate of humans. the (dis)information combined with: poisonous city air and planning, complete disconnection from things like night sky, which have been a part of human spirit/consciousness since the beginning, white sugar filled foods, and generally no connection with food production, or comprehension of nutrition, not to mention the toxic chemicals being spewed into our habitats, and the raping of our oceans and resources in general… the mind numbing media…

    Given all this, is it fair to guess that pluto’s goal is “de-evolution” of human beings? Do they seek to create a subspecies of human beings that only know how to follow? Even if this is not conscious “conspiracy” isn’t that exactly what is happening anyways? Didn’t Nietzsche warn of this slave mentality (morality) 150 years ago? If only he knew just how deep the “noble lies” really go.

    Large portion of human population is being “genetically modified” to play role required of them by plutos. This idea is at least as old as Plato’s Republic.

    Look around you… is there any other explanation?

  12. Suthiano said on April 4th, 2009 at 10:00am #

    Richard Florida, a pop-academic at University of Toronto who is all the craze right now, has been writing about the “recession”. He has written that the auto-industry is dead (i agree), and therefore places like Windsor Ontario (just across the border from Detroit) should be turned into “service zones” as they will never compete with Asian “producers”. Service jobs are all that is left for us here in North America apparently.

    The much much more intelligent decision would be to try to revert as much of that land back to farm land as possible. It is the southern most part of Canada and was originally some of the best farm land we had.

    Of course Richard Florida’s dream of a giant “zone” of people who answer phone calls for a living is attractive too… that is if you’ve already been de-evolved.

  13. Max Shields said on April 4th, 2009 at 10:51am #

    Here is where an understanding of permaculture is valuable. Permaculture is about “permanent culture” which means making what we need in ways there are very different than the American economy has been built on.

    Service is what we basicially have. Much of it, like insurance, is make work; some like health care is essential. But if an economy is properly scaled and maintaining a steady-state, competing with Asia or wherever low wages exist, becomes a non-issue.

    Local food systems provide local food rather than shipping it from thousands of miles. This increases food security, transparency, and nourishes a local economy. Likewise light manufacturing to produce what an location needs generates the multiplier effect essential for a real living economy. Exports can naturally happen as products are indigenously created and surpluses sent to cities and regions through an area.

    Economics are fairly straightforward when they are not built on the speculative Ponzi schemes and high-rolling Wall Street toxicity.

    The globalization of the market, as it has played out over the last 3 decades, was speculative capital taken to the nth degree. It was destined to crash and burn. Obama is trying to prop it up. He’s a real problem; along with his chosen neoliberal/neocon warmongering economists/national security advisors.

    This is not simply about socialism and capitalism.

  14. Garrett said on April 4th, 2009 at 11:28am #

    It occurs to me that ‘isms’ can have a divide and conquer effect, not unlike other labels (liberal, conservative, etc.). My dad, for instance, could possibly be persuaded to agree with an idea (or two) that is supported by socialist ideology. And he could be persuaded to disagree with an idea (or two) that is supported by capitalist ideology. But if you asked him what he thinks of socialism, he’d tell you how evil it is.

    My point is that I think society can change for the better much more quickly/peacefully if we avoid isms and labels.

  15. Max Shields said on April 4th, 2009 at 12:12pm #

    Garrett,

    That’s certainly an important point. When we deal with values and agree on a situation then it’s much easy to move to workable solutions than to cram “isms” at people when they are pre-conditioned to react one way or the other.

    The point isn’t whether Marx was right about various capitalistic tendencies, but that we have concentrated wealth and power. The latter is a fact, Marx and his analysis is an intrusion. This is true because of the unnecessary baggage that various labels bring with them, not because of the merits of a point here and there.

  16. Tennessee-Chavizta said on April 4th, 2009 at 2:14pm #

    THE CAPITALISTS WILL SELL THE ROPE, THAT WE WILL USE TO HANG THEM IN THE COMING US SOCIALIST-REVOLUTION !!

    .

  17. bozh said on April 4th, 2009 at 3:57pm #

    garret, yes,
    i too have been saying to avoid as much as possible most labels and not just all isms.
    isms scares people since they know that discussion about an ism wld turn ugly.
    and socialism had been demonized in US. and 98% of amers just voted against having healthcare because it is a socialist idea.

  18. bozh said on April 4th, 2009 at 4:33pm #

    suthiano,
    devolution of humans to a subspecie is an interesting topic. i have never thought of that possibility. it is a novelty to me, so let me mull over that one. do you think eugenics is part of the plot?
    about using also ‘food’ to degrade humans, all i can say that it is a conclusion and conclusions are not facts.

    if the ‘food’ is also used to devolve, let’s say, 100-200 mns amers, then the good genetic pool wld be seriously reduced threatening the existence of also die uebermenschenliche klasse.

    generally speaking, the larger the genetic pool, the greater number of geniuses and they engender all progress. alas, alack, woe to us, politicians control technology and the scientists. but, the is there anything of value that thy don’t control with iron grip?
    anyhow, the topic is interesting. tnx

  19. Deadbeat said on April 4th, 2009 at 5:26pm #

    The point isn’t whether Marx was right about various capitalistic tendencies, but that we have concentrated wealth and power. The latter is a fact, Marx and his analysis is an intrusion. This is true because of the unnecessary baggage that various labels bring with them, not because of the merits of a point here and there.

    The point is that Marx was correct about various capitalistic tendencies so much so that Capitalist have spend enormous amount of energy and propaganda to discredit his “intrusion”.

    However what we see here on DV is that their is a faux-left (aka: Shieldsists) that deploy linguistic sophistry to discredit Socialism as merely another “ism” to equate such ideas on the same level as “Capitalism” in order for Shieldsist to promote their own set of ideas and tenets. This is what is behind the phoney discussion of “ism”. What else is “ism” other than a shorthand in order to describe as set of ideas and tenets.

    The point is that Max Shields is proposing his own set of ideas by belittling not only Marx’s contribution but the 150 years of the refinement of his initial ideas within the Marxist tradition.

    Fortunately folks and especially young people today are rediscovering Marx in order to understand what is occurring right now in the economy.

    For those who are interested in a Marxist analysis of the current crisis I refer you to Richard Wolff excellent presentation.

    The key for any change is solidarity. Unfortunately Shieldsism will not move people in that direction.

  20. Deadbeat said on April 4th, 2009 at 5:48pm #

    THE CAPITALISTS WILL SELL THE ROPE, THAT WE WILL USE TO HANG THEM IN THE COMING US SOCIALIST-REVOLUTION !!

    No they won’t. They will sell the rope to their enforcers who will use it to hang the agitators. That’s the history of Capitalism. In order for their to be a Socialist revolution there must be as you have mention before in your post an education process.

    As we have seen here there is a concerted effort to equate Socialism as merely yet another “ism” like Capitalism and that such an overturn of Capitalism will essentially be futile and will only degrade into yet another ruling class formation. Using such linguistic sophistry will clearly be a lure to those indoctrinated in Capitalistic rhetoric promoted during the Cold War.

    Therefore education serves not only to challenge such faux-leftist rhetoric but builds solidarity especially when people understand their class interest.

    Liberalism help to undercut working class interest 70 years ago but people today can clearly see that Liberalism failed because it left the elites intact. It took the elites several generation to rollback the New Deal. This crisis is now making people realize the illegitimacy of the Capitalist economy. Thus there are people other there rediscovering Marx. Thus this the best opportunity for Socialist to help educate people seeking this rediscovery and educating is extremely important as a antidote to obfuscation by posers pretending to offer “solution” that will eventually mislead the people.

  21. Don Hawkins said on April 4th, 2009 at 6:21pm #

    The Second Law of Thermodynamics (1824 – 1850) is one that so called leaders seem to have a problem understanding.

    Scientists working to improve the efficiency of steam engines develop an understanding of the conversion of heat into work. They learn that the flow of heat from higher to lower temperatures is what drives a steam engine, likening the process to the flow of water that turns a mill wheel. Their work leads to three principles: heat flows spontaneously from a hot to a cold body; heat cannot be completely converted into other forms of energy; and systems become more disorganized over time.

  22. bozh said on April 5th, 2009 at 8:18am #

    deadbeat,
    you are right about not equating capitalism with socialism. i’d like just to add that we as a specie owe our survival because of our forebipeds’ adoption of a very socialist structure of society.

    i’d like to also point out to worshipers of the amer structure of society that our ancients did not have schools, hospitals, rulers, media, medicine, tv, sports, movies, etc., yet they survived.

    survival being the ultimate test and testimony for being a success. and we are still surviving- tho we don’t know for how long- so that others may live.

    i also avoid use of the word “capiatalism” . i rather describe what is going on in an empire like US. for one thing, the ruling class in US privatizes much of the governance while at the same time vigourously opposes big or larger governance.
    larger governance obviates governance for profit; that’s why rich people speak agaist it.
    yet ruling class in US governs everything; so, it is just a sleight of hand since we are ruled over with iron grip anyhow.
    tnx

  23. Max Shields said on April 5th, 2009 at 9:12am #

    bozh,

    Your point about empire as the focus of critique and the center of the Problem is apt and an essential difference to the arguments espoused here about the simple capitalistic/socialistic dichotomy.

    Empire, traces back a good 10,000 years. What we call capitalism is barely an infant.

    The American Empire has its lineage going back thousands of years. That a form of economics evolved over the last few hundred years or so, hardly seems the crux of the real issue.

    As I said, the mix of economies is universal. This is no pure economics. But beyond this mix is the issue of survival and empire’s corporate preditory uneconomic growth patterns is a danger to humand and much of the planet’s life.

    This is the problem we are faced with.

  24. gavacho said on April 9th, 2009 at 1:25pm #

    Dennis, really?

    How many people do you get to believe this stuff you write? I accept that we have some serious issues to resolve in this nation. Your claims manage to touch on issues that we face as a nation. Unfortunately for those who believe what you say, however, you don’t state any facts.

    Where did you get your information? I laugh, for example, every time I see or here someone supporting a global warming argument by stating that the polar bears are drowning. What if I told you that most of the world’s polar bears live in Canada. There are 13 populations of polar bears in Canada and 11 are stable or growing.

    Where are the bears drowning? In Hudson Bay? That population had rapid growth leading up to its decline. Nearly fifty are shot each year. How many should live there? Are you an expert in ecology?

    Why don’t we address issues with thought? How about some real data? This type of writing, like the general mass media, is no better than any dishonest, greedy capitalist. Whatever sells.

    In these times of excitement about the current state of things, when people are ready to “change” it would help to think clearly and logically. If not, the problem will probably only be exacerbated.

  25. Don Hawkins said on April 9th, 2009 at 4:52pm #

    Gavacho polar bears think human race and your getting warmer. The problem will probably only be exacerbated yes you could certainly say that. In the next few months in the Senate cap and trade comes up and cap and trade will not work think harder choice than that and so far the game is business as usually. After the Senate plays the game think exacerbated or another way of putting it the shit will hit the fan from some of the smartest minds on this planet. Exacerbated more like an expanding Universe at light speed. Now you may want to know if I am an expert oh no far beyond that yes far beyond that. I think I first heard the laughter of the God’s about 40 years ago.

  26. Bryn said on April 17th, 2009 at 2:30pm #

    Well I just got on here to take a look at the other side of the coin. It just solidified my beliefs. I don’t want to be controlled by a capitalist government or a socialist government. Both sides have one thing in common; they think they know what is best for me. If I don’t agree fully with the right I am a hippy socialist, if I don’t agree with the left I am an uneducated red neck. All this talk is entertaining. But both sides have one thing in common and you are not fooling anyone. It’s about POWER and nothing else. PAWNS.

  27. Patrick Simkovich said on April 27th, 2009 at 8:57pm #

    I`ll call myself Charles P. Simkovich.
    Upon reading some of the dialogue here, many things were thrust before my mind, but the one which struck me the most was this little thought . Whomever controls whatever it is “they” control, (and I have no doubts that “they” control a disproportionate amount of everything necessary to stay in control), are perfectly content, nay happy, that so many theorists (myself included) spend so much time, and energy, discussing our fate. I am just a poor, disabled smuck with a pathetic so-called education, but with all my powers of thought, “Me thinks” that all of us are completely missing the real problem. Could it be that the nature of some, or many, human-bi-homo-earthikin beings, or people, have some perverse belief that “they” know what is best for tye rest or our species and therefore entitled to exploit “us” for our own good and live beyond even what most consider “luxury” ?
    I don`t know much, but what little I do know is history tells me that whatever we want to call it, imperialism, socialism, capitalism. are all the same. Just a different classification, from different periods, but all with the same results.
    “Me thinks” that I think too much.