Nigeria Today: Taking Corporate Limits…
Nigeria Today: Taking Corporate Limits To Its Logical Conclusion
http://jpstillwater.blogspot.com/2012/09/nigeria-today-taking-corporate-power-to.html
You think that America’s corporate-owned government has its drawbacks? Wait until you hear what the corporate-owned government in Nigeria is up to! You think that the results of having corporate Big Money buying off America’s politicians has been scary and sad? Then you obviously haven’t ever been to Nigeria — where they have definitely gone way far beyond merely “scary” or “sad.”
When it comes to having a corporate-owned government, apparently Nigeria has become the prototype, the ideal, the epitome of what corporate-owned government can really achieve if it puts its mind to it. Corporations in America like Citibank and Monsanto and Georgia-Pacific and Chevron can only hope to aspire to the high levels of corporatism that have been achieved in Nigeria.
Nigeria today has broken the mold and set the bar really high.
But how do I know all this? From an interview with an expert on Nigeria that took place yesterday in a local park in Berkeley over tuna-fish sandwiches.
“So. What’s up in Nigeria?” I asked him, immediately diving right in.
“Don’t even ask,” he replied. “For one thing, our government is composed of mainly puppet thugs put into office by corporate neo-colonialists — but these office-holders have no power at all. They are only there as a showcase, an illusion, a shadow puppet show created to make it look like someone with dark skin is in charge over there and to give corporations someone to officially sign the documents that have handed Nigeria over to them.”
That’s ironic. In America, corporations try to dig up shadow puppets with light skin.
“When we were children in Nigeria,” continued the expert, “all of us wanted to go off to college because those in our villages who had gone to college would come home and everyone would honor them. But not any more. Now the children in the villages and towns of Nigeria all want to grow up to be government thugs! To drive big shiny cars and take money from oil companies and beat people up.”
“Something like that has happened in America too,” I replied. “Little kids used to want to grow up to be doctors or firefighters or scientists. High school kids wanted to go to college and become architects or engineers or Bob the Builder. Now all they want to do is study business so they can rush off to Wall Street and make a killing. Who wants to be a doctor when they can orchestrate pension-plan takeovers and outsource American jobs. Or go into politics.” Yeah. And become corporate-owned government thugs like in Nigeria.
“And it used to be that everyone in Nigeria at least had a chance of going to high school,” said the expert. “But the levels of available education there are falling fast.” Keep them barefoot and dumb? Seems to be the trend here in America too.
“Whenever we thought of America when we were children, we all wanted to be like that — democracy and all. Owning something that said ‘Made in America’ on it was a very big deal. And now it’s all made in China. But what amazes me most about Americans today is that they all sit back and take this and say nothing. They just listen to Rush Limbaugh and Glen Beck and Fox News and accept their fate like lambs to the slaughter.”
I know what he means. And in my humble opinion, it all started back in 1963 when no one really questioned who shot JFK — and who benefited most. Who had the motive, means and opportunity? It surely wasn’t Cuba or even the USSR. “Who killed the Kennedys? After all it was you and me,” sang the Rolling Stones — and they nailed it. Then most Americans went on to never question the lack of preparedness before 9-11 http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2012/09/11/the-11th-anniversary-911-paul-craig-roberts/ or the obvious lies about weapons of mass destruction or the need for bank bailouts or…. Sheep.
“Don’t Tread on Me” is now history, sent off to America’s outdated memorabilia rubbish heap.
“When the BP oil spill happened over here in the Gulf,” my expert continued, “BP spent a lot of money on maintaining their public image in America and making excuses. Well, Nigeria has a big oil spill almost every day. Oil spills like that are common in Nigeria. But the major difference between there and here is that BP doesn’t even bother to make excuses in Nigeria. They don’t even consider Nigerians important enough to even make excuses. They treat us like some kind of annoying pests that they just have to put up with while extracting our oil. Not really human.” Definitely beyond sad.
Imagine all those photos of shorebirds on the Gulf Coast covered with oil — and then imagine Nigerians covered with oil like that too. The toxic “body burden” that many Nigerian villagers are bearing these days is tragic.
“Have you ever been to Nigeria?” he asked me. “Rich people there live in securely gated communities and behind high walls. There is no walking down the streets in Nigeria for rich people. Why would anyone ever want to live like that? To always be guarded and gated and stuck behind walls? That’s no way to live. Having economic equality leads to more freedom — even for the rich.”
But as the rich become more and more separated from the poor here in America too, that’s definitely the direction we also are going in. Freedom, like money, does not trickle down.
Next we discussed a whole bunch of other reasons why having a corporate-owned government has led to a failed nation in Nigeria — and will also lead to a failed nation here. But I forgot to take notes and can’t remember the rest of what all we discussed. But you get the gist. Government of the people, by the people and for the people is good. Corporate-owned government is proving to be very very bad.
To paraphrase a recent saying that’s now making the rounds on FaceBook, “If Romney’s proposed corporatist policies actually work, then George W. Bush would have given the keynote speech at the Republican convention — and Nigeria would be a proud role model for democracy and freedom, not just another miserable failed state.”
PS: Has anyone started to miss Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi yet? If he hadn’t been brutally murdered and his corpse dragged through the streets of Sirte, Ambassador Stevens would still be alive and well too.
And does anybody but me find it ironic that the rockets used to attack the American consulate in Benghazi probably came from the same stockpile of weapons supplied to NATO’s allies, the al-Qaeda-linked Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and paid for by America’s corporate-owned government?
Shades of Ronald Reagan’s favorite “freedom fighters” in Afghanistan — Osama bin Ladin and friends.
Ashtabula – No. 1 in the U.S.
My friend Dave received his degree in petroleum geology and went to work for oil companies even before graduation. His career took him to positions on seven continents, the last in South East Asia in 1996, working for Enron. That year Dave quit. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the company’s donation of a school built on land polluted by previous drilling. Enron took a tax deduction. Dave knew children would be dying.
Dave left his highly compensated job and retirement, returning to the U.S. to work, unpaid, for Green Peace, who, at first, were very suspicious. Today Dave is an expert witness, recognized by the courts, for litigation on toxic waste. Dave is obsessively fact oriented, compiling data bases which include the entire US and much of the rest of the world.
It was Dave who told me Ashtabula ranked number one in 2010 (the most recent data available) in the U.S. for pollutants in two categories. The companies involved, Dave said, have paid EPA fines, always exceeding the EPA limits for emissions into the air breathed by residents. One specific instance, on the part of one offending company included a fine, exacted by the EPA for carbon monoxide in 38 malfunction incidents in a five year period and their total fine paid was $100,000. The money was paid to the Ohio EPA, none going to anyone locally. The fine was specifically for, “Exceeding emission limits as the result of the use of a safety valve to bypass the units air pollution control equipment.”
Continuous exposure to 15 – 50 parts per million of these chemicals may cause headaches, dizziness, nausea, central nervous system effects, vertigo, amnesia, weakness and muscle cramps. People impacted may also begin to exhibit symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease.
Two of the offending plants are only .18 miles apart, located on Middle Road in Ashtabula.
“How long are you staying in the area?” Dave asked. Living with Superfund sites, especially these, may be hazardous to your health, he told me.
For several years now Dave has been working on a website, Were You Poisoned? Helping folks over come the effects is one of his passions. On his site he points to ways people can remove toxic waste from their systems. He also strongly recommends suing offending companies where companies have admitted their transgressions by, for instance, paying EPA fines.
Combating The Student Loan Burden
As the Senate Higher Education Committee meets this week, our state legislators have the opportunity to combat the student loan crisis by declaring a statewide goal to reduce student loan dependence. Increasing investments in grant aid and work-study to alleviate the student loan burden will further promote college attendance and completion. Other strategies to improve student success include encouraging student loan counseling, financial education, and early financial preparation, including encouraging participation in matched college savings accounts through programs offered by the Texas Match the Promise Foundation.
Texas college students, like the rest of the country, are racking up college debt. Nationally, combined student loan debt has surpassed the $1 trillion mark, outpacing credit card debt. With decreases in state financial grant aid, students are relying more on loans and off-campus work to cover their college expenses, forcing them to take fewer classes so they can work more hours, slowing time to graduation, and leaving many students with insufficient income to cover these obligations. While student loans can provide a pathway to graduation, too much loan dependence can lead to unmanageable debt.
More and more students and their families are shouldering the cost of college on their own, and this cost shift is coming at a time when Texas is attempting to strengthen the educational pipeline of opportunity to create the workforce and economy of the future. A more college-educated workforce increases economic vitality through higher personal incomes, a broader tax base, less reliance on public assistance, lower unemployment rates, lower crime rates, and better overall community well-being and opportunity. A college degree or credential can chart a career pathway that provides job security, a competitive edge in the job market, a middle-class income, and the opportunity to build assets that promote financial security.
For Texas, this challenge is especially important given the sharp rise in our child population over the last decade. And now nearly two-thirds of kids in Texas public schools are low-income or economically disadvantaged. Because these future college students will have fewer resources to pay for college, financial need will continue to grow.
Policymakers in Texas like to tout low tuition at Texas community colleges as the best financial aid program in Texas, yet community college students living near or below the poverty level still face a shortage of between $3,000 and $5,400 annually to pay for the total cost of attendance. These figures are even higher for students at four-year institutions. And our student loan default rates are soaring. Of those students at Texas’ public two-year institutions who entered loan repayment in 2008, 19.6 percent defaulted within three years. Borrowers at four-year public institutions fare better, but the rate is still too high at 9.2 percent.
Our state policymakers must live up to the promise of improving Texas’ college access and completion rates through adequate financial aid investments for low-income students. In the state’s higher education plan, Closing the Gaps by 2015, financial aid is included as a major strategy to close college enrollment gaps by providing “grants and scholarships to cover tuition, fees, and books for every student with financial need…” Yet progress is lagging, especially in participation among African American males and Hispanics. And state grants fail to serve all low-income students with financial need—half of eligible students do not receive a TEXAS Grant, our state’s largest grant aid source, because of recent budget cuts to an already underfunded system.
Texas has much to lose if we continue to deny the many aspiring and current college students the educational lifeline that grant aid provides. Shifting a larger share of the financial burden of paying for college to low-income students and families in the form of loan dependence will leave many college students struggling to make ends meet and saddled with debt. Texas can lead the country in tackling the student loan crisis with enhanced investment in grant aid, early financial preparation, and encouraging college savings.
Leslie Helmcamp is an economic opportunity policy analyst at the Center for Public Policy Priorities. Her work is part of OpportunityTexas, a project to move more Texas families toward greater economic opportunity through academic and financial education and savings.