CHRISTMAS GRINCH: A TALE OF TWO CITIES IN TWO COUNTRIES, WHEREIN THE POOR HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED OF A VOICE AND REDUCED TO SLAVE LABOR BY THEIR SELF-APPOINTED GLOBAL CORPORATE MASTERS WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM NAFTA

---

Original Here

THURSDAY DEC 22, 2011 8:14 am

When Democracy Becomes Disposable

BY ROGER BYBEE

Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joseph
Harris speaks at the MLGMA Summer
Conference 2011, held on July 28 in St.
Joseph, Mich., a town next door to Benton
Harbor.   (Photo courtesy Michigan
Municipal League/Flickr)

The Laboratory for Our Future is the ominous subtitle of Charles Bowden's haunting 1998 book about Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

The seedy but highly profitable laboratory revealed by Bowden, also author of the harrowing book Murder City about narco wars in Juarez, brings together the 19th-century model of sweatshop labor with 21st-century technology to generate maximum earnings for the U.S.-owned firms while offering minimal pay under NAFTA's protections.

In 1999, for example, GE CEO Jack Welch collected $92 million in compensation, more than his 15,000 Mexican workers combined. U.S.-based corporations pay no taxes and only minimal annual fees in Juarez, so the vast majority of social costs are borne by the citizenry. As former Juarez Mayor Gustavo Elizondo explains, "We have no way to provide water, sewage, and sanitation works. Every year we get poorer and poorer even though we create more and more wealth."

But at the opposite end of the globalization process from Juarez, there's another laboratory conducting a related experiment : Benton Harbor, Mich., which once hosted jobs that have moved to places like Juarez. Like the workers in Juarez, impoverished residents of Benton Harbor—which is 92 percent African-American—have been stripped of democratic rights.

In Juarez, the prevalence of fraudulent political elections stolen and brutal repression have deprived the mostly female "maquiladora" workforce in assembly plants of any meaningful voice in either their workplaces or society.

In Benton Harbor, a unionized manufacturing workforce has been cast aside and the presence of nearly 10,000 overwhelmingly poor and black people are a potential obstacle to corporations like Whirlpool implementing a plan for redeveloping the area. Benton Harborites, too, have been rendered utterly powerless.

Thanks to Public Act 4, promoted by a Whirlpool ally and signed by GOP Gov. Rick Snyder, Benton Harbor Emergency Manager Joe Harris gained expanded powers to override decisions made by the democratically elected City Council and School Board. He literally expelled the elected mayor from his own office. Harris and other managers can also negate union contracts and other city agreements.

Gov. Snyder seems to believe that a state takeover of cities is more essential to their health than providing actual financial aid, which has been reserved for Michigan corporations in the form of $1.7 billion in tax cuts. Meanwhile, in part because of state budget cuts, Harris plans to raise water rates by about 40 percent even though 20 percent of the city's residents can't or won't pay city fees.

The Whirlpool Corp., headquartered in Benton Harbor, is playing a huge role in re-shaping the city, specifically in two major projects:

• A heavily taxpayer "incentivized" new corporate campus for 4,000 professionals, as Whirlpool began off-shoring jobs in the 1980s (its Fort Smith Ark. plant is being relocated to Mexico)
• A 530-acre Harbor Shores development including a Jack Nicolaus-designed golf course, high-end shopping, and condominiums. Whirlpool is also busy promoting an "Arts District" that attracts many affluent whites but few local black residents.

Whirlpool's role is not universally praised, as the New York Times Magazine' Jonathan Mahler reports in his December 18 cover story:

To skeptics of the redevelopment of Benton Harbor, Whirlpool looks less like a good corporate citizen than another company manipulating the system, leveraging its power to maximize its tax breaks and taking advantage of the town's access to federal and state grant money. (It's worth noting that Whirlpool hasn't paid any federal corporate income taxes in the United States for the last three years, partly, the company says, because of losses due to the recession.)

But the recession explanation covers only a small part of Whirlpool's tax picture, according to Matt Gardner, executive director of the Washington, DC-based Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy. Losses in recent years of economic troubles in the U.S. have been offset by foreign profits.

Further, in 2007, Whirlpool reported U.S. profits of $103 million, but earned an additional $701 million abroad that will not be taxed until Whirlpool brings the money back into the United States. Moreover, Whirlpool got a federal tax rebate of $28 million that year. In 2006, $231 million in U.S. earnings were topped off by another $388 million in foreign profits.

Whirlpool's central role in the town and redevelopment plans has led many Benton Harbor residents to feel that the corporation views them as distinctly disposable and mainly a barrier to their plans. As Mahler summarizes,

It's being converted into a resort town for wealthy weekenders and Whirlpool employees that, when all is said and done, its struggling black population will either be driven out by the development or reduced to low-wage jobs cleaning hotel rooms, carrying golf bags or cutting grass.

Mahler observes,

The juxtaposition of Benton Harbor's impoverished population and its two rising monuments to wealth -- all wedged into a little more than four square miles -- make it almost a caricature of economic disparity in America.

But at the same time, it offers a window into one possible future for towns across the country, places that can no longer support their own economies or take care of their citizens and may ultimately have no choice but to turn their fate over to private industry and nonprofits. The way things are going, more and more states may start to look like Michigan, and more and more towns may start to look like Benton Harbor.

The Benton Harbor scenario is actually a familiar one for other de-industrialized cities wracked by massive industrial job loss or poor cities wrecked by natural disasters. As Hurricane Katrina tore off roofs and exposed the destroyed interiors of homes, it also peeled back the genteel veneer of elite opinion about New Orleans revealing that many top corporate and political figures viewed the majority of its residents to be essentially irrelevant, if not an outright impediment, to the restructuring of the city's devastated economy.

The flight of the city's poorest citizens was viewed openly as a chance for a fresh start. It not only removed a substantial part of the Big Easy's poor, black population for whom the city's economic leaders no longer saw as their responsibility to provide employment, but it also severely diminished their voting power and ability to have a role in determining how the city would be rebuilt.

The Arts District formula being applied to Benton Harbor has also been tried out in my hometown of Racine, Wis., a factory town of 80,000 hollowed out by the loss of well over 40 percent of its manufacturing base since 1980.

The solution: replacing more than 13,000 mostly unionized factory jobs with a new art museum and a cluster of art galleries and crafts shops. New York Times reporter Robert Sharoff fully bought into this re-invented Racine, a vision seemingly derived from the work of neo-liberal urbanist Richard Florida:

This formerly gritty industrial city roughly 70 miles north of Chicago and 30 miles south of Milwaukee on the shores of Lake Michigan has been trying for much of the last decade to reinvent itself as an artistÕs colony and tourist destination. The efforts have included the opening of the $11 million Racine Art Museum on Main Street in 2003 and the creation of a gallery district centering on nearby Sixth Street.

This stunning premise that the museum and 12 art galleries could significantly fill in the economic Grand Canyon left by the destruction of 13,000 family-supporting factory jobs reflects the same mentality that can view the Harbor Shores development as a path to prosperity for Benton Harbor's impoverished African-American population.

Despite Mahler's moving and insightful description of a de-industrialized city being re-shaped by those who destroyed the economic base, with the victims being deprived of any voice, he fails to point out several fundamental features:

•  Those harmed most by past corporate decisions are treated as disposable people standing in the way of corporate-defined reconstruction.
• Democracy and public participation are early victims to this process.
•  With corporate elites having shrunken government's public-interest role in planning and economic development, major "job-creation projects" must be shaped around generating profit with the needs of the majority a negligible concern.

But despite all the rhetoric about corporations rushing to the rescue of troubled cities--whether New Orleans, Benton Harbor, or Racine—massive public subsidies to CEOs advocating "free enterprise" are an essential element.

It's a formula for private benefit with public funding, for a distorted form of "development" devoid of democracy or public benefit.

Michael Collins: "The best news out of 2010 is that the forces in control, The Money Party, have been unable to crush the will of the people to survive and see future opportunities for improvement."

Decline and Fall (Maybe) January 1, 2011

The Happy New Year Edition (with some good news about 2011)

Michael Collins

The best thing about 2010 is that it’s over.  It was a year filled with utter stupidity, mendacity, and greed beyond all bounds on the part of our rulers, also known as The Money Party.  Lots of fiddling while Rome and the rest of the world burned.  Knowledge is power and among the ruling elite in the United States, the power was off.  Somebody forgot to pay the bill or paid with a bad check, no doubt.


A Decade of Job Stagnation In 2000, 135 million citizens were employed.  In 2010 there were 139 million Americans employed.  Given the 9.7% increase in population since 2000, we would expect to see at least 148 million citizens with jobs.  Nobody much wants to talk about this or the true unemployment figures produced by the US Census called “U6″. That measure accounts for, “Total unemployed, plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force, plus total employed part time for economic reasons, as a percent of the civilian labor force plus all persons marginally attached to the labor force.”  Bureau of Labor Statistics

The “U6″ unemployment figure is 17%, well above the official 9.8% we hear all the time.  The official number accounts for 15 million citizens.  But when we use U6, we add 9 million citizens forced by economic conditions to work less than they want in part time jobs and 2.5 million marginally attached to the work force – those who gave up looking and get no benefits. That gives us a real world total of 26.5 million citizens out of work or working part time against their will.

Using more refined, politically neutral measures (closer to those in the Great Depression), the over all unemployment percentage is 22.5%, a total of 34.6 million citizens without employment.  Shadow Government Statistics calculates the real unemployment rate by adding in “long term discouraged workers” (those who stopped looking), a measure the government no longer uses.

If people don’t have jobs they suffer more, have less advantages to offer their children, and drift quickly into poverty.  They face homelessness and risk falling so far behind they’ll never recover. Thanks to the dreadful members Congress who voted for the new bankruptcy bill in 2007, those unemployed will always have their medical bills to pay.  Thoughtful bunch.

The Response – Crackpot Economics You’d think that the government would have the most able hands on deck for this economic storm.  But we’ve got the same old crew, dominated by Wall Street insiders and big bankers without credibility.  These are the folks creating MPD (multiple personality disorder) economics.  They argue that we have to focus on the deficit and get that down (even that policy was disastrous in the Great Depression).  Then they argue that we need to give away $900 billion in tax revenues so the top 1% will have enough wealth to trickle down on the rest of us.  .

They can’t have it both ways.  Lowering the deficit while lowering income at the same time is simply absurd logic.  They think nobody is paying attention.   It’s important to know that the people behind these policies know exactly what they’re doing. They just think we’re stupid, a fatal error.  The key players now include Obama, the Bush Clan, Bill Clinton, and the usual suspects from Wall Street and the big banks.

They have their own media monopoly to crank out the nonsense.  The Fed is doing its part with Quantitative Easing 2 which, as Numerian says, “… is experimental and unprecedented, except when it was used in Weimar Germany with disastrous results, or more recently in the hyperinflationary economy of Zimbabwe.”

Other Major Failings We got health care reform but Congress forgot to do anything for the people.  The elimination of “preexisting conditions” as a means to open up more coverage for adults was postponed until 2014.  The self-employed are totally screwed with their rates doubling and tripling in some cases.  And there was no action to curb the outrageous cost of pharmaceuticals thanks to a major cave in by the president.  Medicare, for example, is barred by law from negotiating discounts from big pharma. That about sums it up.  The only reform was a massive bailout for the health insurance companies.

Nothing has been done to address the rapid increase in citizens in poverty.  That would require jobs.  The only jobs those in power produce are for themselves and their cronies.

The Gulf of Mexico was polluted by the worst oil company by a long shot, BP.  The president surrendered national sovereignty over the 200 mile off shore exclusive economic zone by allowing BP to run the cleanup. That included permission for the use of a highly toxic oil dispersant, one that they knew toxic.  But it did the job required.  It kept the evidence off the surface.  Shame about the rest of the Gulf. They don’t care.  They don’t have to.

Presidential Hit Squads This year saw a radical shift in power from everyone else to the White House.  The president’s national security advisor revealed that the White House had a hit list of US citizens abroad determined to be terrorists.  Never mind the time honored process of arrest, indictment, trial, and sentencing.  If some bureaucrat nominates a “bad guy,” he’s toast.  Shame if that turns out to be one of us.  There’s no reason this needs to be limited to citizens overseas since it’s the ultimate in lawlessness from the start.  Piss off the wrong person and you’re in the cross hairs.

The United States still occupies Iraq and Afghanistan.  While China offers to invest in a top to bottom railroad system from China to the warm water port at  Karachi to distribute their goods, US predator drones bomb villages killing ordinary citizens along with whomever they’re after.   800 military bases worldwide spread ill will.  As economist Michael Hudson points out about the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China):  “When they say we don’t want to hold dollars, by that they mean, we don’t want to finance our military encirclement, which is what the dollar standard has financed.”

The Good News The best news out of 2010 is that the forces in control, The Money Party, have been unable to crush the will of the people to survive and see future opportunities for improvement.  All over the country families are helping each other weather the storm, parents and adult children are opening up their homes to others in need, adjusting their retirement plans, taking extra jobs, and working harder to stay afloat.  Ad hoc communities of care and compassion are emerging to buck the tide of government indifference, malfeasance, and fraud.

The United States has an inverted pyramid of intelligence.  The vast majority have far greater talents, knowledge, and wisdom than the ruling elite, who have failed miserably at every turn over the past year and decade, for that matter.  The goal is to wrench power from the fumblers before they do totally irreparable damage.

Perhaps those in the under thirty generation are the key.  They were told to work hard, go to school, and acquire skills. They were also sold on the magic of the stock market.  All they’ve seen over the past decade is a flat job market, stock manipulations, wasteful wars, and hysteria about terror – all at the expense of rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure (which would spark a real recovery) and producing work worthy of a people who want the best for their families, friends, and the country.
Happy New Year.  Time to throw the bums out.

END

This article may be reproduced in whole or part with attribution of authorship and a link to this article.

Louisiana Woman Invited by BP to Hear Their Side of the Gulf Oil-Spill Cleanup Story Blows the Whistle!

A south Lousiana mother of two was selected from among the questioners at a town-hall meeting to be given insider clearance by BP to see what has been going on in the Gulf of Mexico since the blowout of BP's DeepWater Horizon oil well. Well, BP -- and the U.S. Coast Guard(!) -- explained that they both provide respirators and manditory respirator training whenever needed ...but that neither was needed in the Gulf because everything "is O.K." there.  Asked why 7 workers were evacuated with health problems, the BP rep cited food poisoning and heat exhaustion.  Next asked about the 9/11 first responders' dust-related health problems, this bozo actually claimed that BP was "Johnny on the spot" offering them respirators, but the firemen refused their offer(!!!).  She learned that BP uses the phrase "ponies and balloons" to mean deploying safety assets only when an official visits, and then standing-down 80% of these assets when the official leaves. She alleges BP have used influence to systematically pull footage from FOX News and Australia's 60 minutes.  And what's more she's a terrific speaker!

Recent News and Views of the Oil Release Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico Perpetrated by BP

Here is a false color view of the oil spill developed from some trick photography from a NASA satellite, causing the oil to appear in varying shades of cyan.  The black-and-white shots below zoom in on a smoke plume emanating from the point marked by the white arrow and presumed to be due to a fire deliberately set to burn off some of the oil. These shots were published on May 20th and further details can be learned here.

Use this link to see a May 24th interview on CNN, where Jean-Michel Cousteau speaks on the likely magnitude of the ecological disaster we are facing and why we should be doing something about it now before it's too late.

Here is today's edition of Democracy Now! which is headlined "BP Oil Spill Confirmed as Worst in US History; Environmental Groups Challenge Continued Oil Operations in Gulf Excluded from New Moratorium":


Finally, the hair-raising article below was also published just today.

_________________________________________________________

22-mile oil plume under Gulf nears rich waters

By MATTHEW BROWN and JASON DEAREN, Associated Press Writers Matthew Brown And Jason Dearen, Associated Press Writers Fri May 28, 10:40 am ET

NEW ORLEANS – A thick, 22-mile plume of oil discovered by researchers off the BP spill site was nearing an underwater canyon, where it could poison the foodchain for sealife in the waters off Florida.

The discovery by researchers on the University of South Florida College of Marine Science's Weatherbird II vessel is the second significant undersea plume reported since the Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20. The plume is more than 6 miles wide and its presence was reported Thursday.

The cloud was nearing a large underwater canyon whose currents fuel the foodchain in Gulf waters off Florida and could potentially wash the tiny plants and animals that feed larger organisms in a stew of toxic chemicals, another researcher said Friday.

Larry McKinney, executive director of the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, said the DeSoto Canyon off the Florida Panhandle sends nutrient-rich water from the deep sea up to shallower waters.

McKinney said that in a best-case scenario, oil riding the current out of the canyon would rise close enough to the surface to be broken down by sunlight. But if the plume remains relatively intact, it could sweep down the west coast of Florida as a toxic soup as far as the Keys, through what he called some of the most productive parts of the Gulf.

The plume was detected just beneath the surface down to about 3,300 feet, said David Hollander, associate professor of chemical oceanography at USF.

Hollander said the team detected the thickest amount of hydrocarbons, likely from the oil spewing from the blown out well, at about 1,300 feet in the same spot on two separate days this week.

The discovery was important, he said, because it confirmed that the substance found in the water was not naturally occurring and that the plume was at its highest concentration in deeper waters. The researchers will use further testing to determine whether the hydrocarbons they found are the result of dispersants or the emulsification of oil as it traveled away from the well.

The first such plume detected by scientists stretched from the well southwest toward the open sea, but this new undersea oil cloud is headed miles inland into shallower waters where many fish and other species reproduce.

The researchers say they are worried these undersea plumes may be the result of the unprecedented use of chemical dispersants to break up the oil a mile undersea at the site of the leak.

Hollander said the oil they detected has dissolved into the water, and is no longer visible, leading to fears from researchers that the toxicity from the oil and dispersants could pose a big danger to fish larvae and creatures that filter the waters for food.

"There are two elements to it," Hollander said. "The plume reaching waters on the continental shelf could have a toxic effect on fish larvae, and we also may see a long term response as it cascades up the food web."

Dispersants contain surfactants, which are similar to dishwashing soap.
A Louisiana State University researcher who has studied their effects on marine life said that by breaking oil into small particles, surfactants make it easier for fish and other animals to soak up the oil's toxic chemicals. That can impair the animals' immune systems and cause reproductive problems.

"The oil's not at the surface, so it doesn't look so bad, but you have a situation where it's more available to fish," said Kevin Kleinow, a professor in LSU's school of veterinary medicine.