Our buddy in Ireland has survived the demonstration to bring us an account of it. It was not very successful and there was no violence. (I like the no violence part.) He gives an account of the events of that day in usual modest way. It was a good read for me.
James Pilant
This book has been long out of print and I found it on the web. I find it intriguing and as a man who has too many books, having them available on the web saves valuable space. The point of the book seems to be that ethics should be directed toward whatever is good for the evolution of man.
Now I say seems because in a work of this type to summarize the deep and thoughtful work required for a book in a single sentence is arrogant. So, I recommend you read the whole thing if you find these kinds of ideas interesting.
It may be found here.
Spending a few days in Dublin last week, I had a chance to sample a little of the vibe close up. The leader of Ireland’s trade union congress, David Begg, summed it up: “There’s a very angry mood in the country. Until recently, if you’d stopped somebody on the street and asked them what they really thought, they’d have said ‘If we keep our heads down for a couple of years, we can get back to where we were before’. That was fed by government fiction about green shoots of recovery. The dawning realisation is that the picture is far worse.”
So far, provisions have been made for €45bn of losses at Ireland’s leading banks – Anglo Irish, AIB, Bank of Ireland and Irish Nationwide, which amounts to €10,000 for every Irish man, woman and child. Using funds from the country’s national pension reserve, a further €10bn will be added to the bill following last month’s international rescue package. That’s not gone down well.
“It’s not a bailout package, it’s a transfer of wealth from the ordinary worker to the banks,” Colm Stephens, a university administration worker, told me. “We’re being asked to rescue the richest people in the world – the people who gambled and lost, who bet on every horse in the race.”
Every man, woman and child in Ireland is going to suffer raised taxes and cut benefits when the major beneficiaries of the boom are untaxed and unaffected by the crisis. That’s right. The banking industry is not going to be paying for the bailout, not even part of the bailout. The weight falls on the regular citizens of Ireland, their lamented and unprotected middle class.
Is that what’s going to happen here? Are we going to have cuts in Social Security benefits, Medicare and social services while the enormous financial industry pays nothing?
It is easy to see that a transaction tax or Robin Hood tax could raise hundreds of billions of dollars. Why are they who have reaped every conceivable benefit from the American taxpayer not paying a fair share?
Is the middle class the only part of the economy where taxes can be raised and benefits cut?
James Pilant
Today, our friend is getting ready to go back out in the streets. There is a demonstration today against the government loan and the austerity measures that go with it. You can get hurt doing this kind of thing. I’ve never had the opportunity to march in the street in the face of well prepared police with horses and dogs. I’m not looking forward to having such an opportunity. I’m afraid of horses when they are just standing docile. I can only imagine what they can do in the wrong hands. As for dogs, well, I’ll let your imaginations work.
Say something appropriate to your deity, your universal force, your philosophical ideas, for today is a demonstration in the face of a hostile police.
James Pilant
The Goodies was a comedy show in some ways similar to Monty Python. I loved it and still do. This is an anniversary show.
There is one expisode called Kung Fu Capers which killed a man by making him laugh himself into a heart attack.
It is much more slapstick than Monty Python but still a little subversive.
I strongly suspect that exposure to comedy increases our life expectancy and health. The better the comedy and the laughs, the more effect, at least in my judgment.
Try a therapeutic dose of The Goodies and see what happens.
James Pilant
The percentage of adult Americans diagnosed with diabetes has risen steadily for the past 20 years, up to 8 percent of the population in 2008. In some regions of the country, however, the rate is nearly twice that. Since 2004, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have released estimates for each county, and mapping that data reveals that there are clusters in states like Alabama and Mississippi, where around one in seven adults is diabetic.
So begins an article in Slate. What’s next is an interactive graph showing the increase in diabetes in the United States by county over the period 2004 – 2008. It’s an incredible graph.
I recommend you give it a look. I would not have believed you could see that much change in so short a period of time.
James Pilant
According to the complaint, numerous New York area consumers –those who lived closest to Borker’s Brooklyn operation — were threatened with death or rape in obscenity-laced phone and email messages when they attempted to return merchandise. Borker consistently told these local consumers: “Remember that I know where you live.” And even sent one complaining customer a photograph of the outside of her building, leaving her certain that her life was in danger.
You’d think it would be harder when you don’t see your customers to threaten them physically but I guess there are some go-getters you just can’t stop.
James Pilant
This is Homophilosophicus take on the Authoritarian in Irish History and the last in today’s series. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading this as much as I have.
He has a thoughtful mind in a difficult place in a terrible time. The combination is painful but often results in very fine writing.
James Pilant
Homophilosophicus is angry. Big Time Rage. So, keep your computer away from combustibles and read.
James Pilant
We’re back discussing the demonstrations against the government. This is fascinating. Once again, I want to assure my good readers that I asked permission to publish all these blog posts. Single blog posts, sometimes I ask about, sometimes I don’t. But to use this many is in my mind a misuse of reblogging when done without permission.
James Pilant
Pilant's Business Ethics Blog 
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