Categories: uncategorized
Date: 29 April 2008 12:37:56
I have been deserted by FW who has gone to spend a few days in Dorset with her family. I think that she is enjoying herself - you never know where families are involved. This has confused the cats as they can't understand why I'm feeding them instead.
I has happy to hear this morning that Shell & BP have managed to make multi-billion profits in the first 3 months of this year. We're all suffering from rising prices but their profits are up by over 40% on last year. Standby to hear the arguments that the government re responsible because of the duty & VAT and that the petrol station divisions always make a loss or just about break even.
Maybe they forget that their profits come more from the refining side of the business. Any "good" accountant can move costs from one division to another to hide them - business has been doing it for years. Can we expect the 2 companies to pay the full tax due - definitely not as the same accountants will hide earnings in offshore "shell" (how appropriate) companies.
I've just finished reading IBM & THe Holocaust. This book tells the story of IBM's involvement with the Third Reich from its beginnings through to its demise. As you read the book you see that the capitalist desire for profit has not changed from the 1930's until today. What surprised me was that IBM carried on instructing its subsidiaries across Europe throughout the last war.
Without IBM's machines the holocaust would have been almost impossible to coordinate. In France the Nazi machine was crippled because the French leader of the Statistics department didn't process the records correctly thus blocking the process of deportation.
IBM machines were used throughout the process from initial census gathering and processing through the organisation of the railways and even into the record keeping at the concentration/extermination facilities.
Yet IBM's involvement was only brought to light when the author visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington. The first exhibit, as you enter, was one of the IBM tabulating machines - bearing the IBM symbol. This led him to discover, over the next 10 years, IBM's role in the destruction of the Jewish population of Europe and the vital role that IBM played.
IBM's staff were aware, in both Europe & the US, of the uses that their machines undertook. In fact, their Chief Executive actually micro-managed the entire European operation, down to the finest detail.
If you want to see an example of Capitalism gone mad then read the book.
Today in History:
1909 : Chancellor David "Rutting" Lloyd George introduces the "People's Budget" - the first steps in the creation of the Welfare State.
1916 : The Irish nationalists surrender to the British authorities - thus ending the Easter Uprising.
1967 : Muhammed Ali is stripped of his world titles after refusing to serve in the US Army in Vietnam on religious grounds. He felt that it would be wrong to kill his fellow men. There was a rumour that he would be willing to fight Ho Chi Minh in a 3 fight series - the winner would also win the Vietnam War. Ho Chi Minh had to pull out due to a blister from his sandals.