Where is the world going?

[Alastair]

Having watched the upheaval in the Middle East and Africa and now having watched the elections in Canada and Scotland I can't help but feel the world is changing.

The old world orders are breaking up. The people are demanding more accountability from their rulers and prepared to vote and fight for change. The Tea Party is symptomatic of this.

It seems to me that the media are out of step with these changes. They seem surprised at all these changes going on. They didn't predict them. They are playing catch up. In fact there seems to be greater criticism of the media.

I noted in Scotland that some newspapers backed labour but given the results of the election one must question whether they really have their readers best interest at heart. They have assumed their readers are labour oriented but given the election results they no longer are. And so if they are going to keep their readers they are going to have to change their reporting.

There does seem to be far more commonsense being spoken by many all over the world. Not nearly so much blind hatred. The former terrorist groups seem to be increasingly sidelined.

I felt is was significant that Eqypt has opened the border with Gaza and that the two opposing groups in the Palastine leadership are now joining forces.

So where might this take Israel in the months ahead?

There are now predications that there will be trouble in Saudi Arabia. Where might that take us on gas prices and what will that mean for our economies?

I watched a program recently in which they profiled an electric car that had amazing performance. This car is no longer available for purchase. Why? Well we were told that there was no money in it for the car manufacturer. Seems they don't make much money on the car and so most of the profit comes from selling spares. This car is so reliable that they simply don't need spares.

This to me means we are still having to deal with corporate greed. Shareholders of these corporations want as large a return as possible so drive these corporation to make as much money as possible. I would submit that was why BP got hit with the Gulf oil rig disaster. They simply cut too many corners in their drive for profits.

Perhaps it is time that ordinary people should demand their corporations make less obscene profits and instead use some of the profits to employ more people and do things to benefit their countries. We are all responsible for this and I think we need to all consider where this greed is taking us.

I mean do we really need a huge home? Do we really need that third or fourth TV? Do we really need to get a new car every year? Yes Capitalism drives the world but it should come with some social responsibility.

Right around the world we see leaders in many deprived countries pocketing many millions, if not billions, for their personal use. That just isn't right. And much of that money is coming through the aid agencies.

It might be a hard thing to say but perhaps it is time to stop aid programs and let each country sort out its own issues. It might not be pleasant in the short term or even medium term but in the longer term it could make a huge difference.

I think one of the positive impacts of the Internet is that it has let many more people see how other people are living in the world. They now have the aspirations to also have some of these benefits.

I've posted some of the thinking of the Scottish Democratic Alliance which I believe is coming up with some interesting points. Like they are actually questioning the relevance of political parties and are suggesting that all elected officials must have had an actual job so they bring some practical experience with them. In other words they should both represent their own communities but also bring some skills with them.

We're getting to the point that many elected officials that are in effect making multi-billion decisions have no practical experience in these areas.

I just feel there are really big issues developing around the world which will eventually produce big changes in the world. It's a very interesting time in the history of the world.

Alastair

[Ranald]

Very interesting observations. I might well (with your permission) pass this on to our MP and also the Local Councillor.

One of the things in which I see fault, the 'new class' that has grown up from Labour, and the one grown down from Conservatives, pay little attention to the law.... when it suits them.

Example motoring, they do not wish to drive within the speed limits, they park outside their houses on corners and facing the incorrect way, will not accelerate smoothly on a short road, but have the foot hard down on the accelerator..... If the police would only visit those houses, and in front of the children, let the adults know that the car is illegally parked, but this time it is a warning.. It lets the children know that there ARE things that Mum and Dad are NOT allowed to do..

The housing schemes built since the WW2 have not, and still not taken into consideration the number of vehicles per household - the built in garage is full of household and gardening equipment !

We do NOT need new laws, just implement the old ones, and at the same time a very close examination of our legal system.

I could go on.... and on......

Ranald

[sandyc]

Very interesting observations. I might well (with your permission) pass this on to our MP and also the Local Councillor.

One of the things in which I see fault, the 'new class' that has grown up from Labour, and the one grown down from Conservatives, pay little attention to the law.... when it suits them.

Example motoring, they do not wish to drive within the speed limits, they park outside their houses on corners and facing the incorrect way, will not accelerate smoothly on a short road, but have the foot hard down on the accelerator..... If the police would only visit those houses, and in front of the children, let the adults know that the car is illegally parked, but this time it is a warning.. It lets the children know that there ARE things that Mum and Dad are NOT allowed to do..

The housing schemes built since the WW2 have not, and still not taken into consideration the number of vehicles per household - the built in garage is full of household and gardening equipment !

We do NOT need new laws, just implement the old ones, and at the same time a very close examination of our legal system.

I could go on.... and on......

Ranald

I suspect that Ranald and I are "reading from the same page"!!!~~~

[apictish1]

I don't know if "out of touch" is how I would explain the media's bias. I think it would more accurately be explained by the fact that the same forces who control the media also control the establishment. This oligarchy is threatened by political unrest. So one of the tools it uses to try and squash political unrest is the media.
The notion of "our corporations" also troubles me. The corporations are not owned by the people, they are owned by the oligarchs: they are theirs, not ours. Left to themselves, there is NO CHANCE that they will behave in a manner that is socially responsible - they do not exist to serve society, they exist to serve the oligarchs. Social responsibility must be imposed on them - by laws (and by GOVERNMENT) that the oligarchs will oppose and use their media to influence folks like tea-party types to oppose also.