Life under Capitalism

Set your agendas: according to the next G8 summit will be “early June 2003”, in Evian-les- Bains, France. According to the article, the most likely dates the conference will be held on are 1-3 June.

Evian-les- Bains, a tourist town best know for its mineral water, is somewhat easier to reach then where this year’s G8 summit was held, Kananaskis, Albert, but still less so then Genoa. It’s a small town, with approximately 7,500 inhabitants. Our socalled leaders are still trying to keep the riffraff out.

If elitism is not your thing, remember that there’s an alternative, the European Social Forum:

It is an an open meeting space designed for in-depth reflection, democratic debate of ideas, formulation of proposals, free exchange of experiences and planning of effective action among entities and movements of civil society that are engaged in building a planetary society centered on the human being.

An FT investigation has found that the top management of the 25 biggest recent US corporate collapses amassed $3.3bn from share sales, payoffs and other rewards. In this special report we examine who made those fortunes, how they did so even as their companies were heading for bankruptcy, and what lessons can be learned by regulators and corporate governance reformers.

So reads the teaser for a Financial Times special report on the barons of bankrupcy. Lots of interesting material there, though much of it is available only for subscribers.

Ian Fleming used to say that once is happenstance, twice is coincidence but thrice is enemy action. I feel the same about the current wave of business scandals: this is not an aberration, this is built into capitalism as it is now and it will happen again. Still, it’s shocking to realise the scale on which those socalled top executives stole money from their companies, shareholders and workers. If it were up to me, those people should immediately pay back the money they swindled.

Next G8 summit will be in France

Crisis of capitalism