![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Dec. 11th, 2008 03:41 amHow badly does it suck to live in Zimbabwe? The BBC decided to find out. Under Ian Smith's government that country fed much of sub-Saharan Africa. Now they can't even feed themselves and there's not enough economic activity to calculate inflation anymore.
I love the line: "Government officials are denying claims that at least 20 people in the past fortnight have died from starvation in Masvingo province, saying the figures are exaggerated." It's like something from 'Yes, Minister'.
What amazes me is that the people haven't staked Mugabe out to an anthill. About half of modern Zimbabwe is what used to be Matabeleland. A century ago, the Matabele were anything but a patient and long-suffering people. I keep waiting for them to go berserk.
*****
Meijer's now has Mexican candles, the tall glass cylinders with religious pictures on the outside. Most are about what you'd expect: Jesus and Mary and the various saints, common and obscure. Two of them freaked me out, though. Both are 'Good Luck' candles, which look (at least to me) like something one might expect to find in a voodoo practitioner's home. Both are covered with a variety of symbols, numbers, etc. Whatever they are, they're most assuredly not Christian.
*****
It appears that the Senate is now our last line of defense against the Detroit bailout. I hope they manage to stop it. The industry (including the union) is absolutely incapable of reform from the inside - nothing is going to help short of having a Chapter 11 judge impose non-negotiable reform upon them. The fact that they're claiming that no-one would want to buy a car from a bankrupt company shows that they haven't learned a single thing from their troubles. They still think people buy cars to define themselves, rather than as practical vehicles. That's why they're bankrupt, and the Asian companies aren't.
Edit: Mitch McConnell says it best, ""We will not let taxpayers spend their hard-earned money on ailing carmakers unless these companies are forced to reform their bad habits—either inside or outside of bankruptcy, This means that workers won't be paid not to work. This means a final bill would not interfere with pending environmental lawsuits in a one-sided manner. And it means that struggling car companies will have to rationalize their cost structures—because a company that does not respond to market conditions is a company that is doomed to failure anyway."
*****
Wal-Mart's going to be selling iPhones. I'm sure the adherents of the Apple religion are horrified.
I love the line: "Government officials are denying claims that at least 20 people in the past fortnight have died from starvation in Masvingo province, saying the figures are exaggerated." It's like something from 'Yes, Minister'.
What amazes me is that the people haven't staked Mugabe out to an anthill. About half of modern Zimbabwe is what used to be Matabeleland. A century ago, the Matabele were anything but a patient and long-suffering people. I keep waiting for them to go berserk.
*****
Meijer's now has Mexican candles, the tall glass cylinders with religious pictures on the outside. Most are about what you'd expect: Jesus and Mary and the various saints, common and obscure. Two of them freaked me out, though. Both are 'Good Luck' candles, which look (at least to me) like something one might expect to find in a voodoo practitioner's home. Both are covered with a variety of symbols, numbers, etc. Whatever they are, they're most assuredly not Christian.
*****
It appears that the Senate is now our last line of defense against the Detroit bailout. I hope they manage to stop it. The industry (including the union) is absolutely incapable of reform from the inside - nothing is going to help short of having a Chapter 11 judge impose non-negotiable reform upon them. The fact that they're claiming that no-one would want to buy a car from a bankrupt company shows that they haven't learned a single thing from their troubles. They still think people buy cars to define themselves, rather than as practical vehicles. That's why they're bankrupt, and the Asian companies aren't.
Edit: Mitch McConnell says it best, ""We will not let taxpayers spend their hard-earned money on ailing carmakers unless these companies are forced to reform their bad habits—either inside or outside of bankruptcy, This means that workers won't be paid not to work. This means a final bill would not interfere with pending environmental lawsuits in a one-sided manner. And it means that struggling car companies will have to rationalize their cost structures—because a company that does not respond to market conditions is a company that is doomed to failure anyway."
*****
Wal-Mart's going to be selling iPhones. I'm sure the adherents of the Apple religion are horrified.
