Aliza Rosenbaum van de NRC

De NRC bericht:

Oliemaatschappijen snijden in kosten

ALIZA ROSENBAUM

ExxonMobil is lang het doelmatigheidsmodel voor de olie-industrie geweest en heeft op dat terrein nog steeds een aanzienlijke voorsprong. Maar concurrenten als Shell, BP en anderen haasten zich om de kloof te dichten met behulp van geloofwaardiger saneringsprogramma’s en een steviger kostendiscipline, zoals blijkt uit de cijfers over het derde kwartaal. Maar ze hebben nog een lange weg te gaan.

Door dit alles verkeert Exxon in een benijdenswaardige positie en de concurrentie heeft daar nota van genomen. Shell is bezig met een eigen afslankoperatie, waardoor de operationele kosten dit jaar tot nu toe met 1 miljard dollar zijn afgenomen. En er volgt nog meer.

Ik citeer: 'doelmatigheidsmodel... geloofwaardiger saneringsprogramma’s... steviger kostendiscipline... benijdenswaardige positie... eigen afslankoperatie.' De taal van Aliza Rosenbaum van de NRC.

Dit schreef John Berger over 'the dealers of the Free Market and their corollary, the Mafia': 'they now have the world in their pocket. They have. But to maintain their confidence they have to change the meaning of all the words used in languages to explain or praise or give value to life: every word, according to them now, is the servant of profit. And so they have become dumb. Or, rather, they can no longer speak any truth. Their language is too withered for that. As a consequence they have also lost the faculty of memory. A loss which one day will be fatal.'

Feiten in een wereld vol 'doelmatigheidsmodellen... geloofwaardigere saneringsprogramma’s... stevigere kostendisciplines... benijdenswaardige posities... eigen afslankoperaties.'

‘All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the children of the earth.' Thus said Chief Seattle.

Corruption

The Washington Post of yesterday. ‘Bad news for Rep. Charles Rangel, the powerful Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee: The Washington Post obtained a copy of a House document showing that seven members of the House appropriations subcommittee in charge of military spending -- almost half of the panel's members -- are being investigated in an expanded probe focused on a once-influential lobbying firm called the PMA Group that exploited its close ties to lawmakers to win earmarks for clients.’

Hunger:

About 24,000 people die every day from hunger or hunger-related causes. Three-fourths of the deaths are children under the age of five.

The global economic crisis has caused a spike in world hunger that has left more than a billion undernourished, United Nations agencies said in a new report.

The report says the stabilization of financial markets has meant less investment in agriculture, food distribution.

"It is unacceptable in the 21st century that almost one in six of the world's population is now going hungry," said Josette Sheeran, executive director of the World Food Programme.

"At a time when there are more hungry people in the world than ever before, there is less food aid than we have seen in living memory."

Global Military Spending.

Worldwide military expenditure in 2008 totaled an estimated $1,464 billion, this represents an increase of 4 per cent in real terms compared to 2007, and an increase of 45 per cent since 1999. Military expenditure comprised approximately 2.4 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008. All regions and sub-regions have seen significant increases since 1999.

The USA accounted for the majority (58%) of the global increase between 1999 and 2008, with its military spending growing by $219 billion in constant 2005 prices over the period. China and Russia, with absolute increases of $42 billion and $24 billion respectively, both nearly tripled their military expenditure over the decade. Other regional powers - particularly India, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Israel, Brazil, South Korea, Algeria and Britain - also made substantial contributions to the total increase. "The idea of the 'war on terror' has encouraged many countries to see their problems through a highly militarized lens, using this to justify high military spending," comments Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, Head of the Military Expenditure Project at SIPRI. "Meanwhile, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have cost $903 billion in additional military spending by the USA alone." Global military expenditure set new record in 2008, says SIPRI, 8 June 2009.

Hunger:

Every 8 seconds a child somewhere in the world is dying from drinking contaminated water.

Global Military Spending.

Every minute someone in the world dies from a gun. And for every person killed, three are shot and are seriously injured.

World Military Expenditures rose to US $2,000,000 every single minute in 2006.

In the 3 minutes I am allowed to speak here 6 million dollar has disappeared in the pockets of the weapon producers, and in the same time 22 children have died because of this.

The engine of life is linkage. Everything is linked. Nothing is self sufficient. Sharing is everything. If we don’t share we will destroy ourselves.

80 percent of the mineral wealth on earth is consumed by 20 percent of the world’s population.

Water shortages can affect nearly 2 billion people before 2025.

Half the world’s poor live in resource-rich countries.

In 50 years the gap between rich and poor has doubled.

Today, half the world’s wealth is in the hands of the richest 2 percent of the population.

The arctic ice cap is melting. Under the effect of global warming the ice cap has lost 40 percent of its thickness in 40 years and the warming process gathers pace.

And in the meantime our model doensn’t change.

Since 1950 the world population has almost tripled.

Around the North Pole the ice cap has lost 30 percent of its surface area in 30 years.

Our ecosystem doensn’t have borders. Wherever we are, our actions have repercussions on the whole earth. Our planet’s atmosphere is an indivisble whole. It is an asset we share.

1 billion people have no access to safe drinking water.

40 percent of arable land has suffered long-term damage.

Every year 13 million hectares of forest disappear.

Species are dying out at a rythm 1000 times faster than the natural rate.

‘Continue to contaminate your own bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste.’ Chief Seattle.