http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=661

Arbeiter Ring Publishing is pleased to announce the release of Let Them Eat Junk: How Capitalism Creates Hunger and Obesity by Robert Albritton

Why are half the people in the world malnourished, while so many in the West are over-fed? Capitalism may promise cheap, nutritious food for all, but it has failed to deliver on that promise. This is the first book to explore the economics of our food system, and to explain why a quarter of the world’s population go hungry despite the fact that enough food is produced worldwide to feed us all.

Political economist Robert Albritton gives a refreshingly detailed explanation of the worldwide food crisis. He analyses the economic conditions that create a simultaneous oversupply and undersupply of food, and the massive implications they have for human health worldwide.

“[This book] pulls no punches in its analysis. … To understand how starvation and obesity can coexist in the same populations, follow the flow of capital. Everyone who cares about food equity and the preservation of democracy should read this book.”–Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, New York University

“Marx understood the dynamics of the current food crisis over a century ago. Robert Albritton has written a fine primer, bridging the best thinking of the nineteenth century to the urgent needs of the twenty-first.”–Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved

I’ll just post here my comment I left on Climate and Capitalism:

In what country where there is a supposed oversupply of food is there capitalism? In the USA there are tariffs, subsidies, unbalanced taxation and regulation, etc.
That’s socialistic, fascistic, corporatist. That’s not capitalism.

And what is the solution? Communism? Socialism of one kind or another? More corporatism and fascism? USSR starved millions. Cuba isn’t doing all that well. Nor is North Korea. What socialistic country has been able to produce more food than the people living there need to such an extent as the USA?

The problem isn’t production of food. It’s the distortion of incentives (ethanol subsidies, sugar taxes, corn subsidies) and the tyrannical remote governments which impoverish their people. The cost of food would be reduced if they weren’t kept artificially high due to protectionist trade policy and those who most efficiently produced a product was allowed to do so. And those who have a tough time affording the artificially high foods would have more wealth if their governments would stop with the horrible protectionist, anti-property and anti-business policy.

Even if you had all that fixed it wouldn’t get rid of all the problems right away. It takes time for wealth to increase. Capital must be built up. The size of the pie will increase as will each persons slice of it but it requires people to be free to make their own decisions and for labor to flow into those locations where it is most efficient.

http://www.cnn.com/

Scuffles were reported outside the Bank of England Wednesday, as thousands of protesters, including anti-capitalists, anarchists, and environmental campaigners, gathered in the heart of London’s financial district a day before the G-20 summit. Eleven people were arrested for being in possession of police uniforms, a police spokesman said. They had earlier been stopped while riding in an armored personnel carrier near Bishopsgate, near the Bank of England, and the vehicle will now be examined by police, the spokesman said. Protesters occasionally lunged forward against the police line, and one masked protester hit out at polices with a long black pole. One police officer was whisked to the side after apparently being hit. Police held their line and occasionally pushed protesters back with their hands. Organizers of the protest insisted their intentions are “theatrical,” promising “mirth, merriment and the love in our hearts” and urging participants to “bring food to share, water, tea making facilities, something to sit on, a pop up tent if you plan to stay late.” But activists also published a map Tuesday with the details of scores of banks, financial companies, law firms and trading exchanges with offices in the City, prompting fears that symbols of capitalism could be targeted. “It is believed that the majority of the protesters intend to conduct a peaceful demonstration,” the police said in a statement. “Businesses should however, remain vigilant at all times and ensure that buildings are secure. Banks and financial premises are the targets of the protest although this could extend to all premises in the city.”

I’m not seeing any stories yet but I see on the office TV on CNN that there are individuals throwing items through windows of banks or local businesses. Looks like we have vandarchists, not anarchists. At least not American, libertarian anarchists but European, leftist, anti-establishment ‘anarchists.’ Which I prefer to describe, as above, vandarchists. They give us real free market anarchists a bad name. I’d also like to correct the article. The banks, financial companies, law firms and trading exchanges which are in London are not symbols of capitalism. They are symbols of fascism, corporatism, neo-merchantillism, or at minimum state-capitalism which really dissolves into those former names. It is just as wrong to call the UK or the USA capitalist as it is wrong to call the old Soviet Russia, Cuba, or China ‘communist.’

Update:

Looks like there were a few free marketeers out and about.

Well, I bought myself a hand crank shortwave radio (TECSUN Green-168) and I can now listen to shortwave broadcasts from around the world.  What is shortwave radio you ask?  Well it’s radio broadcast at a frequency of 3-30Mhz typically AM.  What makes it special is the fact that it can bounce of the ionosphere and travel around the world.  This makes it a favorite of countries wishing to broadcast propaganda into other countries, guerilla movements and radio enthusiasts.

So last night while turning the dial through the frequencies to see what stations I could find broadcasting in english, I found Radio Taiwan International.  They were talking about raising children and it was kind of boring.  I continued to scroll through the stations and came across some damn good, old salsa music.  I stayed on it and it turned out to be Radio Havanna broadcasting in english.  Now why would a Spanish speaking country located 90 miles away from the US broadcast loud and clear in english?  Gee I wonder.

Anyway they had an interview with an Irish guy who is married to a Cuban woman.  In a typical year, he spends six months in Ireland and six months in Cuba.  He spoke about how difficult things are in Cuba yet how there was a great feeling of solidarity.  He mentioned issues like how hard it is to do simple things like buy a loaf of bread and how Cuba’s economic troubles stem primarily from the blockade.  He also talked about how the Cuban people have suffered a long time under various regimes and as such they’ve learned to work together and cooperate.  Finally, he conversed with the interviewer about the changes that are occuring under Raul.  He mentioned that a lot of people seem to want to know when Cuba is going to become more “Americanized” and he thinks that will never happen.  He said that Raul is pushing reforms and that he hopes that amist all the change, the good points of the Cuban people will remain.

My battery died out during a PSA about political prisoners.  It was too fuzzy to hear.

Concerning Cuba, I believe the blockade is a bad thing.  I’d like to see the US freely trading with Cuba.  For those of you concerned about human rights abuses in Cuba I believe a reciprocal economic relationship would lead to more immigration freedom and consequently make it easier for the world to see human rights abuses and help alleviate them.  Here’s the part that will get me yelled at, I believe at a community level Cuba is doing a lot of things right.  I’m not gullible enough to believe everything this guy says, or even necessarily that he exists, but what little information does come out of Cuba does stress the importance of community.  Maybe it comes from the Cuban people being beaten up so much, or maybe I’m just drinking the Kool-Aid, but there’s probably something there.

I thought I had posted this when it came out but doesn’t look like I did.

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http://reason.tv/…

Gisele Bundchen wears him on the runway, Johnny Depp wears him around his neck, and Benicio Del Toro becomes him in the new, highly acclaimed, two-part epic film from Steven Soderbergh, Che. Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the revolutionary who helped found communist Cuba, is the celebrity that celebrities adore. And be it Madonna, Rage Against the Machine, or Jay-Z, musicians really dig Che.

It’s something that baffles Cuban jazz legend Paquito D’Rivera. “Che hated artists, so how is it possible that artists still today support the image of Che Guevara?” Turns out the rebellious icon that emblazons countless T-shirts actually enforced aesthetic and political conformity. D’Rivera explains that Che and other Cuban authorities sought to ban rock and roll and jazz.

“Che was an inspiration for me,” D’Rivera tells reason.tv. “I thought I have to get out of this island as soon as I can, because I am in the wrong place at the wrong time!” D’Rivera did escape Cuba, and so far he’s won nine Grammy awards playing the kind of music Che tried to silence. But D’Rivera says Che’s crimes didn’t end with censorship. “He ordered the execution of many people with no trial.” Che served as Castro’s chief executioner, presiding over the infamous La Cabana prison. D’Rivera says Che’s policy of killing innocents earned him the nickname—the Butcher of La Cabana.

“We’re rightly horrified by fascist murderers like Adolph Hitler,” says reason.tv’s Nick Gillespie. “Why aren’t we also horrified by communist killers?” Certainly, Che’s body count isn’t anywhere near Hitler’s. But what about someone Che idolized, someone whom he might have liked to wear on his chest?

“Che, Castro, all the communist regimes idolized only one thing that Mao personifies—violence.” Kai Chen grew up in China under the reign of Mao Zedong. Although he won gold medals for China’s national basketball team, Chen’s was far from the celebrity life of an NBA star. Says Chen, “You have no right to talk, and you have no right to think.”

The punishment for questioning Mao’s authority was often death. The Black Book of Communism estimates that Mao is responsible for the deaths of 65 million people—a figure that dwarfs even Hitler’s body count. “Mao is a murderer,” says Chen. “The biggest mass murderer in human history.”

And yet, like Che, Mao’s image is becoming an increasingly popular way to move merchandise. You can buy Mao t-shirts, mugs, caps—you name it. Near Chen’s Los Angeles home there’s even a restaurant called Mao’s Kitchen. “Can you imagine a restaurant called Hitler’s Kitchen?” asks Gillespie.

Neither D’Rivera nor Chen understands why communist killers are considered Chic, but each finds his own way to have the last laugh on these anti-capitalist icons.

“Killer Chic” is written and produced by Ted Balaker. Director of Photography is Alex Manning.

Closing music, “Che Guevara T-Shirt Wearer,” courtesy of The Clap. Listen to the whole song here.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/…

Venezuela’s socialist president, Hugo Chavez, knows a fellow leftist when he sees one:

Chavez, who calls capitalism an evil and ex-Cuban leader Fidel Castro his mentor, ridiculed Bush for his plan for the federal government to take equity in American banks despite the U.S. right-wing’s criticism of Venezuelan nationalizations.”Bush is to the left of me now,” Chavez told an audience of international intellectuals debating the benefits of socialism. “Comrade Bush announced he will buy shares in private banks.”

It’s pretty hard to argue with ol’ Hugo’s observations. (Link via Drudge.)

I don’t know that he’s left of Chavez… but he’s trying.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/…

Mikheil Saakashvili’s decision to use the opening of the Olympic Games to cover Georgia’s invasion of its breakaway province of South Ossetia must rank in stupidity with Gamal Abdel-Nasser’s decision to close the Straits of Tiran to Israeli ships.

Nasser’s blunder cost him the Sinai in the Six-Day War. Saakashvili’s blunder probably means permanent loss of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

After shelling and attacking what he claims is his own country, killing scores of his own Ossetian citizens and sending tens of thousands fleeing into Russia, Saakashvili’s army was whipped back into Georgia in 48 hours.

Vladimir Putin took the opportunity to kick the Georgian army out of Abkhazia, as well, to bomb Tbilisi and to seize Gori, birthplace of Stalin.

Reveling in his status as an intimate of George Bush, Dick Cheney and John McCain, and America’s lone democratic ally in the Caucasus, Saakashvili thought he could get away with a lightning coup and present the world with a fait accompli.

Mikheil did not reckon on the rage or resolve of the Bear.
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