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Vancouver Winter Olympics: A Festival of Corporate Greed
Source: Green Left Weekly
On February 12, the corporate sporting behemoth known as the 21st Winter Olympic Games will open to great fanfare here. In a time of economic hardship and government cuts to social programs across Canada, huge sums of public money have been spent to stage this uber spectacle.
Billions of dollars have been spent constructing venues, a new convention center and airport terminal; widening and paving untold kilometers of roads and highways; building a hugely expensive rapid transit line connecting the city’s airport to its downtown; and erecting new hotels to serve the influx of corporate sponsors and spectators.The hotel, travel, restaurant and real estate industries hope to make a killing off the influx of out-of-town spectators and partygoers. Construction companies have already earned hundreds of millions of dollars during the years of preparation furiously pouring concrete and asphalt.
Beer Battles: Workers in Belgium Take on Brewing Giant
For two weeks in January Belgian brewery workers blocked roads, set fire to beer crates, kidnapped managers and handed out free beer as part of their tactics against job cuts proposed by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer. The company announced the cuts in spite of profits of $1.55 billion in the third quarter of 2009. "This is the ugly face of capitalism," Roger Van Vlasselaer, the leader of a major Belgian union said.Brewery Workers at Road Blockade*
Tending ‘the Grow’: Marijuana at a Crossroads
In the warm, luminescent glow of the dust encrusted light fixture, the carpeted and dank hallway disappears into unvacuumed recesses. Darren grabs an unobtrusive handle along the wall's flimsy wood paneling, pulls, and a crack of light pierces the gloom. Pushing aside a black screen of Hefty bags intended to block light and trap heat, he reveals his miniature grow closet. A heavy, supple branch tumbles out. It brushes my hand, leaving a telltale streak of sticky, stinky moistness. The resin goes away with a bit of water. The smell stays.Photo by Joshua Smith
What Consumers Need to Know About Rent-to-Own Businesses
A single mother in Washington State used the store to furnish her living room. But the goods she received were damaged and worn. When she stopped making payments while awaiting replacements her home was accosted by employees of the Rent-A-Center she had patronized. Elsewhere in the same state, a man who called to say his payments would be late due to his wife's hospitalization said collectors tried to kick his door down to repossess his rent-to-own goods.NYC Rent-A-Center Protest