Let's get a taste of globalization and unfettered capitalism

From China, of course.

200 killed in disasters in China's unsafe mines

Almost 200 were feared dead last night after four mining disasters in China, highlighting the country's appalling industrial safety record.

Officials said there was little hope of finding any survivors among the 82 miners trapped by a gas leak and explosion near Zhengzhou, in central Henan province, on Wednesday night. Sixty-six men have already been confirmed dead.

Yesterday, three more accidents were reported. In Hebei province, in the north, 29 were feared dead after a mine flooded; 12 were killed by a gas leak in the western municipality of Chongqing, and five were killed in an explosion in a mine in south-western Guizhou province.

Although mine safety in the nine months to September showed a 13 per cent improvement on last year, this still amounts to more than 4,000 people killed. Richard Spencer, Beijing

These incidents are certainly tragic, especially when these deaths could have been avoided with a few common sense safety regulations. But you might ask, "Why post a rather isolated news item like this to the blog? There's no foreign policy implications, and hell, you can't blame this on Bush!"

Consider this a rare bad news item I'll publish where I can't place any blame on Bush, although I promise to try. ;>

The reason why I posted this is because reading it made me think about the march of globalization caused by unfettered capitalism. China is a country that American corporations send jobs to not only because they want to take advantage of the multitudes of cheap labor available there, but also because Chinese laws lack safety regulations and allow corporations to take a dump on the environment, two things they have more trouble doing in this country thanks to the tireless efforts of Democrats, unions, and environmentalists.

But make no mistake, folks: This is where we're headed. These mining accidents in China, caused by a lack of safety regulations, could be easily duplicated in the United States in a couple of decades if we allow corporations to have their way. Corporations are already guilty of allowing these crimes to happen simply by going to China because the country lacks regulation. Right now in this country, corporations complain that they can't adhere to the environmental standards set by the Kyoto Treaty because it will cost them too much in profits; and they'll fight OSHA regulations tooth of nail, even though those very regulations keep their work places and the products they sell to the public safe. Corporations don't care about you or me, though -- They simply care about the dollar, and how many more dollars they can make. Why be satisfied with $1 billion in profit when you can make $1.1 billion?

This attitude is partly caused by pressure from stock holders who threaten to dump a corporations' stock if it isn't growing. If a corporation is making a $1 billion and doesn't care to make $1.1 billion, well then, that's just evil in today's world. You better lay off a few more workers, otherwise your stock prices will drop!

That's the world we live in today. And we see these kind of corporate values killing people by the thousands in China. These deaths are part of the price we pay everytime we purchase clothing or electronics from countries like China. What's worse is that we're supporting a system which could come to rule within our borders soon. Globalization driven by unfettered capitalism; absolute free trade instead of fair trade, leads countries on a race to the bottom. Don't think that corporations who do business in America and complain about regulations will stop once they reach their immediate goals. They won't. It will only get worse, because they won't be happy until every nation on Earth has safety and environmental laws similar to China's.

And we can't let that happen. Globalization like this has to be fought, no matter who supports it. It doesn't matter if it's Clinton, Bush, or Kerry who supports NAFTA, GATT, or the WTO, because we must fight against all of them until they stop supporting it.