Slashdot Mirror
Dark Cloud Over Good Works of Gates Foundation
theodp writes "Justice Eta, a Nigerian infant, has an ink spot on his tiny thumb to show he was immunized against polio and measles thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But Justice still faces respiratory trouble, which locals call 'the cough' and blame on fumes and soot spewing from 300-foot flames at a nearby oil plant owned by Itallian energy giant Eni, whose investors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Part one of an L.A. Times investigation reports that the world's largest philanthropy pours money into investments that are hurting many of the people its grants aim to help. With the exception of tobacco companies, the foundation's asset managers do not avoid investments in firms whose activities conflict with the mission to do good."
They think they will cure AIDS. Ha! Developing a vaccine is only part of the cure. There's been a vaccine for TB for 50+ years and still many people die of TB every day.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Because the firms running these plants are most likely foreign based. Meaning that the profits are probably shipped outside of the country. If the company was setting up jobs & providing services and money in the economy, then I'd almost be tempted to overlook the asthma & health problems associated with these companies. The problem is that I'm almost certain none of that wealth is returning to the local community.
So these people are working for peanuts? Did you sleep through econ 101, or what? IT DOESN'T MATTER WHICH COUNTRY THE PROFITS FLOW TO! The benefits of opening a factory in my town are that the jobs pay wages to local workers, which pumps money into the local economy.
Whether the owner is a local American, a fat cat in New York City, or a Japanese dude, the factory is still helping my standard of living and giving me a better job, so maybe I can send my kids to college and own a house. Even if the owner of the factory was a local, HE WOULD KEEP THE PROFITS, ANYWAY. It's a capitalist market system! It's not like because he's African, he's going to hand out big wads of cash to his countrymen just because they share a border and a government.
The only differences between domestic versus foreign ownership are:
- personal income taxes are not paid domestically; however, corporate income taxes, property taxes, payroll, import/export duties ARE paid locally, so the lost funds are probably minimal in relation to the total tax paid;
- less secondary economic impact of a domestic owner spending his profits in the local economy; given the huge proportion of industrial operating costs associated with labor (pwyroll), though, this is also probably minimal in relation to the amount of money paid directly to workers as wages;
Go hug a tree, Granola Boy. And think for five minutes before you spout off about subjects where you're as ignorant as this.