Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Bullshit headline of the day

It's hard to pick one, because there is so much bullshit in the headlines, but today this was the hands-down winner; Ship-breaking work to shift from Asia to Europe.

That's from the CBC, and it seems to be the headline for a photo-essay rather than a story, so the only narrative we get is this; Dirty, dangerous business is hazard to low-paid workers in developing countries.

Duh!

We're gonna move ship-breaking from Asia to Europe because we care about hazards to low paid workers in developing countries?

Get the fuck outta here!

Who dreams up this shit?

The entire history of capitalism is based on letting the low-paid workers shoulder the burden of the hazards... the greater the hazards, the lower the pay!

Think about this for two seconds. Who owns those ships about to be broken up? Why, scrap brokers of course!

Imagine you are a scrap broker. Imagine you have bought a ship for break-up.

You have options.

Option one; take your ship to Belgium to be scrapped. The environmental constraints are ominous. The worker protection regulations protect workers. The workers are used to making 30 euros per hour as opposed to 30 euros per week....

Option two; tow your ship to a beach in Bangladesh where there are no environmental or labour laws, at least none that are enforced. Guys in flip-flops will be happy to cut up your ship into scrap for next to nothing. Scrap steel is a global commodity that is worth the same in Belgium as in Bangladesh.

See why that's a bullshit headline?

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