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Title: Thats Capitalism (WS49) Author: Workers Solidarity Movement Date: 1996 Language: en Topics: capitalism, Workers Solidarity Source: Retrieved on 11th December 2021 from http://struggle.ws/ws/capit49.html Notes: Published in Workers Solidarity No. 49 — Autumn 1996.
The rich are getting richer. According to the United Nations (UNDP
report) 358 billionaires own wealth greater than the combined annual
incomes of almost half the world’s poor.
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Michael Smurfit got £2.59 million in dividends in 1995. As well as his
salary and dividends he will also get a bonus of about £2.5 million this
year. Smurfit lives part of the year in Monte Carlo in order to avoid
paying tax in Ireland. His reward for tax dodging — being made Ireland’s
honorary consul to Monaco.
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A recently reported study, by the Suicide Research Group at St. Annes
Hospital in Cork, noted a sharp increase in suicide in Ireland between
the years 1970 (75 deaths) and 1991(318 deaths). During the particular
period of 1987–91, the study noted a higher rate of suicide in the Cork
area than elsewhere in the country. When the study looked at occupation,
it also noted that, in the case of men, nearly half the victims (45%)
were unemployed. The study concluded that there was a positive
association between unemployment and suicide for males.
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Last year’s 26 county tax figures show that 86.7% of income taxes came
from PAYE workers, 11.6% from the self-employed (doctors, auctioneers,
architects, etc) and a laughable 1.7% from farmers. Of the 100,000
farmers, 69,000 of them did not pay a single penny.
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Nearly one in every three black men between the ages of 20 and 29 in the
USA are currently “in contact” with the criminal (in)justice system: in
jail, on parole, or on probation. Racist attitudes and a ‘law & order’
mania have seen 827,440 people being locked up at a cost of $6 billion a
year. If the ‘three strikes’ law (three felony convictions — regardless
of the actual crime — and you go to jail for life) remains, it is
estimated that one in every 146 California residents will be in jail by
the year 2,000.
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Tony O’Reilly ‘earned’ £3.29 million last year as chairperson of
Independent Newspapers. Dividends from Fitzwilton brought him a further
£970,000 and he shares a £318,000 dividend from Waterford Wedgewood with
his wife. None of the above includes his salary or dividends from Heinz
where he is also chairperson. This gave him a massive £119 million over
five years. Forbes magazine noted that he is now the fourth highest paid
boss in the USA. They also said “Tony O’Reilly’s ego and paycheck are
his biggest accomplishments”.
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A six year old child has been charged with attempted murder in
California. He was arrested after the almost fatal beating of a five
week old baby, when the boy and two eight year old friends tried to
steal a tricycle from a neighbour’s house. Instead of placing the child
in the custody of the state’s child welfare service, the judge sent him
to a juvenile jail. He is being kept in a “cell-like room where the
floor is uncarpeted concrete” in a locked ward with “metal walls and a
caged reception area”.