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Dam due to ill health and a lack of response from my website hosting, I missed the opportunity to take part in what is certainly blogging for a good cause! http://blogactionday.org/ came and went before I had a chance to take part, so I will post my after thoughts about what I see as keys to global poverty.

Basically it comes down to one simple thing, greed. We all want more, we all want bigger cars, bigger houses, bigger salaries, bigger dinners, bigger TVs and we all want them cheaper as well. This greed goes far and beyond everyone’s basic human rights, and most basic human needs.

It saddens me that whilst so many people live in luxury, there is so many more people who have nothing, or live so close to the poverty line that they have no idea where or when their next meal is coming from. We can fly all these great instruments to Mars, and spend billions on a 27km tunnel to test the big bang theory, yet collectively, as a human race, we continually fail to actually do anything which benefits mankind.

We all want the easy solution, we don’t care about recycling, we care less about food waste. There is so much overall waste, both food and money that it really is criminal how the western world eats and lives (to excess) when there are those who truly go without.

I wrote recently about defence budgets, and it is truly sad how much money is throw at defence globally, compared to how much money is spent developing a cure for aids, cancer or malaria.

The world needs to change, we need to change. Both internationally, nationally and regionally. The world needs to care, about the health of our planet, and the health of our fellow human beings. Big businesses need to start taking responsibility for their greed, and their waste. Governments need to start looking out for the welfare of its citizens, instead of how much profit business is making.

Everybody should have access to good food, clean water, security, a free education and hope that the future can be better, if we work united, for the good of mankind and all nations. Not for the good of profits, or greedy execs, the mentality of the world needs to change, and true leadership is required from those who have been elected to represent the people of the world. True leadership is required from big business, it is time to start working in a sustainable way.

The poverty that was around in my parents generation has only become worse, perhaps it is time our generation started to do something to improve these points?

Ted Danson, whom is probably better known for his role in Cheers and numerous movies, has had a great post on the BBC website regarding the state of the oceans.

I generally have no real time for celebrities, too often they are too busy filling their pockets with too much money to actually give a dam about anyone or anything else around them. However kudos to Ted! I am very concerned about the state of our planet, and more specifically the oceans.

I find it deeply disturbing how we can justify the slaughter of sharks for the sake of asian people proving their social worth with Shark Fin Soup. Sharks are, without doubt, one of natures finest creations! They are highly evolved creatures which play an important part in our oceans, yet the only part of them which has nutritional value, is being thrown overboard as it has no FINANCIAL value - try telling that to all the people who are starving worldwide.

The Pro-Whaling arguement from Japan is almost laughable too. Japan came out with this very lame excuse as a reason to carry on whaling “You people eat lambs, we think lambs are cute but we don’t try to stop you eating them.” I agree lambs are cute, however they are bred for food, if we didn’t eat lambs, you can bet your ass there would be one hell of a lot less lambs available on the planet. I won’t even go into the religious implications of that statement, where lambs play an important role. You see Japan, IF, and I do mean IF whales could be farmed, and then killed in a semi-humane way, then whaling may be a possible option - however, anyone with a BRAIN will know that Whaling is horribly cruel, and really is a dead trade that the majority of people across the world want to see banned for good!

It seems that on the whole, too many people/governments/organisations benefit from the rape of our oceans, and whilst there is money to made, this rape will continue. Governments have failed to truly represent the people, and safeguard our futures. And sooner or later the deck of cards will come tumbling down. Hopefully the people of the world can unite, and demand real social change that will benefit MANKIND, both in the short and long term. It’s about time HUMANITY was put before PROFIT!

A balance needs to be made, and perhaps new ways of managing fish stocks need to implemented, one comment in relation to the story on the bbc statement says the following: “Stop eating animals and you’ll be part of the solution rather than the problem.”Me, Bath, UK  - what is wrong with this statement is that if all of a sudden the whole world became vegens, we would only create a bigger problem - which is how to feed the world when basic food grains are short, soil degredation is becoming worse and the ever increasing onset of desertification means farming is only becoming a lot harder!

Something needs to be done, and it needed to be done yesterday, somehow real thinkers of the world need to come together, REAL solutions must be found, not solutions which safeguard shareholders profits, but solutions which safeguard the sustainability of our oceans, whilst helping to feed an over populated planet. Too bad the wasted billions used on the LHC project were not put to better use!

Having missed Monday through illness, I feel a real cynical tinge about me today, following on from my other post today about illness and disease, I thought I would touch on a subject which is really close to my heart and has affected me in the past, this fantastic subject is shareholders!

What pains me a lot today about big business is the role of shareholders, these invisible people, whose only affiliation with a company is primarily to make money.

In my opinion any true company should consist of two shareholders, or perhaps stakeholders. Those two stakeholders would be the companies staff, and its customers. Each dependant upon the other, and linked in such a way that one cannot survive without the other.

In a true business with only two stakeholders there are real benefits for both parties. If a company is successful and generates significant profit, then it should be both the staff and customers who benefit from that profit. Staff should be rewarded for their hard work, through better pay, increased bonuses, or just a bonus in some cases. Alternatively, to give something back to the customers, the company could reduce the costs of its products, alieviating some of the financial burden.

This system would become a true co-operative, it is a real relationship, built on trust and responsibility with benefits available to both stakeholders. Staff can take pride in their work and truly feel a part of the company, sharing in its success.

So when did shareholders become so evil?

Shareholders break the tight relationship in both of those parties. Shareholders are only interested in making money from a company, yet what work, or skills do they put into the company to help improve its performance? By bringing shareholders into the equation, they effectively drive up the costs for customers/consumers, whilst applying direct pressure to keep costs down - effectively trying to increase profit margins. This results in less wages and smaller bonuses for staff. The bigger the profits in one year, the bigger the pressure to increase profits the following year! And of course if profits are not increased, then the share price is effected.

What is sad about the influence of shareholders, is that they are given far greater consideration than both the staff at a company and the companies customers, in fact they have a far bigger say on how the company is run than the staff who gave their all, but cannot afford to become shareholders. It seems in recent months that the shareholders of Australia’s major banks have been given far too much consideration, take the following article http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24168153-36418,00.html - I struggled to find anything relating to St Georges Staff or Customers. How would they be affected by any deals, would staff be laid off? Will customers get a worse deal? All in the name of greed, all driven for the benefit of Shareholders.

It seems sad that in todays modern world, we still live in a society determined by class or money. Benefits only go to those with money, not the people with the skills. And it is only those people with money who have influence, not the people who can do the work.

Shareholding is Evil and I believe the pressure for increased profits has led Google to create KNOL. By all accounts KNOL is a direct competitor to wikipedia, which although has its faults is considered one heck of a valuable resource. So what benefit is there to create a competitor? Only to leverage marketshare, ultimately resulting in bigger profits for Googles Shareholders.

I won’t even mention public resources being handed over to private firms. How on earth should a valuable resource such as water be managed by a company, whose main aim is to please share holders? Governments should be managing such resources on behalf of the people who voted them into power. Any profits generated from such resources could then be ploughed back into community projects, decreasing taxes or building better environmentally friendly energy systems. There are a lot of problems in the world, and shareholders are one of those problems, created to increase individual finances, with little or no concern for the greater good.

Roll on tomorrow, perhaps I will be a better mood

Blog posts have been a bit low the past few days, been laid up with an illness, and to be honest with you, just didn’t fancy writing any content - sorry!

But now I am back to almost my best and my illness got me thinking. There are so many illnesses, diseases and medicial problems across the world that we are still no closer to finding a cure for, in some cases there are just no funds available for additional research programs. I am sure most of us have been affected by the tragic loss of someone to cancer or some other illness or disease.

Imagine what good could be done for humanity if some or all of these diseases could be cured, so that we could all live healthier and happier lives. Well take a moment and think about this instead, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States it seems that whilst research funds are limited, this is in stark contrast to the American Military Machine, a machine that has been primed to kill.

It seems that budgets in some countries put a much bigger emphasis on the ability to destroy mankind, as opposed to its ability to help mankind. I don’t entirely blame America for this, they are far from alone, they are perhaps just the biggest spender of military dollars. What is sad is that all countries live in fear, so scared of being attacked that too much money is put into different ways to kill each other instead of better ways to heal ourselves.

So whilst I think about the past few days lost to illness, I think to what might have been cured, had only 10% of the American Military Budget been available for research into diseases.