Dirty work

Peacenik made it back to civilization. Peacenik spent a lot of time staring at the lake and thinking about the problems that Peacenik enjoys thinking about. Peacenik saw lots of very big very expensive boats towing kids around on tubes and skis. And lots of happy consumers bombing back and forth up and down the lake on personal water devices. When Peacenik ventured into town the lineups at the beerstore and grocery store and baitshop were long. The town was packed with consumers. Peacenik realized how easy it is to adopt a new reality. Escapism. Peacenik was escaping too. A bit of escapism is good.

Now Peacnik is back to getting emails from Peacenik's emplower about plans for dealing with swine flu. And Peaceik is reading about problems with the economy. And listening to the traffic outside Peacenik's basement bedroom window. And Peacnik is reading about the fraudulent elections in Afghanistan. Maybe escapism is the new reality. The financiers on Wall Street, the happy consumers in the pub, the remaining autoworkers, the politicians all escaping. Can escapism fuel a new economy? Can escapism cure swine flu? Can escapism fund Peacenik's pension. Is escapism the answer? Or are fractals?

by Garth Turner

Yesterday I wrote a little about countries that export their primary jobs. You know the kind – the work that came before the work most of us do now. Designing and making things. Growing stuff. Processing materials. Jobs with tangible results.

Lately leaders’ heads have been jammed with globalization thoughts. The result has been a migration of historic proportions. Factories close in southern Ontario and open in that huge industrial park outside Shanghai. Even call centres in Mumbai replace ones in New Brunswick. Our largest industrial corporations, the car companies, stagger in and out of bankruptcy. And the biggest corporation of all, Wal-Mart, becomes the largest employer in North America. What do the people there work at?

Yeah. Selling things made in China.

Read on...