look how fast money corrupts...

dwmte says on May 19, 2005, 16:44:

i just watched a BBC news clip.... about what's going on in brazil and they talked about the governor of this one state in the amazon who's responsible for this deforestation and who is known around the world as the 'king' of deforestation. too, that he owns all this land which has been cleared and has put it into soy beans, making him probably the world's largest producer. i'm just curious how one person can own so much land, and even be the governor as well.

this makes corruption sound like a very sweet word wispered between lovers.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

poco says on May 19, 2005, 18:36:

One person is part of an association How this works:

First cut a road.
Second send out “land purchasers�
Kill a few land owners, threaten the remainig (attitude adjustment)
Deforest to prepare land for farming.
Get a few soy bean farms operational.
Market the land to foreign investors
Investors like the $4.00 day labor rate.
Sell the land “cheap� (IE: 1000% PLUS above what you paid)
Establish a futures market to smooth out prices
Foreign interests buy acreage and start crops using their capital and cheap local labor.
Association owns all the land remaining. Give contracts to your friends for development.
Sell the developed property (1/4 acre lots) for 10 thousand percent plus back to the original owners.
They now have a job to pay for services you own.

Simple.
Actual percentages can be higher.

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

0 funny, 0 helpful.

platano says on May 19, 2005, 19:25:

Poco, You describe it so convincingly I do not doubt this is how it works. Sounds like corporate capitalism, buy low, sell high, and to hell with morality. The bottom line is what counts. I talked with managers of a maquiladora in Tijuana (Sony Corp.) that paid Mexicans 4 dollars a day to stand at the line for 8 hours. He complained 50 cents an hour was expensive labor because if they moved the factory to China they could pay half as much.

Plátano, el banano verde, and glad not to be a soy bean
Oxigeno Verde ¡Libertad por Ingrid y los demás!

plátano

0 funny, 0 helpful.

poco says on May 19, 2005, 21:11:

Labor rates The pay in China is,, lets put it this way,, LESS than the equal pay rate in Colombia.

BIG PROBLEM,, For instance,, Colombia can IMPORT rice from ASIA for LESS than it can be produced in Colombia.

The "cheap" Chinese products are prevalent in Colombia. I see mainly tools and consumables such as drills, grinders, drill bits, chisel or hack saw blade. Almost impossible to purchase a quality product made outside Colombia,, why? The Colombians will NOT pay the difference. Don’t get me wrong,, some will pay, especially contractors but it will cost MORE than the equal tool purchased at any Home Depot in the U.S. This is better now with the PESO stronger. This was horrible (for the Colombians with pesos) when it was at 3,000.

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

0 funny, 0 helpful.

morphus says on May 19, 2005, 23:01:

deforestation is no big deal in Brazil because they have too much forest. progress needs to be made. the city of Manaus is surrounded by 2 thousand miles of rain forest. i say they should keep chopping and build more industry in Brazil.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Dolfi says on May 20, 2005, 00:21:

Nope, you have to travel two days to get to the real forest from Manaos.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Anggrek Hitam says on May 20, 2005, 01:37:

Morphus, there can never bee enough or too much forest.
Brazil and the other countries around the Amazonas basin are over-doing it and why? So that the gringos have their tropical wood. These sonomabitches are actually behind it all and dont even want to Join the Kyoto protocol because it might slow down their economy.
It IS all about money. Noone cares about what is in 20 years. Most polititians' terms will have ended by then. So, why care.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

dwmte says on May 20, 2005, 03:35:

aaccording to repoorts i've read... in many instances only about 10% of the deforested wood is used for building materials industry...nope it's not gringos...japanese and chinese.

the remaining 90% is burned to have the land cleared espeditiously.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Canadian Ice Cream says on May 20, 2005, 16:17:

Payback is a B!tCH Went to Costa Rica a while ago and found out what deforestaion can do to a region. Stayed in the Guanacaste region and they call that area the dry rain forest. They use to have rain fall to support lush growth of native flora and fauna now the rains cross over the mountain range Lake Arenal and turn and head back to the Carribean. Has it helped the economy in that region, not sure. If it has the people there are not aware of it. ¨Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realise that we cannot eat money¨ Money is not the answer for everything...
ICE

Ice

0 funny, 0 helpful.

dwmte says on May 20, 2005, 16:49:

morphus.... i can't believe you said that. duh?

our world--poor mother nature--is in deep do do, and we're to blame. there used to be zillions of acres of rain forest as part of a planetary balance. now our planet is so outta whack that it's sheer luck that gravity doesn't fail and folks just fly out into space.

we're hurting...check it out and be real.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

morphus says on May 21, 2005, 05:26:

the Earth can take care of its self. we humans are only on the planet temporarly. look what happened to the dinosaurs. the same thing will happen to humans one way or the other. maybe a plague or a natural disaster.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

dwmte says on May 21, 2005, 06:48:

in the epoch of dinosaurs.... the issues of the planet were cyclical....now, they're man made and can be prevented.

my grandfather said that the first rule of life is dont shit where you sleep. we--all of us--are breaking the first rule.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

poco says on May 21, 2005, 12:42:

What about now? the Earth can take care of its self. we humans are only on the planet temporarly

Thousands of years from now a rusted section of the Alaskan Pipeline to Anwar will collapse and end the life of a Caribou shielding itself from the wind and snow.

There is reason to be concerned about the near term.

Colombia has, for what ever reason, set aside vast acreage as national parks and is enforcing (the best they can) animal protection laws. The Leticia area WAS a major shipper of about any kind of bird, mammal or reptile known to man. Colombia has many Parrot species because a healthy parrot can be easily traded for 20 full grown Chickens on the hoof. The problem was exporting, and in many cases another sideline for the drug smugglers.

Laws inside and outside Colombia and greater awareness outside the country has vastly reduced the economies of this trade but it still goes on. Snort a line and help finance the devastation of animal species. Not a very catchy slogan,, but true.

Think drugs only harm humans?

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

0 funny, 0 helpful.

utopiacowboy says on May 21, 2005, 12:52:

It's all George Bush's fault. I heard he was down in Brazil with a chain saw cutting down those trees as fast as he could. Yelling, "Damm Kyoto!" the whole time he was doing it. You gotta hand it to the guy - he's got a lot of energy causing all the world's problems. What are the other 6 billion of us doing here? Waiting for a bus?

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

dwmte says on May 21, 2005, 15:17:

ain't it a bitch!.... he borrows my chainsaw, snorts my line and now my parrots gone, too.

damn...

0 funny, 0 helpful.