There’s Something Wrong Here

Direct quote from this morning’s Boston Globe:
Nantucket will likely bare the brunt of Tropical Storm Ophelia when it rages through southern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the islands early this morning.
But the attention of state emergency planners is turning to Bourne and Camp Edwards to ease the anxiety of Katrina evacuees as they weather their first significant storm since the hurricane destroyed their Louisiana homes.

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Weather Report

We got a good pre-Ophelia dousing yesterday, which was welcome – it was only the second day of rain this whole summer, and the storm helped to lower the deficit.
The forecasters are still not 100% sure of Ophelia’s exact track Northeast, but it looks like we are in for wind and more rain from tonight through Saturday.

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Now, Just a Minute, There…

Somebody named Mel Goodman is quoted on truthout.org as saying that the Bush administration’s “libertarian policies” include “exploiting the tragedy and terror of 9/11 to provide huge sums of money to the richest and most powerful bureaucracies in the American system of government”.
Gentlepeople, that is a crock, whether or not the reference is to little l or big L Libertarianism.

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Class Warfare is More Important than Profit

In fact, to the people on Wall Street who really run the country, profit seems to be the last consideration in valuing companies.
Here’s an example:
Business Week ran the numbers last year on Costco versus Sam’s Club, a direct competitor which is owned by Wal-Mart.
Costco, a membership wholesale company, pays its full-timers an average of over $16/hour and 92% of their employees’ health insurance premiums.
Wal-Mart on the other hand pays an average of $9.69/hour and 34% of health insurance.
What does Costco get for this? Lower turnover and higher productivity.

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