Hmm it’s Friday, and today was a national holiday, which was nice for most people in Tokyo, but for me it didn’t make the blindest bit of difference as I was working. This is ironic as the holidy in question was Kinro kansha no hi or labour thanksgiving day where we are supposed to commemorate production and celebrate workers rights.
I am going to use this as a very poor link to work in a comment on the case of Bilal Hussein who has been under arrest for the past 19 months without charge for working in Iraq. While I don’t think this is the forum to discuss the merits of the US army’s case against him I’m sure that it shouldn’t have taken 19 months without legal representation to bring this man to trial. I feel it sets a dangerous precedent if members of the press start being arrested and detained, as it can do nothing to help them give an unbiased account of what they see if they have to be worried about detention if they report unfavourable news (there is no such allegation here, but it seems like a slippery slope to me).
I‘m a trained economist and so am very cynical when it comes to unionised labor. I did however find this video by currently striking US writer Harlan Ellison very amusing and relevent to any cretive endeavour. Viewer discretion is advised as he uses some grown up language to make his point…
Another economic concept which is near and dear to my heart is the availability of credit, something which Kiva is trying to make easier. I am unsure what the balance is between a profitable organisation and a charitable foundation with Kiva or how much interest the end user is being charged yet, but the concept interested me as I’ve long been a proponent of using subsidised loans rather than straight up grants to promote growth in the developing world. I plan on doing a little more research and I’ll let you know what I find out, anyone with more information should feel free to leave a comment….
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