Raise the Hammer

Thanks for sharing Maggie. I use to love listening to your radio program on cfmu when I went to Mac, these days I don't seem to listen to the radio that much. Must be frustrating for you to see year after year, council after council with not much changing.

Hi Maggie: I was listening to the voices that you recorded at the last labour day parade and the one voice expressed a fear that if we denied the US our resources, that they, the US, would just come and take it anyways.

So in that light, watch this:

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/201...

As an individual, this footage is very stirring and disturbing, it is so unfair that others across this globe are dying and the underlying issue is OIL. Things no longer make sense anymore.

Where is the common good, to end this.

Part of the problem is what is "common" anymore grassroots?

We may all agree "we need the basics, food and water" but there will be countless different opinions on how to provide that. Some will argue the system and/or actions you and I may view as problems are the best method and vice versa. We have been successfully divided and conquered.

I also agree with the author's comments on journalists. My late father was a journalist for what was originally a privately owned local newspaper in southern Ontario. He sought to educate and inform his readers through his opinion column until Southam bought the paper and thought he was too opinionated and they did not share many of his views… he finished his career doing entertainment reviews. That was almost 20 years ago.

Mainstream journalism is dead, has been for a long time… nothing but talking heads remain.

Kiely: I am sorry that your Dad was basically silenced. It must have been a very challenging time for him.

Thanks grasroots, sadly it was a very challenging time for him and many others as well.

That newspaper used to be a collection of staff reporters and journalists now it is nothing but wire feed news stories.

Why don't you stop being a socialist and actually learn how the world works. I may hate labbatts for this, but this has nothing to do with NAFTA. And even then, if you look up the data, we have been, by far a net beneficiary from free trade with the states. The problem is not Canada loosing out, it is HAMILTON. And after reading articles like this, I am finally starting to realize why this town is dying around me. Nobody wants to compete. We just want guaranteed jobs for everyone. And guaranteed jobs for the local company, nevermind the fact that if you understood the first thing about economics you'd realize how asinine the whole thing is.

Please, continue trash talking capitalism, the reason why lakeport did so well in the first place before it was bought out by another CANADIAN company.

For the record I know that Labbatts is foreign owned. But if you bothered to notice the jobs are staying in Canada.

Just wanted to make sure no one thought i was a complete idiot.

NAFTA has not benefitted everyone, certainly not the working people. Maybe it is you that needs to learn more. The multinational INBEV, owns many brands, thus the market is becoming an oligolopy. It is competeing against inself, not the competition that you are going on about.

Lakeport was not bought out by a Canadian company,it was bought out by a foreign company and it has closed plants in Canada. So much for jobs staying in Canada.

So what the big guy cannot compete with the little guy, so they gobble them up, to ensure no real competition, then dismantle the plants, those jobs gone forever.

Gee was that not the reason why the telephone market opened up, so that Bell could no longer hold the monolopy on the market.

"NAFTA has not benefitted everyone, certainly not the working people."

I did not claim it benefitted everyone, but rather than Canada was a net beneficiary. Listen, its all very well what you believe, but the real world is not a zero sum game. If companies benefit, it does not mean that workers suffer; if the US benefits it does not mean Canada can not also benefit. While I don't like all aspects of NAFTA, that doesn't mean that access to larger market places has meant economic growth, and more jobs. Everyone is so quick to blame NAFTA for job losses, yet it seems to me that its not the free trade within North America that's costing jobs, but the unequal, unfree trade between North America and Asia.

"Maybe it is you that needs to learn more. The multinational INBEV, owns many brands, thus the market is becoming an oligolopy. It is competeing against inself, not the competition that you are going on about."

What about Molson-Coors. What about Sapporo? What about microbreweries and other independents which seem to pop up a whole heck of a lot faster than the big companies are buying them up? What about other alcoholic beverages?

I agree there are problems with the beer market in ontario. Part of it has to do with the Beer Store and the LCBO which artificially restrict competition. But this shutdown doesn't decrease competition in any way. Perhaps the purchase should have been blocked by the competition bureau. But please tell me where NAFTA led to the closing of this plant.

"Lakeport was not bought out by a Canadian company,it was bought out by a foreign company and it has closed plants in Canada. So much for jobs staying in Canada."

Jobs leaving Hamilton to go to a expanded London plant. Last time I checked London was on this side of the border.

"So what the big guy cannot compete with the little guy, so they gobble them up, to ensure no real competition, then dismantle the plants, those jobs gone forever."

Until someone else opens an independent brewer, and through the magic of capitalism does well. Who knows, maybe they won't start one with inefficient equipment and limited potential. Perhaps we should be removing the obstacles to entrepreneurship, rather than blaming a company for making a good business decision. Unless Labbatts is outright lying and the Hamilton plant was not the least efficient, I wonder if it could have sustained itself as an independent business anyways.

"Gee was that not the reason why the telephone market opened up, so that Bell could no longer hold the monolopy on the market."

Labbatts (InBev) does not hold a monopoly. Brewers Retail and the LCBO do, and I think that should change, but that doesn't change the fact that this whole thing has nothing to do with NAFTA.

Have you actually read NAFTA.I really suggest you read the entire agreement before simply dismissing NAFTA as an innocent.