Dutch unease about society “understandable” (via Radio Netherlands International)

So it is not just us.

From the article -

“Cohesion in towns and villages has disappeared with the advent of individualisation, immigrants from around the world and an increasingly complex society,” said Mr Verhagen, leader of the Christian Democrats, junior partners in the Dutch coalition government. “It is no longer taken for granted that our children will have it better than we did.”

Cohesion is disappearing. I have been noticing for some years now that things as simple as common experiences are disappearing. When I try to use a movie as an example in class, only the biggest blockbusters will have been seen and, even then, often by less than half the class. Our culture seems to be fragmenting into individual units almost all of them focused on the personal and the trivial.

James Pilant

Saudi bans domestic workers from Indonesia, Philippines (via Radio Netherlands Worldwide)

It appears the Saudi government is attempting to set a record for mindless greed.

This is incredible. Read this little piece -

Earlier this year the Philippines asked Saudi Arabia to guarantee higher pay for Filipina housemaids but the request was turned down.

The Philippines demanded $400 in monthly wages for for housemaids but Saudi authorities offered a base monthly salary of $210, Filipino labour official Carlos Cao had told AFP in Manila in May.

So, let me get this straight, one of the richest nations on earth is unwilling to pay its maids almost $2 an hour but is willing to pay less than one dollar an hour?  (This is assuming a forty hour week which I find totally implausible. I figure 12 – 16 hour days with no weekends off.)

I’m sure this is great publicity for one of America’s closest allies and apparent beneficiary of the neo-liberal school of economics – which is a basic philosophy of unregulated capitalism. Well, here it is, unregulated capitalism in all it glory. Here we have not just greed but sexual harassment and physical violence, not to mention the occasional execution.

Read the article, you’ll find it interesting.

James Pilant