The Expanding World of Poverty Capitalism
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on August 31st, 2014 11:08 pm by HL
The Expanding World of Poverty Capitalism
Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times: In Orange County, California, the probation department’s “supervised electronic confinement program,” which monitors the movements of low-risk offenders, has been outsourced to a private company, Sentinel Offender Services. … Sentinel is a part of the expanding universe of poverty capitalism. In this unique sector of the economy, costs of essential government services are shifted to the poor. In terms of food, housing and other essentials, the cost of being poor has always been exorbitant. Landlords, grocery stores and other commercial enterprises have all found ways to profit from those at the bottom of the ladder.
Lesotho Prime Minister Flees, Alleges Coup
The prime minister of the southern African kingdom of Lesotho has fled to South Africa, alleging a coup by the army and saying his life is in danger. Thomas Thabane said he would return from South Africa “as soon as I know I am not going to get killed.” He told the BBC Newshour program, “I have been removed from control not by the people but by the armed forces, and that is illegal.” The publisher of the Lesotho Times newspaper, Basildon Peta, agreed that a coup is underway. “To all intents and purposes it is a military coup with the aim of ousting the prime minister. There can be no other reason of soldiers behaving the way they have been behaving other than to seize power,” he said. “So far we have no reports of killings. It would be correct to call it a bloodless coup attempt. But I am not going to stick around.”
