Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Behold our libertarian future

I can see this John Galtian sort of thing growing in this country, little-by-little until something like this happens.

...perhaps no one wielded power more brazenly than Sohel Rana. He traveled by motorcycle, as untouchable as a mafia don, trailed by his own biker gang. Local officials and the Bangladeshi news media say he was involved in illegal drugs and guns, but he also had a building, Rana Plaza, that housed five factories. 

Upstairs, workers earned as little as $40 a month making clothes for retailers like J. C. Penney. Downstairs, Mr. Rana hosted local politicians, playing pool, drinking and, the officials say, indulging in drugs.

Now Mr. Rana, 35, is under arrest, the most reviled man in Bangladesh after the horrific collapse of Rana Plaza last week left nearly 400 people dead, with many others still missing. On Tuesday, a top Bangladeshi court seized his assets, as the public bayed for his execution, especially as it appears that the tragedy could have been averted if the frantic warnings of an engineer who examined the building the day before had been heeded.

But if Mr. Rana has been vilified, he is partly a creation of the garment era in Bangladesh, during which global businesses have arrived in search of cheap labor to keep profits high and costs low. Directly or indirectly, international brands are now sometimes interlinked with men like Mr. Rana, and placed at risk by them.

And then watch some other outrage end up get the populace as a whole shut out while the perp gets their own talk show before running for Congress.

3 comments:

pansypoo said...

poppycock. this woman prefers NO SHOES. my legs are fine, my feet are BETTER.

this is a shame, i found OLDER bangladesh made shirts at a resale shop + i was impressed. i don't buy new unless lands end overstocks. of course i then cut of the arms + collars. weave is cooler than knit in summer.

pansypoo said...

poppycock. this woman prefers NO SHOES. my legs are fine, my feet are BETTER.

this is a shame, i found OLDER bangladesh made shirts at a resale shop + i was impressed. i don't buy new unless lands end overstocks. of course i then cut of the arms + collars. weave is cooler than knit in summer.

Anonymous said...

Too bad Rana doesn't live in Texas. No-one would blame him for the disaster, which would be only the mysterious will of Jeebus or punishment for gay marriage in San Francisco. Instead he'd be worshipped as a "smart bidnessman."