h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think Whisky summed it up pretty well, to be hones. Succint, short, and has all the salient facts.

But that's not Nestle's fault, surely? That's down to the pure s**tness of the Ethiopian government.

Sheesh, this is like the Save Karyn phenomenon (www.savekaryn.com and more endearingly www.dontsavekaryn.com). In my opinion, if people want to exploit the fact that They Have Far Too Much Money in order to make more money magically appear in their bank account (by investing it), then if it all blows up in their face, well, them's the breaks.

Don't go suing a starving country that you've already screwed quite spectacularly just to try and rake back a tenth of a percentage point lost from a bad business venture, you vile, avaricious inhuman beings.

I'm sorry - I'm not usually this opinionated and nasty, but I really had to dispatch a small rant about this one and I'l be doing the same on their customer feedback form, for all the good it'll do - see post 11 in this thread .

-helium

I'm having a hard time understanding this...

1) Nestle knew the German company had lost money when they took it over.

2) Ethiopia is in the smelly stuff partially because companies such as Nestle exploit them. (Buy 'Fair Trade' goods - at least then you know the profits go to the people who make the goods, not to fat-cat middlemen).

3) Nestle have said that this is just a matter of principle for them - not to give up this money... These principles could quite easily kill people.

4) Nestle made more money in the last 9 months than the entire country of Ethiopia did last year... Average income of an Ethiopian - $100 (partially because of exploitation by companies such as Nestle) - any guesses as to how many Nestlé employees died of malnutrition or starvation last year?

5) Nestlé don't need this money - Ethiopia does!

6) This just goes to prove that Nestle is putting profits above lives!

Whisky,

You should put your point about 'writing off debt - no-one cares/ask for debt and then write it off *graciously* in blaze of publicity - everyone thinks "how nice"' in the BBC Talking Point! - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/2590163.stm

nobody there has thought of that yet!

Queegle

So this is against the law, yes?

Is it against the law?

Depends - is it against financial and accounting laws - erm you'll have to pay a team of lawyers and accountants millions to answer that one...

Is it against normal human morales and ethics? Letting people die for profit? I think so!

No

Queegle

Then surely it is down to individual opinion. It's not the company's responsibility to look after people's welfare. If people get into debt, then that is their own fault, is it not? If you just wrote off debt because people couldn't afford to pay it and then were suffering adverse reactions, then your business wouldn't survive a day. It's a shame people are dying, but that is something for the Ethiopian government to sort out. It's all very well demonising a company for it, but I don't think it is their responsibility...

Ahh! Do we have a Nestlé shareholder in our midst?

Um. No. I drink Nescafe though, if that helps? I'm just presenting a different view. I dislike following things just because it's common opinion. Dangerous.

Equally dangerous to believe the opposite just because a lot of people don't believe it.

*shakes head at Nestle*

Of course. But I'm not doing that either. It's all very well condemning Nestle, but are any of you actually going to go to Ethiopia and help the problems they have there? Life is about the survivial of the fittest, not about letting people walk all over you. I don't commend the fact that Nastle are exhibiting that degree of demanding the repayment, but I certainly don't disagree with people wanting the repayment of money owed to them. It's like the whole Third World Debt. Terrible thing, but it's down to the governments, not the countries who are owed the money. All those governments do is buy weapons, and arm themselves. They don't invest the money wisely or help their people...they squander it on stupid things. I reckon the best thing to do with the Third World, is for us to pick them up, sort them out in terms of creating better health and housing and job/education opportunities and give them decent governments. But that's not ever going to happen. That isn't the way it works. It's just not feasible. Worry about what your own government is doing with your life. There is too much s**t hitting the fan right now to give two monkeys about other countries that can't look after themselves...

*sniff* I love nestle products. But as you say, if I buy them now I am partly responsible.

Saturnine. Looking at it from a business point of view, you really shouldn't drop a debt just cos they can't afford to pay it back. But looking at it as a human being, they should probably wait a while with trying to get them back.

I love Nestle products, and I certainly don't associate that with anything to do with the debt. Don't forget, they employ a lot of hard working people to make these products. You abstain from buying them, it's not the business execs. that suffer...people get laid off, unemployment rises etc etc...

Believe it or not, I am looking at it from a human beings point of view too. It's the Ethiopian government that we should be condemning. They don't look after their people...they aren't doing much to change the state of their country, and it is them that are letting people die. I may sounds a little naive in saying this, but surely if they applied for help from, say the US, or here in the UK, or even from the UN, to improve the state of their country, then surely they would receive it? Or am I being completely ignorant?

They'd get a loan almost certainly repayable at rates that they couldn't afford, forcing them to grow 'cash' crops such as - oh look! - coffee, which are damn all use in feeding the population and leave their economy open to the whims of the weather cycle, which seems to be kind of where we came in...

I think they are already receiving money, it just isn't enough. And I think if Nestle realizes they will loose their customers if they do this, they will stop. Not for humanitarian reasons, just not a good idea to piss off your customers.

Although I also have to partially agree with the idea that Ethiopia made their bed, now they should lie in it.

I was already avoiding them after the powdered baby milk story from ages ago, there is some stuff about it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1332544.stm

One thing, as a business they have had very bad press and some people have boycotted them because of it. This is not exactly a PR coup - putting additional pressure on a poor country on the brink of the worst drought for decades where many people are going to die isn't likely to win them any friends. I vehemently hope that as a result of this more people boycott their products and their profit is hit by more than they hoped to gain from Ethiopia.

I just can't see how people can blame Nestle for it. It doesn't achieve anything. The more we put the blame where it is supposed to go, the faster the problems get solved. I'm not saying make people suffer for it. Or not even help them. But blaming a corperation for conducting business, isn't right. As much as some people don't like corperations, that's just not fair. But this is life. We will always have problems, because no one really does anything positive and fair.