The cobalt pipeline

[LockH]

("Tracing the path from deadly hand-dug mines in Congo to consumers’ phones and laptops"):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/grap.../congo-cobalt-mining-for-lithium-ion-battery/

Starts:

The sun was rising over one of the richest mineral deposits on Earth, in one of the poorest countries, as Sidiki Mayamba got ready for work.

Mayamba is a cobalt miner. And the red-dirt savanna stretching outside his door contains such an astonishing wealth of cobalt and other minerals that a geologist once described it as a “scandale geologique.”

[Sigh]

 

[Izits]

The Washington Post is widely regarded as one of the best examples of fake news. They're trying to make you think the people of the Congo need the American government to take a bigger role in helping the Congolese. In reality, this just makes the government richer and the people poorer. The miners there are probably delighted that world demand for Cobalt makes it so profitable to mine. Otherwise they would have to spend their hours doing something even more dangerous or less profitable.

 

[anoNY42]

The Washington Post is widely regarded as one of the best examples of fake news. They're trying to make you think the people of the Congo need the American government to take a bigger role in helping the Congolese. In reality, this just makes the government richer and the people poorer. The miners there are probably delighted that world demand for Cobalt makes it so profitable to mine. Otherwise they would have to spend their hours doing something even more dangerous or less profitable.

I noticed how you stated that WaPo is fake news, but didn't link to any supposed "real news" that contradicts their article...

 

[LockH]

In a world driven by business (amusing term), economists refer to "external diseconomies":

http://www.investopedia.com/ask/ans...ernal-economies-and-external-diseconomies.asp

Externalities and Third-Party Effects

An external economy (positive externality) occurs when one person or business confers benefits on others for which it is not immediately feasible to charge. In other words, a valuable service is probably being underproduced because the creators of the benefit are not being sufficiently compensated.

Likewise, an external diseconomy (negative externality) occurs when a person or business imposes some cost or hardship on others without having to (or being able to) compensate them. The classic example is a factory that has a smokestack that is dirtying the property of those living nearby. In this case, it isn't economically feasible to go around and compensate individual property owners for the cost of exposing them to particulate matter.

[Sigh]

 

[Izits]

I notice how you didn't disagree with anything I said.

I clearly explained why I felt the WP narrative was misrepresenting reality as well as pointing out an important omission of fact. I don't see what your problem is with that.

I noticed how you stated that WaPo is fake news, but didn't link to any supposed "real news" that contradicts their article...

 

[LockH]

Google News search currently "About 7,550 results (1.06 seconds)"... for "congo mining deaths".

[sigh]