We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Glencore: Profiteering from hunger and chaos

Click here to access article by Chris Arsenault from Al Jazeera. 
While Romi has trouble feeding her family, Glencore - the world's largest diversified commodities trader - is planning a US$11billion share sale, likely the largest market debut ever seen on the London Stock Exchange.

"The price for our daily food has at least doubled in the past two years," Lia Romi told Al Jazeera through a translator. "Food costs 100 per cent of my family's daily income [of about $3]. I have nothing saved and I owe [money] from my [market stall] business."

While Romi, and millions like her, worry about feeding their families, the initial public offering from the commodity speculating giant will create at least four billionaires, dozens worth more than $100million and several hundred old fashioned millionaires. Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg is set to make more than $9bn from the share sale. And speculating on food prices is an important part of his wealth.
This very well researched and written article connects the plight of a poor family in Indonesia with the ability of a large corporation to manipulate and profit from unstable markets. 

However, we shouldn't judge a capitalist system on the basis of supplying human needs--in spite of what you've heard, it wasn't designed for that purpose. (See this leaked Citigroup report.) It was designed by people who wanted to amass wealth, and the more the merrier. Surely, to be fair, we have to acknowledge that it succeeds in doing that--I mean, look at all the billionaires it has created.