Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Speculating Banks Profit as World's Poorest Go Hungry

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

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Speculating Banks Profit as World's Poorest Go Hungry

Click here to access article by staff from Common Dreams.

The ingenious ways that operators of capitalism's casinos have devised to profit seem almost endless. Here we see another example of a casino play that deepens the misery of untold millions across the globe.

Reports over the weekend saw some of the world's most powerful financial institutions accused of profiteering on the backs of the world's poorest people and those most vulnerable to the wild price fluctuations caused by over-rampant speculation on the price of food commodities like wheat, soy beans, and corn.