Surviving Capitalism (Not) : Banks speculate on raw materials and food

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

Friday, March 7, 2014

Banks speculate on raw materials and food

Click here to access article by Eric Toussaint from the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt.

I hesitated in posting this article because of it requires considerable knowledge about investing that ordinary people do not have. Also, many of its references are in French. Nevertheless, one with some knowledge of investments can glean a lot of information on how large financial institutions can and do cause considerable social pain while serving the interests of the capitalist class in general. You will learn that...

...the commodities market is a narrow market. Institutional investors such as pension funds, need only allocate 2% of their assets to overwhelm the system.

And:

The price of commodities on the futures market has immediate repercussions on the current prices of these goods.

And Toussanit follows this with numerous examples.

By the way, for people who are less knowledgeable about the investment world, I highly recommend that you follow Pete Dolack's blog entitled Systemic Disorder. He is a journalist by training; but understands a lot of the more obscure investment concepts and market operations, and can explain them in language ordinary people can understand.