The power of “the market” is something we are told we have to accept, as if it were some omnipotent super being, beyond our control, somewhere in the outer universe, when in fact “the market” is no more than greedy people with lots of money manipulating resources in an attempt to increase or safeguard their unearned wealth and power.
The latest crisis in “the market“ is oil, once selling at $100 a barrel, now heading for $30 a barrel. Same product, doing the same things, but now looking like it is near worthless, according to “the market”. This transformation is simply brought about by a bunch of greedy oil producers, in this case the Saudis, who see the growth of fracking in places such as America, as a threat to their market share. So they flood the world with their oil and suddenly it's a very cheap product, making the more expensive fracking process look uneconomical. The Saudis aren't to worried about the falling price as they are sitting on a multi-trillion dollar oil fund, and their oil is relatively cheap to get out of the ground.
However, as these greedy billionaires fight it out to retain their slush money, the effect their squabbles have on the ordinary people can be devastating. If you are an oil producing country and your economy is dependent on oil, and it is more expensive to get your oil out of the ground, then this little squabble means bankruptcy for you, with all the attendant misery that this heaps on the people of that country.
The latest crisis in “the market“ is oil, once selling at $100 a barrel, now heading for $30 a barrel. Same product, doing the same things, but now looking like it is near worthless, according to “the market”. This transformation is simply brought about by a bunch of greedy oil producers, in this case the Saudis, who see the growth of fracking in places such as America, as a threat to their market share. So they flood the world with their oil and suddenly it's a very cheap product, making the more expensive fracking process look uneconomical. The Saudis aren't to worried about the falling price as they are sitting on a multi-trillion dollar oil fund, and their oil is relatively cheap to get out of the ground.
However, as these greedy billionaires fight it out to retain their slush money, the effect their squabbles have on the ordinary people can be devastating. If you are an oil producing country and your economy is dependent on oil, and it is more expensive to get your oil out of the ground, then this little squabble means bankruptcy for you, with all the attendant misery that this heaps on the people of that country.
This is what is happening to Venezuela at the moment. The country is now running out of money, inflation is soaring and stands at 65%, supermarkets are empty, queues stretch round buildings for everything and anything, as desperate people try to survive. Some area authorities are banning buying groceries on certain days, and banning queueing at night, while protests are on the rise. According to UBS, Venezuela has an 82% possibility of collapse this year. The financial Mafia will descend on Venezuela like a flock of vultures and devour all the assets in the country. The people will suffer poverty and deprivation, and of course it will all be put down to that omnipotent outer space being, “the market”, nobody will be to blame.
“The market” is capitalism at work, the devastation caused by these workings, are man made, and all the decisions are made by people sitting in boardrooms, protecting their plunder, without a thought for the misery they inflict on the ordinary people. As long as we have capitalism, we will have “the market” destroying people's lives, we will have poverty and deprivation, and we will have wars, as the greedy invisible suits behind the illusion of “the market”, take what measures they deem fit to hold onto their ill-gotten wealth and power.
The world has enough resources to see to the needs of all its people, it is the insane method of gathering and distributing those resources that is the real problem. Capitalism is a man made system, we can dismantle it, replace it with sanity, create a system based on needs, and bury forever, the illusion of that omnipotent spectre “the market”.
The world has enough resources to see to the needs of all its people, it is the insane method of gathering and distributing those resources that is the real problem. Capitalism is a man made system, we can dismantle it, replace it with sanity, create a system based on needs, and bury forever, the illusion of that omnipotent spectre “the market”.
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