Business is Going Global and is increasing it's power over the individual and governments.
At FirstMistake.org we believe business needs to serve society and not have control over society. These are articles about the role of business and the free market in destroying the planet and on ideas to curb their excesses.
Breakthrough seen in emissions trading
The Following Article was published in the Financial Times on the 9th of March 2008.
Yes, read that again 9th March 2008. In the middle of teh global credit crunch, after anumber of large investment banks have gone bust but have been saved by the US Federal Reserve or by HM Treasury, some one is actually peddling the view that the world can be saved by carbon emissions trading.
The free financial markets, populated & crewed by the investment banks, now looks like like the vehicle that will now increase the cost of every mortagage, whether you have a good credit history or bad, and many other costs associated with everyday life for us poor tax payers. Dosen't look so "free" now does it?
Of course this whole financial crisis has been artificially created by those very same investment banks that our governments, in their very very finite wisdom, are now bailing out. This is what they did....
- In their greed, they wanted to make more money.
- But they couldn't as the risks they had taken on were too large.
- The only way to trade more, these highly intellligent and highly paid professionsal reasoned, was to get the risks "off balance sheet". This enabled them to do more business and make more money because the risks did not directly appear in their accounts.
- The banks packaged these risks into "special purpose vehicles" or mathmatically complex products that they sold to other banks and investors.
- Anything really, as long as it didn't appear on their balance sheets.
- But the risks did not go away. What they all did is the equivalent of an individual with a certain salary, taking on a loan. But twhen this money was not enough, he took on other loans from other providers, but didn't let on about any of the loans to the providers. each provider believed the individual has sufficient salary to service the loan they provided. But his salary has to service all the loans and it just won't stretch.
- So he misses a payment on a loan. He has to explain to the provider that well, he actually has another loan. What do you think the reaction would be if he now asked this provider for a further loan.
- Well, the provider would not give him any money because they fear he has other hidden loans and risks. After all he has hidden at least one.
- So, since all the banks have been at this kind of thing, none of the trust each other and so none will lend to each other. Also they need all their money themselves to cover the risks thay have not come clean about yet.
Of course the most sickening thing about all this is that the financial whizz kids who thought all this madness up have kept their huge bonuses - how else can they continue to distort our economies?
New Green Energy Technology
Wheat Prices Soar
The FT reported today that wheat futures price has gone up to over $8 per bushel, a very high price.
The FT comment made the following points analysing this rise.
The wet weather and increasing demand have combined to create concerns over supply this winter.
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