Forum Post: Speculating in the "basics of survival"- a crime against humanity
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 26, 2011, 2:02 a.m. EST by justanothermum
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The casual manner in which the basics of survival- food, water, shelter and warmth are "betted on" for profit has no place in a world that is civilized. It is primitive; it should be outlawed as a "crime against humanity". In 2007 and 2008 the IMF food price index rose by over 80%, pushing the total number of people living in hunger to over 1 billion and increasing the number living in poverty by over 100 million.
Actions campaign points to work on, PLEASE COMMENT and ADD YOUR OWN IDEAS
- Campaign for the end of speculative trading of the basics of survival
- Call for harsh punishments for corporations caught speculating in the basics of survival
- The Robin hood tax does not call for an end in “betting on poverty”, just taxing it. This action does not help those that are hungry now. Certain trades must be banned altogether.
http://www.wdm.org.uk/stop-bankers-betting-food/hundreds-economists-tell-g20-regulate-speculation-food-prices 450 economists tell the G20: regulate speculation on food prices 11 October 2011
wdm.org.uk World development Movement
On Thursday 27 October at 11am WDM will be holding a workshop on food speculation at the occupation at London Stock Exchange. After the workshop we will move on to Goldman Sachs, where we will set up a human casino to show how the bank is gambling on hunger.
When: Thursday 27 October, 11-12am (workshop), 12.15-12.30pm (stunt)
Where: Tent City University, outside St Paul's (workshop), Goldman Sachs offices, 133 Fleet Street, EC4A 2BB (stunt).
Goldman Sachs makes up to $1 billion dollars a year from speculating on food prices. A surge in financial speculation on food has spurred sharp increases in global food prices, which in the last six months of 2010 pushed another 44 million people into extreme poverty. In the UK, average annual food bills have jumped by £260 in a year.
Goldman Sachs’ offices in Paternoster Square, next to the London Stock Exchange and occupation in front of St Paul’s Cathedral, remain sealed off from the public by police.
so... financial institutions, the only folks with the capacity to borrow and bet against, are not allowed to bet that prices will fall?
just one big family of people smiling at each other gleefully when day traders bid up the prices of commodities?
Crimes against humanity From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crimes against humanity, as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Explanatory Memorandum, "are particularly odious offenses in that they constitute a serious attack on human dignity or grave humiliation or a degradation of one or more human beings. They are not isolated or sporadic events, but are part either of a government policy (although the perpetrators need not identify themselves with this policy) or of a wide practice of atrocities tolerated or condoned by a government or a de facto authority.
You are right. I just read about this on another website a few days ago and was, to put it nicely, a bit angered. It is a crime against humanity. Anyone who has gone to the grocery store lately (and that's everyone of course) can now understand why the price of food has skyrocketed in recent years. To raise the price of a food item 40 or 50 percent at one time, and then to do it every 9 or 10 months is downright insane. Profiting from starvation! Words cannot describe.
When people have less to spend they buy only what they really need. To relieve us of our money they will put up the prices of food, water, electricity, gas etc. In economic terms it’s called stagflation; or in plain language "squeezing the blood out of a stone"
Or in my case, mum, stones.