The Illusory Marketplace – 2008-09-22

Recently an independent report concluded what most of us suspected - that speculative investment was responsible for the dramatic climb in recent crude oil prices.

Whether this statement is conclusion is true – or not – we believe that investment and commodity markets are created with only one major purpose – to create wealth for the few at the cost of the many.

It used to be that men grew wealthy from creating substantive products and services. They built railways and automobiles, they invented the vacuum cleaner and the refrigerator. They contributed to innovation, and created employment.

But today the greatest wealth is built by trading in currencies, commodities and stocks. These people create nothing of value or substance. Instead they manipulate values and. value no longer lies in substance -- but in perception.

Similarly corporations no longer strive toward being profitable. Instead their goal is to increase their share price ---so that the options their executives hold, and the bonuses they pay themselves, increase in value. Add to this the ridiculous salaries they are paid and the golden parachutes they give themselves and you see who they are really working for – themselves.

What can be done about this? Nothing. Why? because our elected officials profit from donations and perks from these wealthy individuals and corporations -- and there is a whole army of highly paid lobbyists working for these people.

These illusory markets and their manipulations will continue to make the few richer and the many poorer and there does not seem much we can do about it except watch it get worse as they invent more markets and market vehicles to manipulate.

The recent collapse of very few of the companies driving these markets will not change the Ponzi games being played, it may just slow it down for a while.