Umair Haque on the new corporate road to serfdom
Far from innovating our institutions in this time of historic, sweeping global economic crisis and social fracture, the very opposite seems to be happening–our institutions are diminishing, regressing, devolving, sliding back tens or hundreds of years at a time into economically prehistoric practices and beliefs.
Two some rather amazing examples from Umair Haque, comforting the thesis of Michael Hudson that there is a financial/Tea Party revolt against the basic values of the Enlightenment, i.e. a quest for a new feudalism:
“Goldman’s hoarding aluminum in warehouses, literally squeezing the real economy dry of aluminum–and extracting rent by doing so. Markets at work? Think again. Goldman’s just one of many players exploiting new rules (which restrict outflows of aluminum from warehouses, forcing up spot prices) laid down by the London Metals Exchange. So what is the LME, if not a market? It’s the very opposite: a syndicate of brokers none of whom have the slightest near-term interest in, well, ensuring a level playing field, open market, or price discovery. In plain english: it’s a syndicate running a racket. It’s a giant leap forward for rent-seeking, extracting profit without creating a single tiny morsel of authentic value–but a giant leap backwards for the open markets that are the most basic building block of human prosperity.
Then there’s the amusing case of Ronaldo (the Real Madrid footballer) being utilized as collateral in the latest round of Spanish bailouts. Hilarious, right?! Sure–and then maybe not so much. When you think about it, it’s meets pretty much the definition of debt bondage–which, far from an “imaginary” construction of hippies, is recognized by the UN as a form of servitude, and is against international law. Think about it: when people can be used collateral to pay off debts (“Your employer owed us–and now you’re work for us for the next ten years, to pay off his debt”), we’ve just taken a giant, massive leap backwards in civilization. In fact, we’re racing down a slippery slope that ends in indentured servitude and slavery.”
