Surviving Capitalism (Not) : The Financial Elite and the Global Land Grab

We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, March 24, 2014

The Financial Elite and the Global Land Grab

Click here to access article by Eric Draitser from New Eastern Outlook.

It appears from this and other reports that the "next big thing" for capitalist gamblers is placing bets on land. The One Percent are now intent upon literally buying all the surface of the Earth that is worth anything. Welcome, peasants, to the new feudal lord of the global manor.

The global financial crisis, which began in 2008, has significantly altered the way many speculators and financial institutions invest. Rather than taking huge risks with dodgy derivatives like credit default swaps and mortgage-backed securities, both of which have proven to be particularly volatile, many speculators have instead begun to invest in the most tangible asset of all: land.