It’s time to break with casino capitalism

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

It’s time to break with casino capitalism

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The United States and Britain embarked on the liberalization of global financial services markets and promoted the expansion of the casino economy that allows speculative money to wield its power unharnessed in the borderless world. Financial speculation caused a currency crisis in East Asia and an economic crisis in the United States triggered by the collapse of major hedge funds and the burst of the IT bubble.

Once speculative investors find sources of profit, they will begin ransacking financial markets without considering the outcome of their actions. If an economic bubble bursts, they will seek profits from another bubble. “After me the deluge” is exactly what their activities are all about. That was how they arrived at the sub-prime mortgage-backed securities bubble. Securities firms securitized sub-prime mortgage loans, which have high risks of default, to sell them to investors and speculators at high prices. In order to ensure high returns, securities rating firms guarantee the security of those collateralized obligations or mortgage-backed securities to make them look like “low risk” products. This is how the stock market bubbles spread around the world.

Financial institutions have scattered financial products all over the world to reap profits from them, involving the low-income earners with what might be called the “Wisdom of Satan,” although no one really knows the real value of these products. That is the extent to which capitalism has fallen into decay.

Japan’s subservience to U.S. must be called into question

U.S. President George W. Bush said that “in the short run, adjustments in the financial markets can be painful” but that in the long run, “I'm confident that our capital markets are flexible and resilient, and can deal with these adjustments." However, the U.S. economy has constantly prospered by allowing fiscal and trade deficits to grow due to deindustrialization, raking in wealth from around the world, and greatly expanding the gap between rich and poor.

What must be called into question is casino capitalism and Japan’s subservience to the U.S.-style economy. - Akahata, September 17, 2008