Politics

Trump’s war will turn the cost of living crisis into a global storm

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Arms dealers, Big Oil, Big Ag, and others stand to profit from the war on Iran—lining their pockets through genocide, ecocide, and plunder.

We’ll be asked to accept inflation as something inevitable, like a natural disaster, instead of recognising it as the deliberate outcome of the genocidal war waged by the Anglo-American-Zionist empire.

We should absolutely not do that.

We have just witnessed centibillionaires—people with more than $100 billion in wealth—increase from none a decade ago to 15 last year, and now to 20 this year. This is an extraordinary accumulation of wealth and increasing inequality.

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Transfer of wealth

Economist James Meadway warns that big companies will leverage their market power during this crisis to inflate prices and reap massive profits.

A study on the 2022 oil price surge, after Russia attacked Ukraine, found that US fossil-fuel profits hit $377 billion. of that, 50% went to the wealthiest, while only 1% trickled down to the bottom 50%. Isabella Weber, one of the authors of the study, predicts that:

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The same global ownership networks delivered windfalls to UK shareholders.

UK’s End Fuel Poverty Coalition found that North Sea oil and gas giants raked in £127 billion in profits since 2020. They added that three million households funk into fuel poverty. A windfall tax on these profits could generating £5.1 billion a year.

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Global South countries will hurt the most

Economist Prabhat Patnaik warns that the global south will bear the brunt of this crisis— from inflation, currency collapse, debt, to austerity. He is of the view that it will be far worse in the global South than in the US or UK.

In a recent interview, he highlighted that the Indian rupee has already hit an all-time low against the dollar.

He explained that when currency depreciates, the price of everything imported rises—not just oil.

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So, here’s where we are—on one side, there are 20 centibillionaires and billions in profits for oil companies and arms dealers. On the other, genocide in Gaza, destruction in Lebanon, bombs on Iran, and millions in poverty. The system fuels both.

We can either refuse to accept it, or watch it happen again.

Featured image via the Canary/Unspalsh

By The Canary

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