Opinion Sur
Financial activities have experienced exorbitant growth with serious consequences for the planet and us, its inhabitants. More and more, the financial system, instead of securing the development of the real economy and social wellbeing, concentrates on speculative activities thanks to which it grows at explosive rates: it has turned into a huge surplus suction mechanism which, due to its concentration and globalization, has acquired a dynamics that is very hard to even moderate. Today, financial capital projects its influence on all key aspects of global functioning: it has a very strong bearing on international, national and local strategic decisions; it impacts significantly on mass media and the more publicized think-tanks; at all latitudes it has established an influential network of institutional and social relations with politicians, judges and journalists. Some large financial institutions use tax havens to channel illegal money laundering transactions and tax evasion.
Their power being so unrestrained, financial players are in a position to condition economic development, social wellbeing and environmental care –the systemic course– to their zeal for maximizing their own results and the ones of those that back them, such as managers, advisors and brokers. Even though it is clear that the universe of financial players is not homogeneous, and that in it there coexist, as in any other activity, those who act properly as well as those who are partners in aggravated criminal systems, the tragedy is that the prevailing financial rationale establishes such powerful rules of the game that they are hard to avoid by each financial player acting individually. And since the very ones who are responsible for regulating financial activities are a part of that same systemic rationale, the very market’s functional process leads most financial players not to ignore the “opportunities” available to them, regardless of the effects they end up having on individuals and the environment. The crisis being faced by affluent countries was triggered by those ambitious conducts and, yet, the “exits” being proposed are intended to restore, to a great extent, the same factors that generated it. The challenge lies in developing other options. The articles of this month of April deal with these complex and not always elucidated issues. We are confident you find them interesting.
Cordial greetings,
The Editors
