Monday, February 2, 2015
Film screening: Who is Saving Whom? - Fri 13 Feb
Film screening - all welcome
A film about the bailout of the banks at the cost to ordinary people and democracy.
6 for 6:30pm
Fri 13 February
Perth Activist Centre
15/5 Aberdeen St, Perth (next to McIver station)
Ph 9218 9608, 0417 319 662
Taxpayers are financing private wealth
They say Greece received 240 billion € in aid. But only the private banks, insurance companies and investment corporations were bailed out. They held nearly all Greek government bonds in 2009. In 2012 - three years later - this debt has nearly entirely been transferred to European taxpayers! Public debt has been increased by about 300 billion € because of this. As a result, many rich Greeks are even richer and all losses have been diverted away from hedge funds, banks, and rich private investors. Multi-billion "aid" from taxpayers have been converted into private wealth. The German neo-liberal economist Hans-Werner Sinn calculated that continuing the bailout policies would certainly be in the interest of large financial institutions and the 5% of the richest individuals of the world. But even the citizens of the economically strongest countries will have to worry about their old-age pension schemes. But the main concern is that the "the markets recover".
The power of the "markets"
They keep telling us that the markets are upset, the markets are disappointed. The financial markets seem to be some kind of special creature that has to be kept in a good mood. Three rating agencies are dominating European parliaments. They are owned by government bond traders, the largest investment banks and the private equity corporations of the world. If they show the thumbs down sign, states start to tremble.
Many people anticipate that something is going seriously wrong. They feel helpless because they do not understand the billion Euro game. But democracy will only stand a chance against the power of the financial markets if citizens start to recognise their interests in the "billion Euro game", to understand the main structures and mechanisms of financial capital. "Who Is Saving Whom" will be a means to achieve this aim.