Economic crisis? My fucking arse!

For many years we have been struggling with varying interest rates. This goes back to the previous regime as well, it's not an ANC problem. There has always been the need to try and find a balance for the cost of money (based on the cost / exchange rate against the USD, Pound, Mark, and more recently Euro and Yen, and also to try and control inflation.
The other problem we have had, which affects the economy is the price of crude.  I have for a long time said that the real market price of crude (Brent crude in our case) should be below USD50 / barrel.

Now we are hearing how big British banks, the first accused being Barclays, have been manipulating the interest rate. I am sure that this "syndrome" will roll over to include many more of the big international banks as investigations go on.

I am also convinced, and there is an article on in on News 24 today, that the same type of manipulation has been going on in the oil market.

All of the above is directly due to greed. And shareholder value! The "demand" driving the price up is a load of crap! The sole driver of the current situation, ACROSS THE WORLD, is greed.

Those that have the money have control of these institutions, and because of their greed, manipulate the system to enrich themselves even more, at the cost of the man in the street.

So what I hear you say! Everyone knows this. Yea, maybe so, but why is no one doing anything about it. Collectively, the man in the street outnumbers the manipulating few by, probably, a million to one! Why the hell are we putting up with this?

The "World" should dictate a base price for crude. $50 per barrel would be more than enough. At that price the barons are probably making $25 per barrel profit anyway. Let's not forget that the technology used to get the oil to the surface is old, and paid for a long, long time ago. Any new equipment bought to replace old is cheap (in comparison to the original cost). More advanced technologies have in fact reduce the cost to get to the oil, and bring it to the surface. A lot less people are required. The pipelines transporting the product have long been paid off. Why are we accepting the abuse from the greedy?? Not even the fact that we may run out of oil in the next 25 - 50 - 100 years is a driver. Those who now own the reserves have more money than they could spend in the next 1000 years anyway.

And oil from coal will extend the lifespan of this product for another 100 years anyway!
The time for alternative power has been around for some time. We need to put pressure on the system to move on with this option. Or is it a way to get us to accept that the next power source that will replace oil will cost the same as the oil, based on replacement factor at the time? More greed?

Manipulation of cost of money, and interest rate, only hurts the most needy - that is countries and people. It is disgusting to think that the whole world has degenerated to the point where their only drivers are to screw their fellow man as much as possible for personal gain! What the hell has happened to us?

Salagatle!