Radical
Discover more from Radical Media - by Maajid Nawaz
Radical
resisting the democratisation of truth - nolite te bastardes carborundorum
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Hi Maajid, I can't find the right place. I would like to ask some questions about the global financial order and cryptocurrencies, which I am far from understanding. The questions are about the relation between the global financial order and the global trading order in real stuff. If what happens in the financial order comes first do decentralised cryptocurrencies create their own decentralised and multipolar trading market in real stuff---like food? From what I've read cryptocurrencies are intended as a medium for daily transactions, to be used to buy anything from a cup of coffee to a car to real estate,(real estate not yet), according to who will accept cryptocurrency. These transactions seem to take place in the pre-existing market. Could cryptocurrencies establish a housing market in which everyone can get a place to live? If price is determined entirely by supply and demand would it be just the same? Cryptocurrency can be bought from brokers using the present government issued currency. Wouldn't it be possible to acquire cryptocurrency by selling a product or service on the appropriate channels? Would this be the beginnings of an alternative market? Global trade and production for trade is a priority issue for me.(The EUs high tariffs against mostly ex-colonies I never heard discussed in Brexit debates.) In its current form as a system it was established by colonization and is controlled by the rules of the governing "Bretton Woods" institutions, W.T.O., World Bank, IMF etc, which according to Joseph Stiglitz have been captured by neoliberal ideology. (Neoliberalism is just s much an ideology as Marxism.) This is structural in a concrete way. Coming to terms with our colonial past is not just psychological. Bretton Woods established rules governing global trade as well as finance and I am inclined to think they developed together. You have described this global system well as the economies of poor countries, mostly ex-colonies, forced to serve foreign interests by WTO and World Bank rules, sometimes abetted by corrupt governments. (Which put them at risk of hunger before crises made it worse.) If a cryptocurrency is "a peer-to-peer system that can enable anyone anywhere to send and receive payments" (so establishing a market?) is price determined by negotiation between equal parties to the satisfaction of both? If price is determined by supply and demand does this rule out such negotiation? There is no central regulating authority; there are no rules and regulations imposed in the interests of the most powerful parties. Are there then no rules and regulations? Would a decentralised, deregulated, peer-to-peer system automatically create a just and fair trading system, or is this another neo-liberal fantasy? Do there have to be some kind of rules and principles to ensure a just and fair trading system that can ensure the basic needs of all people? I think the conventions according to which a medium of exchange is set up can create habits as strong as any rules. I've heard it said that decentralised, deregulated freedom unleashes creativity. Can it also unleash predatory behaviour and lead to power imbalances? (Creativity is unleashed many ways.) I participated in the Trade Justice Movement aiming to change unjust Bretton Woods rules, but it came to an end. I was told they had achieved what they wanted but nothing much changed. Is Trade Justice a principle of Islam? I've asked lots of people and been told there's no such thing in Islam, but mostly I've been told to ask someone else. I read "The Rules of the Marketplace" in some Muslim writing so long ago I don't remember where. I remember: Farmers must be paid a fair or proper price (I don't remember which word) for their food. I would like to return later to food. I don't know much about economics and that part I least understand is financial services and financial or money markets. When "the markets are watching" and judging events, like real beings, it seems to be these money markets. They seem to exist sort of on top of and separated from the production and trade of real stuff, such that money is not real but created by mathematical calculations.But what happens there affects the real economy. What I have found to read about cryptocurrencies is directed towards this aspect of finance; how to invest in cryptocurrencies. The cryptocurrency market is a money market. It is the value of a crypto currency that is set by supply and demand; it is possible to make or lose money according to these values in a monwey market that is by all accounts volatile. "Transactions including bonds, stocks and other financial assets could eventually be traded." A person can invest in a cryptocurrency or indirectly in a company that produces blockchain technology. Can cryptocurrency be invested in other things like food production? Wendy
I subscribed. This was the first time I've ever paid for any subscription ever regarding podcasts or journalistic writings. You've inspired me to stay vigilant. Thank you for all you do.