In the New European a few weeks ago there was an article about conspiracy theories and how easy and common it is to fall for them. Of the eight or so it listed there was one that I partially believed, while my wife leant to five or six. The one that made me think was the conspiracy theory that there is an elite group of people, unelected, that really run things, a sort of Illuminati.
Now I don’t actually believe this is true yet do believe that there is some power that transcends governments and puts those who control it in a very strong position. It’s called money.
It’s very difficult in a modern interlinked economy to do anything without money. Companies struggle to grow at pace without capital and it is the same with economies. To get a country going it needs infrastructure, roads, rail, telecoms etc. and all of this costs money.
All this means that those who have it are at an advantage over those that don’t. Those with finance or access to it can dictate the terms on which it is loaned. They get to say what goes and what does not and thereby hold all of the cards.
We’ve seen this time and time again. The International Monetary Fund and The World Bank have imposed very tight conditions on sovereign states before providing necessary finance, often after some natural or manmade disaster and often at odds with the wishes of a democratically elected government.
Money holds the real power and so countries which have access to the most money hold the most power. The temptation is always there to promote their own ideology even if it is at odds with the culture of the country that is in need.
Is there an international clique of moneymen that run the world? Probably yes, intentionally or not it is money that holds the real power.
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 