The terrible exploitation of markets and capitalism

As we all know - for we’re told it often enough - both markets and capitalism simply dreadfully exploit. We agree with this fact, which is good for fact it is and one doesn’t get to argue with facts. We do, however, insist that the exploited and exploiter need to be correctly identified.

Germany has warned that an immediate boycott of Russian gas and oil supplies could hurt its own population more than Vladimir Putin, bringing mass unemployment and poverty.

“If we flip a switch immediately, there will be supply shortages, even supply stops in Germany,” the economic and energy minister Robert Habeck told public broadcaster ARD on Sunday, as Europe’s largest economy intensely searches to diversify its energy supplies in the medium term.

The Green party politician predicted “mass unemployment, poverty, people who can’t heat their homes, people who run out of petrol” if his country stopped using Russian oil and gas.

The normal insistence is that it is the producer that exploits the consumer. That profit that is made over the cost of production. But look now at the effect of not having that production. Mass unemployment and poverty.

So, a reasonable conclusion is that it is the consumption of what is produced which provides the major benefit in the system. Not the production, not even the manner of production, but the consumption.

That is, we can identify those who make out like bandits in this system of market capitalism - it’s us, the consumers.