We continue to the politically powerful to benefit from a rogue version of crony capitalism while media outlets distract us with lies about "free markets": A maneuver by Goldman Sachs and other financial players adds a fraction of a penny more to the price of a can of soda, beer or juice, ultimately costing consumers billions of dollars when multiplied by the 90 billion aluminum cans consumed in the United States each year, David Kocieniewski writes in The New York Times. The story begins in 27 industrial warehouses in the Detroit area, where a Goldman subsidiary has choreographed an industrial dance to exploit pricing regulations set up by an overseas commodities exchange, Mr. Kocieniewski reports. A fleet of trucks shifts 1,500-pound bars of aluminum among the warehouses, lengthening the storage time and adding many millions a year to the coffers of Goldman, which owns the warehouses and charges rent to store the metal. "The inflated aluminum pricing is just one way that Wall Street is flexing its financial muscle and capitalizing on loosened federal regulations to sway a variety of commodities markets, according to financial records, regulatory documents and interviews with people involved in the activities," Mr. Kocieniewski writes. "The maneuvering in markets for oil, wheat, cotton, coffee and more have brought billions in profits to investment banks like Goldman, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley, while forcing consumers to pay more every time they fill up a gas tank, flick on a light switch, open a beer or buy a cellphone." nytimes/2013/07/21/business/a-shuffle-of-aluminum-but-to-banks-pure-gold.html
Posted on: Mon, 22 Jul 2013 12:24:01 +0000
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