The principles of market economy – fair play, voluntary exchange and limited government interference – lie squashed today as we witness the elites of the world take over the reins of economic and political structures with tariffs, sanctions, ‘deals’ and outright resource grab wars.https://thewire.in/economy/worlds-elite-trump-greenland-venezuela-davos
The latest geopolitical ongoing; the assault on Venezuela, Trump’s threats of seizing Greenland, the controversial ‘Board of Peace’ plan for Gaza, all show that it is time for another round of resource grab. In fact, resource grab is the central principle of capitalism.
Every sane person knows the real motive behind the political turmoil in Venezuela was oil.
With high national debt, rising consumer debt, inflation and inequality, the US economy is facing significant challenges at home. It needs more resources to stay afloat. It needs to maintain its petrodollar hegemony to stay on the top. For the unaware, the US dollar is deeply linked with oil money. In the early 1970s, the US signed a contract with Saudi Arabia that all oil trade payments must be done in dollars. That forces countries to maintain a balance of dollars in their forex accounts. But today, the world has shifted. BRICS countries hold over 40% of the world GDP. An estimate says about 20% of global oil trade is already happening in other currencies, Euros, Chinese yuan, rubles and even digital payment systems. And this was exactly the crime of Venezuela. It had started to accept payments for its crude oil in yuan and other currencies. Trump’s outbursts on Truth Social clearly show how much a talk of this de-linking of dollar from oil trade ruffles them.
A study published in Lancet looked at the impact of US sanctions on 152 countries between 1971 and 2021. It estimated that about 600,000 deaths occurred each year in these 50 years in these countries as a direct and indirect result of US sanctions. The scale of this data is horrifying. Between 1971 and 2021, US sanctions have caused about 3 crore deaths in 152 countries.
In this new vision, the US refuses to acknowledge the sovereignty of other nations. Either they work as extended colonies of the US, or they face its ire.
What’s appalling is these are not even the legitimate interests of a nation, but of a few elite corporations. Perhaps that is why a real-estate man like Trump is their best bet to make the best deals.
Obviously, the rich gathered in Davos are not going to call out the systems that benefit them; instead we are going to see more false propaganda that educates us all that this is the best possible system in the history of humanity. And so, the principles of market economy – fair play, voluntary exchange and limited government interference lie squashed in the process. The inherent contradictions of capitalism are now glaringly exposed. Do we need more evidence of advancing neo-imperialism?
by Kavita Kabeer
21/01/2026