But, if you don't like capitalism, why not and then move there.
Because there is one of the most disgusting manifestations of capitalism and not the only one.
"Chocolate Paradise."
....In fact, this is, of course, not a story at all, but a very superficial analysis of a particular case of admiration of western capitalism. If you take statistics by country, the Netherlands buys the most cocoa beans – about 20 percent of the total crop. Taken as a whole, 70 percent of the world's cocoa crop goes to four multinational companies: American Hershey Foods, English Cadbury Shweppes and Swiss Nestle and Interfoods.
So, we will not touch the world's cocoa bean crop. We have West Africa, which produces 70-80 percent of cocoa beans, with a large mass of them coming from a country like Cote d'lvoire (about a third of the world's cocoa beans), and about the same amount together Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. Almost all of their crops go to Europe (the Netherlands, Germany, and France), the United States, and Japan.
The ratio is clear, right? Wonderful chocolate for 13 euros a box, produced in Europe, is made from cocoa beans grown in the sultry hot Africa. More precisely-in the West Africa. To be more precise, let's limit ourselves to the Republic of Cote-d’Ivoire.
I'm not going to talk about a lot of things right now.
I will not talk about the level of infant and child mortality in this country…
About its place in the rating of AIDS infection…
That the export of cocoa beans gives it a quarter of GDP…
That former President Laurent Gbagbo recklessly announced plans to nationalize cocoa exports and was immediately deposed by French special forces with the permission of the UN security Council, and sent to the Hague…
About the fact that the chair of the President of the Cote-d’Ivoire was occupied by an official of the IMF, Alassane Ouattara, who immediately imposed an embargo on the export of cocoa beans, which provoked an unprecedented increase in prices on the stock exchange…
That, according to the Financial Times, on the eve of this crisis, someone from the market bought up 7 percent of the world's cocoa bean stocks and concluded a huge number of futures and options contracts, receiving fabulous profits after the Ouattara embargo…
That the largest volumes of this product are traded on the London futures exchange (LIFFE) and the new York coffee, sugar and cocoa exchange (CSCE) That the situation with Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon is about the same as with Cote d'lvoire, and sometimes even worse.
After all, the "Chocolate Paradise" sketch is not about child mortality, sudden UN sanctions, or stock market intrigue. It is just about wonderful sweets from Europe, at 13 euros per box. Therefore, I will not talk about what I will not talk about, but will ask the most common question of pricing: what is the cost value of cocoa beans produced in the Republic of Cote d'lvoire ?
But there is no such data...
For example, it is known that on the eve of the coup in Cote-d’lvoire, cocoa beans cost $ 1,800 a ton, and then-rose in price to 3,200 in new York, and to almost 3,400-in London. But how much a ton cost the freedom-loving people of the Cote d'lvoire – only the democratically victorious President Alassane Ouattara knows about this, but who will ask him?
We get dirty slander that a ton of cocoa beans costs the freedom-loving people of the Cote d'lvoire not very expensive. In view of the widespread practice of slave labor on the plantations there. And in general, this work is seasonal (the crop of cocoa beans is collected twice a year), and the hired negro getting about 15-20 dollars per season, or something like that.
About the same amount, that is, how much a box of wonderful chocolate from Europe costs at the airport in the city of Brussels, for example. Or in a supermarket in the city of Hanover, for example. Or in a shop in Berlin, for example. Or in a cozy Madrid shop, for example…
Having told all this to the europeans, who sincerely do not wish anyone harm, I ask them: are you ready for the fact that the standard of living in the Republic of Cote d'lvoire, become, well, at least for some foreseeable distance, closer to yours? It won't be like that, no – let's be realistic. It just gets closer. Not twenty dollars a season for these poor negroes, the fathers of starving children, but a hundred! A hundred, twice a year! And exports will be managed by the state, not by multinational companies and IMF officials. And it will set its own purchasing prices based on the needs of the economy, in order to develop medicine and education, to establish and pump new industries, and introduce new technologies.