Views from the World Social Forum

Over in Britain, they apparently have a free press, as this article on the World Social forum comes from the BBC. They let four speakers from the forum write short articles and it is awesome. Seriously, read it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7874667.stm

If you need a little encouragement, consider this passage from Walden Bello:

With investment in industry and agriculture yielding low profits as a result of over-capacity, large amounts of surplus funds have been circulating in or invested and reinvested in the financial sector - that is, the financial sector began turning on itself.

The result has been a divergence between a hyperactive financial economy and a stagnant real economy.

This was not accidental - the financial economy exploded precisely to make up for the stagnation owing to overproduction of the real economy.

he continues:

One indicator of the super-profitability of the financial sector is the fact that 40% of the total profits of US financial and nonfinancial corporations is accounted for by the financial sector although it is responsible for only 5% of US gross domestic product (and even that is likely to be an overestimate).

The problem with investing in financial sector operations is that it is tantamount to squeezing value out of already created value. It may create profit, yes, but it does not create new value - only industry, agriculture, trade, and services create new value.

So go read it.