Letter to the Editor: How to get rich from war

DEAR News Of The Area,

IT’S worth noting that the US/Israel war on Iran is going to affect people differently.

Setting aside the effects on the Iranian people, the main effect here in Australia is that the costs of energy and food are going to go up.

For working and middle-class people this is going to be a large chunk of weekly expenditure, but for wealthy people this will go almost unnoticed because they don’t spend as much on food and energy in terms of percentage of their overall income.

How wealthy people will be affected is through asset values.

As energy and food costs go up, so too do values of assets such as oil.

These assets are largely held by wealthy people, so they stand to benefit.

Meanwhile, working and middle-class people will be supported by the government as government money will be spent to take the sting off the increase in food and energy costs.

Another point worth noting here is that government money is public money – i.e. it belongs to the people.

While this money will indeed go directly to the people, it will be used to pay for the higher costs of food and energy.

The people who receive it won’t benefit, they will just find it easier to survive.

Ultimately, the money will go to those who hold the food and energy assets: the wealthy.

So, the amount of money the government holds will be reduced, which these days is not an anomaly but a trend, and it will be transferred to the wealthy.

Without a tax system designed to reduce inequality, this will continue and likely increase as climate change fosters more wars, droughts, fires and floods.

So, in short, to get rich off of the war in Iran, the first step is to already be rich.

The system will do the rest.

Regards,
Marcus BAYNES-ROCK,

Coffs Harbour.