The first thing I have learnt trading for the past 8 years is that Greed is a very real part of human nature. We may say $x,000,000 is enough, but in reality we always want more.
The second one and more important of the two - trading is a Zero Sum Game. In short, where there are winners, there are surely losers as well.
Just like the fundamental law - Conservation of Energy - in Physics.
energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another.
Someone's gain is another's loss.
I find it disheartening to learn that women in developing countries like India, Brazil, Mozambique, etc. have to endure extreme low wage and agonising acid burns to their hands just so the global demands for cashew nuts! can be met.
As vegetarian and vegan diets increase in the UK – whether for health, environmental or animal rights reasons – shoppers are said to be hoovering up nuts, eating 17,000 tonnes in 2016, a huge 35 per cent increase compared to 2012.
These family oriented women, for all their laborious work, earn as little as £2 ($3.5) a day, in addition to disfigured hands. A nurse stated she has witnessed more patients in the past year who have chopped off the top of a finger.
shellers reported painful injuries caused by cardol and anacardic acids that lie between the two layers of hard shell on a cashew nut
Some 500,000 people work in India’s cashew nut industry... with no contracts, no guarantee of steady income and no pension or holiday pay.
Even when gloves were provided, many of these workers choose not to wear them, since it will slow down productivity which is directly related to their wage.
The buyers (more developed counties) of these cashew nuts have to keep consumer prices low due to competition, and this in turn forces cashew companies to hire cheap labour. Cause and effect.
Everything in this universe is connected more so than we can ever imagine. Being the "lucky" ones to be borne in developed countries, let's stop whining about the struggles of life, appreciate what we have, and do good as often as we can.
Find the full article here.
