Corrosive Capitalism | Subsistence retailing. Employing and impoverishing all.

I originally wrote this article 4 March 2012. I am revisiting it again and updating it.
Lagos is basically one large open market place, cemented in a peculiar type of commerce; Subsistence retailing. Although it keeps millions of Lagosians busy, it works efficiently at keeping the poor, poor.
Definition time
Subsistence is the action or fact of maintaining or supporting oneself at a minimum level.
I would hazard a guess that most African market places are like this; unstructured, unfiltered and unrestrained commerce gone bananas. There is something bizarre about seeing the impact of super corrosive capitalism in all of these places, especially notable is Nigeria. This is a silent cancer eating away at the heart of commercial Africa.
Everywhere in Lagos there are multiple ‘stores’ selling the exact same thing. Literally, want to buy meat or fish? There are at least 40 vendors in a square mile of my anywhere. Want to by petrol / diesel? There are at 14 least petrol-station brands I ...