If we wished to give one outstanding example of the "contra-dictions" that lie at the heart of capitalist industry and then society and then, between societies, the society of nations, it would be the contradiction that no bourgeois commentator (and there are many well-meaning ones here from Jeffrey Sachs down to Martin Wolf) would ever wish to confront with the courage - intellectual and moral - that this "crisis" demands.
The contradiction is easy to articulate: how can a political "union" (even if not Obama's "more perfect union", but just a "European" union) be even contemplated, if the members of that "union" are all focussed on one thing and one thing only - namely, "competitive self-interest"? (I note that Martin Wolf has a story in the FT today on how to make UK universities more... "competitive"!)
I wish to pose one question and one question only to everyone: name me "one" country, "one" federation, "one" economic area that does NOT have disparities, inequalities, divisions - no! Name me "one" city or even a suburb - or a household (!!!) that does NOT have "disparities", "imbalances", in short, "problems"!
But that is the entire point to a "Union"!! The whole point is that the bourgeoisies of Europe (German, French and British leading the pack) know all too well that "without" a European "union" capable of preserving the "military" (above all) and then juridical and then political and, last, "economic" integrity of their.... (wait for it) "territory" (!!) - without such a "union" they will be consigned to the dustbin of history and pretty soon they will be washing dishes in New York or in Beijing!
So the point is not "whether" Greece is going to be "rescued" - that was "never" the point at all! The point is "how". Because even if these big bourgeois decide to cut the string and let Greece sink, they know that next in line will be the other "peripheral" countries - in an endless spiral that will end up with the Russian re-occupation of Berlin! (I hope I am making the point clear.)
But our lousy "bourgeois", including the less lousy and "well-meaning" ones - from the height of their "analytical" noses - know equally well that it is impossible "to justify" the rescue of any "uncompetitive" economy or country or suburb or family - for the simple reason that..... (wait for it, again)... they are not "competitive"!! This is the law of the jungle, remember? Your death is my life! (Mors tua vita mea.) The motto that the banner of the bourgeoisie will always have inscribed upon it and that now comes back to haunt them: - because if they wish "to rescue" Greece it will have to be against every comma of "economic rationality" that they preach every day (not least on the pages of the FT)!
A fine time these people will have to invoke some kind of economic "convergence" or "optimal currency areas" - because these are figments of the bourgeois imagination intent on justifying and promoting the capitalist law of the jungle! The problem now, dear friends, is that we are reaching the end of this "ideo-logical" process.... and the Greek barricades are well in view. And then the Spanish, and the Portuguese and the Italian. See you there!
The contradiction is easy to articulate: how can a political "union" (even if not Obama's "more perfect union", but just a "European" union) be even contemplated, if the members of that "union" are all focussed on one thing and one thing only - namely, "competitive self-interest"? (I note that Martin Wolf has a story in the FT today on how to make UK universities more... "competitive"!)
I wish to pose one question and one question only to everyone: name me "one" country, "one" federation, "one" economic area that does NOT have disparities, inequalities, divisions - no! Name me "one" city or even a suburb - or a household (!!!) that does NOT have "disparities", "imbalances", in short, "problems"!
But that is the entire point to a "Union"!! The whole point is that the bourgeoisies of Europe (German, French and British leading the pack) know all too well that "without" a European "union" capable of preserving the "military" (above all) and then juridical and then political and, last, "economic" integrity of their.... (wait for it) "territory" (!!) - without such a "union" they will be consigned to the dustbin of history and pretty soon they will be washing dishes in New York or in Beijing!
So the point is not "whether" Greece is going to be "rescued" - that was "never" the point at all! The point is "how". Because even if these big bourgeois decide to cut the string and let Greece sink, they know that next in line will be the other "peripheral" countries - in an endless spiral that will end up with the Russian re-occupation of Berlin! (I hope I am making the point clear.)
But our lousy "bourgeois", including the less lousy and "well-meaning" ones - from the height of their "analytical" noses - know equally well that it is impossible "to justify" the rescue of any "uncompetitive" economy or country or suburb or family - for the simple reason that..... (wait for it, again)... they are not "competitive"!! This is the law of the jungle, remember? Your death is my life! (Mors tua vita mea.) The motto that the banner of the bourgeoisie will always have inscribed upon it and that now comes back to haunt them: - because if they wish "to rescue" Greece it will have to be against every comma of "economic rationality" that they preach every day (not least on the pages of the FT)!
A fine time these people will have to invoke some kind of economic "convergence" or "optimal currency areas" - because these are figments of the bourgeois imagination intent on justifying and promoting the capitalist law of the jungle! The problem now, dear friends, is that we are reaching the end of this "ideo-logical" process.... and the Greek barricades are well in view. And then the Spanish, and the Portuguese and the Italian. See you there!
Returning to the quantity theory of money, once again, as with every bourgeois theory, it does not explain “why” and “how” the economy can “grow’ – because it is an “equilibrium identity”! So when Davies discusses “growth”, I (like the Nazi Gauleiter Goering whenever “culture” was mentioned)… “reach for my revolver”. The fact is that bourgeois economics deals only (only only only!) with “exchange”. And because in the “perfect” economy that capitalism represents for this pack of morons “exchange” must absolutely positively unequivocally be “equal” exchange…. there is no way known how the exchange of “equals” can ever pro-duce (bring forth, generate)… “growth”!
And this goes back to what we were discussing yesterday: how is it even possible (“possible”!) for the kind of economy described by bourgeois economics… to “grow”? We hinted at this yesterday by emphasising the fact that capitalist world trade is not a “zero-sum game” and that much depends on how “capital” relates to “workers”. That is the whole notion of “value”. So “value creation” is a matter of determining how available resources are “utilised” to ensure greater control over human “needs”. Those “dictatorships” I was talking about (China, Japan, Korea, even Germany and Taiwan) merely seek to use social resources either to produce “capital goods” such as infrastructure and machinery, or else they produce for “export” (even of consumption goods). What they try to avoid is to expand the domestic demand of their workers through higher wages – because this would lead to “inflation” and social instability!
An article in the FT today (http://www.ft.com/...html#axzz1QFpPmBFx ) looks at just this “disappearing middle class riddle” or “middle income trap” with regard to China, where the dictatorship exploits its workers so much… that they cannot afford to pay for the infrastructure that is built (50% of GDP goes to “investment goods”) so as to make this “investment”…. “profitable”!! Is it not time, we ask, that we looked long at hard at this “capacity utilisation gap”? Good luck, and good night!