[P2P-F] Fwd: Fw: David Harvey on marx and capital

Sat Dec 31 16:53:54 CET 2011

I'm afraid you are right and this is also being echoed by samir amin,
michael hudson, and others,

Michel

On Sun, Nov 27, 2011 at 5:29 PM, Tere Vadén <tere.vaden at uta.fi> wrote:

> I have a pet theory which is too simplistic and reductionist to be true
> or even intelligible to many, but this is it: since economic growth is
> not possible anymore (because of peak oil) the rich can get richer only
> if the poor get poorer, hence authoritarianism, hence austerity, etc;
> some of the old pre-20th century conditions are returning. The system is
> not surviving, it is mutating. If the collapse of the soviet union meant
> the collapse of socialism as ideology, the end of growth means the end
> of liberal right wing ideologies. (Fortunately, I'm not completely alone
> in believing this lunacy, Richard Heinberg seems to have spoken about it
> in the recent ASPO conference: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/8573).
>
> On 11/27/11 7:58 AM, Michel Bauwens wrote:
> > see below via thomas greco, a commentary on harvey
> >
> > has anyone seen any good explanation of the current austerity/fleecing
> > strategies ... it seems to me that a systematic and radical
> impoverishment
> >   is also a problem for the survival of the system as a whole ..
> >
> > Michel
> >
> >
> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > From: *Thomas Greco* <thg at mindspring.com <mailto:thg at mindspring.com>>
> > Date: Sat, Nov 26, 2011 at 4:47 PM
> > Subject: Re: Fw: David Harvey on marx and capital
> >
> >
> >
> > Dear Rajni,
> > Thanks for the link to the review of David Harvey's book, /The Enigma of
> > Capital, and the crises of capitalism/. No, I've not seen the book, but
> > if the review is a faithful description, the book seems well worth
> reading.
> >
> > I'm not inclined to frame my analyses and prescriptions in terms of
> > competing ideologies because that leads to immediate resistance by the
> > true believers on one side or another. Rather, we need to encourage
> > people to think outside of their comfortable boxes by pointing out
> > implicit assumptions and evident dysfunctions, and suggesting structural
> > as well as policy changes that show promise of providing better outcomes.
> >
> > Of course, what constitutes a better outcome will always be a point of
> > disagreement based on the fundamental values, attitudes, and beliefs
> > that different segments of society hold (e.g., the 1% vs the 99% that
> > the Occupy movement has highlighted). Besides that, our desires and
> > expectations must ultimately adjust to the reality of our planetary
> > limits to physical growth.
> >
> > Based on the review, the points that I may agree or disagree with Harvey
> > about are inserted in red in the review below.
> >
> > *The Enigma of Capital, and the crises of capitalism, By David
> Harvey____*
> >
> > Review by Andrew Gamble
> >
> > Friday, 30 April 2010
> >
> > *Andrew Mellon, the US Treasury Secretary during the Great Crash of 1929
> > and one of America's richest men, observed that in a crisis assets
> > return to their rightful owners. Nothing much has changed. As the
> > present crisis has mutated from a banking crisis to a fiscal crisis and
> > a sovereign debt crisis, bonuses continue to be paid, while the people
> > of Greece and Iceland suffer huge cuts in jobs and services.____*
> >
> > As the head of Citibank helpfully pointed out, "Countries cannot
> > disappear. You always know where to find them." Once the bubbles are
> > burst, expectations about asset values are dashed, optimism gives way to
> > despair, and wealth is ruthlessly redistributed. *Capitalism survives by
> > purging itself of debt and loading the costs of adjustment on the weak
> > and the poor.____*
> >
> > [I agree, but something needs to be said about HOW it purges itself of
> > debt. We’ve seen very clearly in this latest cycle how the capitalists
> > have come away whole by pushing the debt off onto the public sector by
> > means of government bailouts. That has cause severe fiscal (budgetary)
> > problems for governments, which now are pressured to cut spending. That
> > is where the weak and the poor (including the “middle class”) get
> > fleeced and sacrificed because the cuts are typically made in social
> > spending and programs that promote the common good.]____
> >
> > For David Harvey, this is the latest of the great structural crises
> > which have punctuated the development of capitalism and which signify
> > that major limits have been reached to further growth. Crises on this
> > view are inherent in capitalism itself, and the means by which it renews
> > itself. Only a periodic clear-out of debt and unproductive activities
> > creates the basis for a further leap forward.
> >
> > Harvey is less interested in the detail of how the 2007-8 crisis
> > unfolded than in understanding it as a manifestation of how capitalism
> > works. Over the last two decades, he has become a leading exponent of
> > classical Marxist political economy, his work known for its exceptional
> > clarity and for integrating spatial categories into the theory of
> > capital accumulation.
> >
> > Capitalism in the last 200 years has proved itself by far the most
> > dynamic and productive economic system known to history, but the wealth
> > comes at a price, both for human beings and increasingly for the natural
> > environment.
> >
> > Periodically, capitalism over-expands and overshoots, encountering
> > limits it cannot immediately transcend. This is a system which must keep
> > expanding by at least 3 per cent a year. What drives it is the hope of
> > profit, and this impulse comes to shape all social relations as well as
> > nature. During booms, capital accumulates very fast, but the amount of
> > surplus generated becomes harder and harder to absorb. The investments
> > that have been made in the boom fix capital in all sorts of ways, in
> > buildings, cities, regions and countries, as well as in labour forces
> > and ways of organising production.
> >
> > After a time many of these past investments no longer yield a high
> > return and sometimes no return at all. This is what precipitates the
> > crisis. It may take the form of a profits squeeze, caused by militant
> > labour wresting gains from capital, or by factors depressing the rate of
> > profit, or by too little demand. Harvey argues that the present crisis
> > is particularly hard to resolve because it comes after a long period in
> > which real incomes in the US have stagnated, while the wealth of the
> > property-owning elite has soared.
> >
> > The gap between what labour was earning and what it would spend was
> > covered by credit. The average debt of per household, including mortgage
> > repayments, was $40,000 in 1980. By 2007 it was $130,000. Getting this
> > debt down and restarting the economy is a huge task.
> >
> > [I too have been preaching that the limits to growth have been reached,
> > and yes, however one might choose to characterize an economic system
> > (capitalist, socialist, or otherwise), there must be a periodic
> > “clear[ing]-out of debt and unproductive activities,” for the system to
> > maintain its vitality, but not necessarily to make way for further
> > growth.____
> >
> > I’m wondering if Harvey’s book adequately explains the phenomenon of
> > “expansion and overshoot,” and whether or not that would also occur
> > under his conception of a alternative non-Capitalist system. I’m also
> > wondering about the basis for his statement that, “This is a system
> > which must keep expanding by at least 3 per cent a year.”I’ve seen
> > estimates that run closer to 6%. My own belief is that the proximate
> > driver of continual economic growth is the compounding of interest that
> > is a fundamental feature of our global monetary system, and that the
> > surplus that is created by the economy goes largely into capital
> > concentration and profit-seeking reinvestment, rather than to increased
> > and more equitable consumption. Thus, we see starvation and want amidst
> > plenty.] ____
> >
> > Harvey is pessimistic that growth can be restarted without the
> > infliction of quite unimaginable hardships on the many of the world's
> > poorest people. *Capitalism survives by socialising losses and
> > distributing gains to private hands. Harvey devotes a large part of his
> > argument to show how this is done through the close ties of the state
> > and finance. He calls it the state-finance nexus.____*
> >
> > [Yes, this is an increasingly obvious point. I’m glad to see that Harvey
> > is highlighting the “*state-finance nexus.”*I trace that back to the
> > founding of the Bank of England in 1694, which established the pattern
> > of central banking and government-banking collusion that has since
> > spread around the world and culminated in a rather monolithic regime.
> > But there are cracks beginning to form.]____
> >
> > This is not a conspiracy: both sides of the relationship need one
> > another and support one another. There are frictions and conflicts, but
> > in the end they work together because this is the only system anyone
> > knows or thinks can be made to work. Michael Bloomberg, as Mayor of New
> > York, commissioned a report which declared that excessive regulation in
> > the US was threatening the future of the financial sector in New York.
> >
> > The financial crash of 2008 destroyed the credibility of the financial
> > growth model put in place after the last great capitalist crisis in the
> > 1970s. It has also, as Harvey notes, put a question-mark over the
> > continuance of US hegemony, because of the shift in the balance of the
> > global economy towards the rising powers of India and China.
> >
> > He thinks that the accumulated rigidities over the last cycle have
> > become so great that only a very fundamental restructuring can restore
> > the basis for renewed economic growth. But the pressure for an early
> > return to business as usual are very great, threatening an early return
> > of credit and debt as the only way to fuel the economy, and the eruption
> > of another crisis in a few years.
> >
> > Harvey argues that each major capitalist crisis has been worse than the
> > last one, and more difficult to surmount. He accepts that capitalism,
> > with all its resilience and inventiveness, is quite capable of
> > overcoming this crisis too; but he is sceptical, and believes that this
> > is the moment that a revived anti-capitalist movement can seize the
> > opportunity to put forward a realistic alternative to capitalism as a
> > way of organising the economy.
> >
> > [Yes, it is evident that each successive cycle is more extreme than the
> > last. The financial system based on interest-bearing debt is shaking
> > itself apart. ____
> >
> > It seems odd that he attributes “resilience and inventiveness”
> > to**capitalism. These are human qualities that might thrive in a variety
> > of circumstances. The question is how, specifically, to support them.
> ]____
> >
> > This is perhaps where the argument is least convincing. The
> > anti-capitalist left is fragmented and not particularly numerous.
> > Radical political responses during previous capitalist crises have often
> > favoured the right. The rise of China and India, both of which have
> > continued to grow through the recession, suggests that the fundamental
> > shift in the balance of the global economy is only just beginning, and
> > if it continues is likely to provide huge potential for growth and
> > absorption of surplus, provided certain political conditions are met.
> >
> > This will not be easy but is certainly possible. Marx thought that no
> > social order ever perishes before all the productive forces for which
> > there is room in it have developed. On the evidence Harvey himself
> > provides, capitalism still has a long way to go before that is the case,
> > and no gravediggers are in sight.
> >
> > [What are the physical limits to the application of those “productive
> > forces?” It is evident that the masses of India and China cannot
> > possibly achieve the levels of consumption and way of living that have
> > prevailed in the West. The emphasis must shift from capital accumulation
> > and increasing consumption to more equitable distribution and better
> > quality of life for all.]____
> >
> > But this book is a welcome addition to the literature on the crisis. It
> > provides a lucid and penetrating account of how the power of capital
> > shapes our world, and sets out the case for a new radicalism and a
> > vision of alternatives. What we need, he argues, is not just a new world
> > but a new communism, following the failure of the old - although he does
> > accept ruefully that using "communist" as a political label may not
> > bring instant success in the United States.
> >
> > [I guess we will need to read the book to see what Harvey has to propose
> > in making the “case for a new radicalism and a vision of
> alternatives.”]____
> >
> > /Andrew Gamble is Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge
> > and author of 'The Spectre at the Feast' (Palgrave Macmillan)/
> >
> > [Annotated comments by Thomas H. Greco, Jr.]
> >
> > Thomas H. Greco, Jr.
> > thg at mindspring.com  <mailto:thg at mindspring.com>
> > Mobile phone (USA):520-820-0575  <tel:520-820-0575>
> > Beyond Money:http://beyondmoney.net
> > Tom's News and Views:http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com
> > Archive Website:http://www.Reinventingmoney.com
> > Photo gallery:http://picasaweb.google.com/tomazhg
> > Skype/Twitter name: tomazgreco
> > My latest book,"The End of Money and the Future of Civilization"  can be
> ordered from Chelsea Green Publishing, Amazon.com, or your local bookshop.
> >
> >
> > On 11/22/2011 11:37 PM, rajni bakshi wrote:
> >> Dear Tom,
> >> I stumbled upon this because of the stuff at the beginning -- that
> >> Jairus Banaji has been given
> >> an important book prize in UK. Jairus is a friend and a very respected
> >> marxist scholar.
> >>
> >> The speech by last year's winner seems important.....he talks about
> >>  capital and money.
> >>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=IN&feature=player_embedded&v=QbOUCLYZVBU
> >> <
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=IN&feature=player_embedded&v=QbOUCLYZVBU>
> >> And a link to an article by David Harvey
> >>
> http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-enigma-of-capital-and-the-crises-of-capitalism-by-david-harvey-1958010.html
> >>
> >>
> >> Regards,
> >> Rajni
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
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