<div>see below via thomas greco, a commentary on harvey</div><div><br></div>has anyone seen any good explanation of the current austerity/fleecing strategies ... it seems to me that a systematic and radical impoverishment<br>
is also a problem for the survival of the system as a whole ..<div><br></div><div>Michel</div><div><br></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Thomas Greco</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:thg@mindspring.com">thg@mindspring.com</a>></span><br>
Date: Sat, Nov 26, 2011 at 4:47 PM<br>Subject: Re: Fw: David Harvey on marx and capital<br><br><br><br>
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
Dear Rajni,<br>
Thanks for the link to the review of David Harvey's book, <i>The
Enigma of Capital, and the crises of capitalism</i>. No, I've not
seen the book, but if the review is a faithful description, the book
seems well worth reading.<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
Based on the review, the points that I may agree or disagree with
Harvey about are inserted in red in the review below.<br>
<br>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>The Enigma of Capital, and the crises of
capitalism, By
David Harvey<u></u><u></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Review by Andrew Gamble </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Friday, 30 April 2010 </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>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.<u></u><u></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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. <b>Capitalism
survives by purging itself of
debt and loading the costs of adjustment on the weak and the
poor.<u></u><u></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red">[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.]<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red">[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 “</span>clear[ing]-out of debt and
unproductive activities,”
<span style="color:red">for the system to maintain its vitality,
but not
necessarily to make way for further growth.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red">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, </span>“This
is a system which must keep expanding by at least 3 per cent a
year.”<span style="color:#c00000"> </span><span style="color:red">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.] <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Harvey is pessimistic that growth can be
restarted without
the infliction of quite unimaginable hardships on the many of the
world's
poorest people. <b>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.<u></u><u></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red">[Yes, this is an
increasingly obvious
point. I’m glad to see that Harvey is highlighting the “</span><b>state-finance nexus.”</b><span style="color:red"> 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.]<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red">[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. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red">It seems odd that he
attributes </span>“resilience
and inventiveness” <span style="color:red">to<b> </b>capitalism. These are human qualities that might
thrive in a
variety of circumstances. The question is how, specifically, to
support them. ]<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red">[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.]<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red">[I guess we will need
to read the
book to see what Harvey has to propose in making the </span>“case
for a new
radicalism and a vision of alternatives.”]<span style="color:red"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i>Andrew Gamble is Professor of Politics at
the University
of Cambridge and author of 'The Spectre at the Feast' (Palgrave
Macmillan)</i> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:red">[Annotated comments by
Thomas H.
Greco, Jr.]</span></p>
<pre cols="72">Thomas H. Greco, Jr.
<a href="mailto:thg@mindspring.com" target="_blank">thg@mindspring.com</a>
Mobile phone (USA): <a href="tel:520-820-0575" value="+15208200575" target="_blank">520-820-0575</a>
Beyond Money: <a href="http://beyondmoney.net" target="_blank">http://beyondmoney.net</a>
Tom's News and Views: <a href="http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com" target="_blank">http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com</a>
Archive Website: <a href="http://www.Reinventingmoney.com" target="_blank">http://www.Reinventingmoney.com</a>
Photo gallery: <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/tomazhg" target="_blank">http://picasaweb.google.com/tomazhg</a>
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.
</pre>
<br>
On 11/22/2011 11:37 PM, rajni bakshi wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="color:#000;background-color:#fff;font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt">
<div>Dear Tom,</div>
<div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman','new york',times,serif">
<div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman','new york',times,serif">
<div>
<div>
<div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12pt;font-family:'times new roman','new york',times,serif">
<div>I stumbled upon this because of the stuff at the
beginning -- that Jairus Banaji has been given </div>
<div>an important book prize in UK. Jairus is a friend
and a very respected marxist scholar. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div> <span style="font-family:times,serif">The speech by
last year's winner seems important.....he talks
about capital and money.</span></div>
<div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:times,serif">
<div style="font-size:12pt;font-family:times,serif">
<div>
<div>
<div style="color:rgb(0,0,0);background-color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:12pt;font-family:times,serif">
<div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=IN&feature=player_embedded&v=QbOUCLYZVBU" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=IN&feature=player_embedded&v=QbOUCLYZVBU</a><br>
</div>
<div>And a link to an article by David
Harvey</div>
<div><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-enigma-of-capital-and-the-crises-of-capitalism-by-david-harvey-1958010.html" target="_blank">http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-enigma-of-capital-and-the-crises-of-capitalism-by-david-harvey-1958010.html</a><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Regards,<br>
Rajni</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
</div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br>
<br>Connect: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.ning.com" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.ning.com</a>; Discuss: <a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank">http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation</a><div>
<br>Updates: <a href="http://del.icio.us/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://del.icio.us/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://friendfeed.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br>
</div><br>
</div>