CRISIS AND WESTERN DECADENCE

by fabio de oliveira ribeiro Sunday, Aug. 21, 2011 at 8:56 AM
sithan@ig.com.br

Meditations on a world in crisis.



In his dialogue with Luis Gonzaga Belluzzo, Delfim Neto defended the theory that Marx and Keynes had the same destiny. He said:



"Poor of Keynes, it is suffering Marx's same destiny. Keynes stá being pursued by their followers as Marx was pursued by the Marxists (laughters). "



http://www.cartacapital.com.br/economia/%E2%80%98keynes-sofre-o-mesmo-destino-de-marx%E2%80%99



I agree with Delfim Neto's theory, but for other reasons.



The fact is that the great narratives had already stopped practically accomplishing some relevant paper at Oswald Spengler's time (The Decline of the Occident). Karl Marx, in a certain way, built the great last narrative, in other words, the last text that tries to explain all of the historical, social and economical phenomena starting from a single central theory (the war of classes) appearing for a historical solution (and also Utopian solution).



It happens that the history took charge of fracturing the Marxism completely. The revolution didn't happen in industrialized societies and under the workers' command, but in agrarian countries under the command of political parties extremely bureaucratized and centralized. The result of the revolution was not the labor democracy, but authoritarian regimes and, in some cases, extremely repressive. The so dreamed socialization of the production means gave place to the nationalization of all of the goods, that they were under the command of a new breed of exploiters.



The history condemned the Marxism becoming a great outdated narrative. The modern technology developed in the postwar period (computer science + global telecommunications in real time) it took charge of fracturing an essential presupposition of the Keynes macroeconomics (the power of the State on his coin and to regulate the economy).



It is obvious that Keynes didn't write a great narrative in the sense given to the term by Spengler. However, the financial flows in the screens of the great players' of the global market computers were that they condemned the Keynes theory becoming a great narrative. In fact, no great operator of the capital market needs to know Keynes deeply to produce exchange flotations and to explore them as the stocks exchange are going opening and closing during the permanent virtual day created by the global communication in real time.



The Keynes theory became irrelevant and obsolete in the exact moment in that the global market if it turned a reality that limits the power of the own State. In fact, during the process of construction of this Super Financial Leviathan several traditional States were completely fucked for financiers as George Soros (Mexico, Russia, Argentina, etc...).



"Greed is good" this sentence of Gordon Gekko, that famous character of Oliver Stone, perfectly summarized the "spirit of the time" (in the sense that the Germans understand this expression) that is going of the birth of the global computerized markets to the current crisis. Starting for the condemnation of Keynes to be a great outdated narrative.



There is very little time Oliver Stone rehabilitated his character in a film that ends valuing the proposition "family is good". This time the great movies director didn't get to capture the "spirit of the time."



The last economical events and their unfoldings indicate that Gordon Gekko's sentence stopped having validity and that Oliver Stone new proposition is far away from turning reality. In fact "greed is good" even can be true in a context of valorization of the work and respect to the all economical agents' humanity (even of the most vulnerable) through the mediation of the State. However, as it was already evident the Super Financial Leviathan doesn't respect and it won't respect any State. He has his own dynamics and it imposes his will "ad urbe et orbe."



Now the greed without any space , time or jurisdiction limitation it turned the "maat", the "tao", the "dharma" of the western civilization (to understand the terms "maat", "tao" and "dharma" well you need reads Joseph Campbell, The Mask of God). The decline of the Occident is complete, so complete that even the largest of his cinematographic interpret (Oliver Stone) it skidded in a desperate and completely sentimental idealism unstuck of the reality.



It only remains now the addiction in the greed of the easy, immoral and wild profit to destroy the own drug addict. And in the process to consume all of modern States, also exhausting the Super Financial Leviathan.

Original: CRISIS AND WESTERN DECADENCE