Working on this new server in php7...
imc indymedia

Los Angeles Indymedia : Activist News

white themeblack themered themetheme help
About Us Contact Us Calendar Publish RSS
Features
latest news
best of news
syndication
commentary


KILLRADIO

VozMob

ABCF LA

A-Infos Radio

Indymedia On Air

Dope-X-Resistance-LA List

LAAMN List




IMC Network:

Original Cities

www.indymedia.org africa: ambazonia canarias estrecho / madiaq kenya nigeria south africa canada: hamilton london, ontario maritimes montreal ontario ottawa quebec thunder bay vancouver victoria windsor winnipeg east asia: burma jakarta japan korea manila qc europe: abruzzo alacant andorra antwerpen armenia athens austria barcelona belarus belgium belgrade bristol brussels bulgaria calabria croatia cyprus emilia-romagna estrecho / madiaq euskal herria galiza germany grenoble hungary ireland istanbul italy la plana liege liguria lille linksunten lombardia london madrid malta marseille nantes napoli netherlands nice northern england norway oost-vlaanderen paris/Île-de-france patras piemonte poland portugal roma romania russia saint-petersburg scotland sverige switzerland thessaloniki torun toscana toulouse ukraine united kingdom valencia latin america: argentina bolivia chiapas chile chile sur cmi brasil colombia ecuador mexico peru puerto rico qollasuyu rosario santiago tijuana uruguay valparaiso venezuela venezuela oceania: adelaide aotearoa brisbane burma darwin jakarta manila melbourne perth qc sydney south asia: india mumbai united states: arizona arkansas asheville atlanta austin baltimore big muddy binghamton boston buffalo charlottesville chicago cleveland colorado columbus dc hawaii houston hudson mohawk kansas city la madison maine miami michigan milwaukee minneapolis/st. paul new hampshire new jersey new mexico new orleans north carolina north texas nyc oklahoma philadelphia pittsburgh portland richmond rochester rogue valley saint louis san diego san francisco san francisco bay area santa barbara santa cruz, ca sarasota seattle tampa bay tennessee urbana-champaign vermont western mass worcester west asia: armenia beirut israel palestine process: fbi/legal updates mailing lists process & imc docs tech volunteer projects: print radio satellite tv video regions: oceania united states topics: biotech

Surviving Cities

www.indymedia.org africa: canada: quebec east asia: japan europe: athens barcelona belgium bristol brussels cyprus germany grenoble ireland istanbul lille linksunten nantes netherlands norway portugal united kingdom latin america: argentina cmi brasil rosario oceania: aotearoa united states: austin big muddy binghamton boston chicago columbus la michigan nyc portland rochester saint louis san diego san francisco bay area santa cruz, ca tennessee urbana-champaign worcester west asia: palestine process: fbi/legal updates process & imc docs projects: radio satellite tv
printable version - js reader version - view hidden posts - tags and related articles

Is Capitalism Devouring Its Children?

by Friedhelm Hengsbach Wednesday, Sep. 28, 2011 at 9:25 AM
mbatko@yahoo.com

The state was extorted by the banks. Bailing out the banks was regarded as without alternative..Rating agencies should become public institutions and system-relevant banks dismantled. Growth- and stability funds should be established as the credit-givers of last resort.

IS CAPITALISM DEVOURING ITS CHILDREN?

By Friedhelm Hengsbach

[These theses presented at the Post-Economic Growth Forum January 19, 2011 are translated from the German on the Internet, www.postwachstumsoekonomie.org/Hengsbach-Thesenpapier.pdf.

Bankers still deny responsibility for the financial crisis. Friedhelm Hengsbach is a great social ethicist and author of many books and articles on social justice, sharing and solidarity.]

THE UNPARALLELED CRISIS

(1) Is the financial crisis unparalleled? The models of interpretation executed uncontestedly for 30 years suddenly change. The crisis starts from the center and seizes globally the whole monetary sphere and the real economy. The last bank crisis was in 1929/30. The present crisis extends to three dimensions – the monetary, ecological and social dimensions.

TROUBLESHOOTING

(2) In troubleshooting, abnormal individual behavior presses immediately: risk fever and the greed of individual actors. That is the reason for the call to morality and more individual responsibility.

(3) System crises can also be explained through system errors. In the macro-world, structural financial services (credit guarantees, stock loans, certificates and derivatives) are traded. Foreign financing and leverage are rampant, credit expansion is out of control, banks are under-capitalized and a market-friendly balancing is carried out.



In the macro-world, the disparity of income- and asset-distribution produces regional and global imbalances based on structural creditor- and debtor-positions. The money function has changed (asset-object versus means of exchange). Prices on property markets are guided by subjective short-term expectations unlike prices on the commodity markets anchored in the real economy. Central banks were fixated on the inflation of commodity-prices and deemed the explosive rise of asset-prices as hardly relevant. Private rating agencies were trusted more than the public oversight and control. The risk of system-relevant banks was generally underrated.

THE STATE



(4) The state summoned as rescuer was an element of the crisis. The state deformed the solidarity security-systems and eased the burden with appeals to private provisions. Working conditions were deregulated. Atypical work (subcontracted labor, time limits, part-time work, pseudo-independence and precarious work at poverty wages) were normalized. Governments speeded up the reorganization of Rhine capitalism to an Anglo-American financial capitalism through their financial- and fiscal policies to make Germany competitive as a financial center.

(5) The crisis management of the government follows the expectations and interests of the financial businesses. Despite advance warnings, the state organs stumbled into the crisis relatively unsuspecting. First, problems were smoothed over. Finally, the state was extorted by the banks. Bailing out the banks was regarded as without alternative and the bankruptcy of a bank as taboo. Creditors and banks were relieved and the general public burdened. Selective interventions followed, single-handed national efforts, an expansion not a breaking down of system-relevant banks and a double redistribution. The procedure of covering all the banks with an umbrella was repeated in the bailout of states in the Euro-zone against which there is speculation with abundantly available money aided and abetted by the rating agencies. “Deficit sinners” were branded… The German government bailed out the banks that promised credits to the affected states. Disadvantaged population groups bear the consequences of a protection of the creditors and of an extreme public indebtedness.



(6) Alternatives to the practiced crisis management include identifying segments of the banking system that caused the “core meltdown.” A partnership of creditors and banks, an orderly insolvency of banks and states, a demand renunciation, debt cancellation, the breakdown of system-relevant banks, a system of separated banks or prohibition of investment banking, restricting banks under public mandate to carrying out monetary transactions, the investment business and financing real investments of businesses.

NEW POLITICAL-ECONOMIC INITIATIVE

(7) The return of traditional thought-models proves to be a cul-de-sac and hides the danger of a repetition or continuance of the instability of the global financial system. States rely on growth-acceleration, bailing out banks at the expense of broad sectors of the population and the post-democratic collaboration with lobbyists that hold the state hostage.

(8) As long as the majority of the population lives below their means regionally and globally since their supply of vital goods and the general provision of essentials are deficient, a real economic stimulation, a higher value-creation, is the way out of the crisis. More fields of employment could be opened up by an ambitious ecological reorganization of the economy and person-oriented services. They could replace the traditional industrial work for export. Restoring regular paid work by strengthening free collective bargaining secured by the legal anchoring of an industry-wide minimum wage, a strong declaration of general obligation and payment of subcontracted labor according to the pay-scale of the subcontracted industry and by participation of the workforce and the public authority in capitalist decision-making. A relatively balanced distribution of income and assets is unlikely as long as an equal joint-determination of the three social actors (capital, labor and public authority) is not carried out.



(9) In the micro-sphere, a global financial architecture withy just participation would be characterized by required capital holdings and sharper liability rules, by stronger credit restriction and cautious balancing by a system of separated banks or even the prohibition of investment banking, the exclusive licensing of cooperative banks and savings accounts that organize monetary transactions and payments, operate the investment businesses and finance the real investments of businesses, the priority of micro-finance and a tax on speculative financial affairs. The rights of the people to an autonomous financial regime should be respected.

(10) In the macro-sphere, public oversight and control should be extended to all financial enterprises, financial businesses and financial centers. Rating agencies should become public institutions and system-relevant banks dismantled. The melting away of the hegemony of the US dollar calls for a multi-polar monetary system. Within the currency zone, growth- and stability funds should be established as the credit-givers of last resort. In regional currency zones, an internal solidarity financial equalization and community loans are indispensable. States should not be forced to finance the provision of public goods through credits of profit-oriented private banks. Interest-free central bank credits should be established under precise conditions.

Report this post as:

© 2000-2018 Los Angeles Independent Media Center. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by the Los Angeles Independent Media Center. Running sf-active v0.9.4 Disclaimer | Privacy