The Current Capitalist Crisis

international | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis Monday June 27, 2011 21:39 by Paddy Hackett rasherrs at eircom dot net

Financialisation

Financialisation is a universal scam dressed up as a sophisticated exercise designed to create the illusion that the economic system is faring well. But at the end of the day it is just a paper generator with no authentic exchange value. It just postpones the day when the law of the tendency of the general rate of profit manifests itself in the form of an economic crisis.

Marx's Capital has not lost its value as a means to a correct understanding of the nature of capitalism today. The law of value is every bit as relevant today as it was in the past.

Some commentators from within the radical left effectively dismiss Marx's Critique of Political Economy. They see financialisation as evidence that capitalism today is not subject to the law of value and the law of the tendency of the general rate of profit to fall.

Financialisation is just a disguised mechanism for pumping lots of easy credit into the economy. It constitutes a mechanism for "artificially" propping up demand for commodities and thereby maintaining profitability. This is the mechanism whereby the general rate of profit is buoyed up. However it is a mechanism that has its limits. Ultimately the underlying situation surfaces, other things being equal,leading to a general economic crisis. The capitalist class throws paper at the problem. Greshem's Law works it way through chasing good loans out of the system thereby being replaced by bad loans.

Financialisation is a universal scam dressed up as a sophisticated exercise designed to create the illusion that the economic system is faring well. But at the end of the day it is just a paper pump with no authentic exchange-value. It just postpones the day when the law of the tendency of the general rate of profit to fall manifests itself in the form of an economic crisis.

Marx's Capital has not lost its value as a means to a correct understanding of the nature of capitalism today. The law of value is every bit as relevant today as it was in the past.