Glossing over the horrors - and rank stupidity - of Economic Trench Warfare.
Bill Mitchell's latest blog entries discussing the long run-up to the euro thoroughly remind us of a very simple yet unbelievably profound and neglected fact.
The entire western world, from Breton Woods to today, was completely intent upon "stabilizing" the Fx rates of their fiat currencies .... even though they all had originally admitted, circa 1933, that fiat currency Fx (foreign exchange rates) should float!
Insanity defined. Or rather, all nations worldwide never WERE in-paradigm!
The outcome is that our entire world economy is run to satisfy a narrow list of either oligarch, bank or industrial lobbies? And has been since the close of WWII? Pitiful! The remnants of feudalism & mercantilism still endure.
We've all been hearing of fiat currency, managed Fx rates, Breton Woods, monetary policy, and Class Warfare all our lives, as though they're independent variables. Yet the utter idiocy of presenting them as such never sinks in until someone has the temerity to call BULLSHIT! That hasn't happened since before WWII? We're still seeing the efforts of a prolonged effort to hush up an Inconvenient Truth?
The closest we ever came to distributed capitalism was when Hoover's & FDR's gov planning offices were allowed to run supreme, from 1929-1945? And apparently, that was ONLY in the USA!
Even after Nixon & Connolly closed the last faux, inter-gov gold-window in 1973, there was only a brief period until Reagan & Greenspan ramped up gold-oriented monetary policy again, to "stabilize" floating Fx rates.
We've all been hearing of fiat currency, managed Fx rates, Breton Woods, monetary policy, and Class Warfare all our lives, as though they're independent variables. Yet the utter idiocy of presenting them as such never sinks in until someone has the temerity to call BULLSHIT! That hasn't happened since before WWII? We're still seeing the efforts of a prolonged effort to hush up an Inconvenient Truth?
The closest we ever came to distributed capitalism was when Hoover's & FDR's gov planning offices were allowed to run supreme, from 1929-1945? And apparently, that was ONLY in the USA!
Even after Nixon & Connolly closed the last faux, inter-gov gold-window in 1973, there was only a brief period until Reagan & Greenspan ramped up gold-oriented monetary policy again, to "stabilize" floating Fx rates.
Why doesn't every organized nation consider the local unit of sovereign organizational accounting as THEIR currency, and everyone else's problem?
Ever seen a group of people even think about "stabalizing" their inter-personal blood pressures, fat reserves, or body temperatures? Standardizing intrinsic organizational variables across independent enties is specious and counterproductive. The only group that wants stable Fx rates are the merchant lobbies and personal hoarders. The vast bulk of every population would prefer to stabilize domestic organizational capabilities, and let the tiny merchant class fend for itself by being more, not less, agile.
Ever seen a group of people even think about "stabalizing" their inter-personal blood pressures, fat reserves, or body temperatures? Standardizing intrinsic organizational variables across independent enties is specious and counterproductive. The only group that wants stable Fx rates are the merchant lobbies and personal hoarders. The vast bulk of every population would prefer to stabilize domestic organizational capabilities, and let the tiny merchant class fend for itself by being more, not less, agile.
You really can't make this up! We are capitalists in name only, and in reality still submit to a feudal, class-based system of rule by merchants. The recent national practice of bailing out bankers alone, but not the Middle Class puts paid to that premise!
And at the heart of all this idiocy, the entire field of orthodox economists are economists in name only! They're ignorant charlatans totally bereft of Situational Awareness! Data without context is meaningless, which makes data-dealers oblivious to context equally meaningless.
I wonder how much of today's insanity is simply the momentum of an academic, Luddite backlash to the pragmatic threat of planners like Marriner Eccles and the rest of the FDR Braintrust, and the theoretical threat of Douglas/Kalecki/Lerner/Keynes et al.
In retrospect, the last 80 years now looks like one, sordid period of trench warfare between social classes.
Middle Class rebellion was gathering steam from the 1890s on, with Upper Class resistance triggering two World Wars. Starting with Breton Woods, a counter-offensive by the upper looting class began rolling back much of the gains of the Middle Class. Why? Only because the Middle Class snatched defeat from the jaws of victorious progress, by sending the same old Luddite, Upper Class Looters to negotiating tables like Breton Woods!
And at the heart of all this idiocy, the entire field of orthodox economists are economists in name only! They're ignorant charlatans totally bereft of Situational Awareness! Data without context is meaningless, which makes data-dealers oblivious to context equally meaningless.
I wonder how much of today's insanity is simply the momentum of an academic, Luddite backlash to the pragmatic threat of planners like Marriner Eccles and the rest of the FDR Braintrust, and the theoretical threat of Douglas/Kalecki/Lerner/Keynes et al.
In retrospect, the last 80 years now looks like one, sordid period of trench warfare between social classes.
Middle Class rebellion was gathering steam from the 1890s on, with Upper Class resistance triggering two World Wars. Starting with Breton Woods, a counter-offensive by the upper looting class began rolling back much of the gains of the Middle Class. Why? Only because the Middle Class snatched defeat from the jaws of victorious progress, by sending the same old Luddite, Upper Class Looters to negotiating tables like Breton Woods!
Our Middle Class has to cease, forever, the practice of deferring to the very class of imbeciles we're constantly trying to get rid of. It's self defeating.
Today we're left with a stark question. Will the class warfare and very existence of class hegemony finally dwindle and disappear, like slavery and racism? Or, will we have some more, very ugly episodes of economic trench warfare to go through?
So far, it's seemingly All Quiet On the Western Economic Front? Nevertheless, today's economic attrition rate in the trenches is horrendously reminiscent of history, especially throughout the Balkans, all over again, even though the war is entirely economic, and not yet physical. There wasn't even a Christmas Truce this year.
As an analogy, maybe someday in the future, historians will unearth the frozen remains of Balkan economies, and finally offer them as a stark warning against class warfare? Better late than never?
Worse, the Upper Looting Class is still intent on repeating Churchill's crime, by extending an Economic Blockade in an insane attempt to permanently remove the Middle Class' capacity to reduce human Output Gaps. In the idiot savant minds of merchants and the wealthy, Luddite families they spawn, increasing Aggregate Demand constitutes rebellion?
"Structural Adjustments" are a euphemism for "A Very Perfect Instrument" of economic blockade of the Middle Class by the Upper Looting Class.
When will the 99% worldwide simply stop cooperating with the 1%? The most productive thing for all humans to do is to simply stop the mindless class warfare, and instead turn to return-on-coordination. Who would have thought that something as simple as letting floating-Fx Fx actually float would be so instrumental? Overtaxing and under-funding the Middle Class is just one, mindless consequence of merchant lobbies insisting on trying to manage floating-Fx. You really couldn't make up this degree of stupidity.
The Upper Looting Classes of faux sophisticates are still looting the very nations that support them. For human culture to advance, it sure seems like the brief window of "Permanent War Chiefs" has to end, forever, and any form of class structure as well. Whatever happened to the simple idea of a pass-through economy and complete meritocracy based on service to aggregate? Why bother with so much personal hoarding?
Today we're left with a stark question. Will the class warfare and very existence of class hegemony finally dwindle and disappear, like slavery and racism? Or, will we have some more, very ugly episodes of economic trench warfare to go through?
So far, it's seemingly All Quiet On the Western Economic Front? Nevertheless, today's economic attrition rate in the trenches is horrendously reminiscent of history, especially throughout the Balkans, all over again, even though the war is entirely economic, and not yet physical. There wasn't even a Christmas Truce this year.
As an analogy, maybe someday in the future, historians will unearth the frozen remains of Balkan economies, and finally offer them as a stark warning against class warfare? Better late than never?
Worse, the Upper Looting Class is still intent on repeating Churchill's crime, by extending an Economic Blockade in an insane attempt to permanently remove the Middle Class' capacity to reduce human Output Gaps. In the idiot savant minds of merchants and the wealthy, Luddite families they spawn, increasing Aggregate Demand constitutes rebellion?
"Structural Adjustments" are a euphemism for "A Very Perfect Instrument" of economic blockade of the Middle Class by the Upper Looting Class.
When will the 99% worldwide simply stop cooperating with the 1%? The most productive thing for all humans to do is to simply stop the mindless class warfare, and instead turn to return-on-coordination. Who would have thought that something as simple as letting floating-Fx Fx actually float would be so instrumental? Overtaxing and under-funding the Middle Class is just one, mindless consequence of merchant lobbies insisting on trying to manage floating-Fx. You really couldn't make up this degree of stupidity.
The Upper Looting Classes of faux sophisticates are still looting the very nations that support them. For human culture to advance, it sure seems like the brief window of "Permanent War Chiefs" has to end, forever, and any form of class structure as well. Whatever happened to the simple idea of a pass-through economy and complete meritocracy based on service to aggregate? Why bother with so much personal hoarding?
8 comments:
AS I keep saying, capitalism and democracy are antithetical. So no surprise here. Capitalists talk "democracy" and "freedom," and then use wealth, power and privilege, and when that isn't enough, control fraud, too, in order to advance their interests individually, through teamwork in firms and coalitions, and as a class exacting privilege. Nothing will change as long as neoliberalism remains in place.
Tom,
Same response to your statement as elsewhere.
Seems more productive to say that capitalism is just another tool to be adequately regulated in a functioning democracy?
Human biology & culture have assimilated all kinds of tools & practices which are safe to use ONLY in controlled settings.
Nothing special about capitalism in that regard.
"Seems more productive to say that capitalism is just another tool to be adequately regulated in a functioning democracy?"
According to neoliberalism, it it's regulated, it's not capitalism, which is based on "the free market."
You are talking about a mixed economy, which neoliberals deny is capitalism.
If a neoliberal denies reality in a reality, are they still deranged?
They are not deranged at all. Words matter and they can be used to dupe the rubes. This is the only way for a republic to work with universal suffrage instead of a property qualification. You have convince people that capitalism is a necessary condition for democracy and that capitalism = markets free of government regulation. The expansion is, of course, that democracy requires markets free of regulation.
Of course that won't fool everyone all the time, so using propaganda, nationalism, wedge issues, interest politics are also needed to keep the majority weak and subservient to the elite.
Throw in legalized bribery aka campaign finance as free speech and money talks loudest.
You're defining paranoid sociopaths. To anyone interested in cultural growth, they fit the cultural definition of a deranged components.
Our language is sparse by choice, so for alignment, we have to resort to defining word meanings in terms of context.
Well, I'll leave the psychological diagnosis to those qualified to perform it. I'd call them greedy bastards. But, yes, there does seem to be some sociopathy operative.
But a lot of it is probably due to social stratification and class structure. I've known people that have been up, and down and up again. They think and act appropriately for their position. I've known some well enough to ask about the change in attitude and outlook. The answer is that winners think like winners and losers think like losers. Maybe that sums up a lot.
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