Triumph of Financial Capitalism

[georgephillip]

If it's true the internal logic of the capitalist system is seen most clearly in the Great Depression, then the normal condition of the mature capitalist system is stagnation and rampant speculation:

Monthly Review | The Triumph of Financial Capital

"Speculators may do no harm as bubbles on a steady stream of enterprise. But the position is serious when enterprise becomes the bubble on a whirlpool of speculation. When the capital development of a country becomes a byproduct of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done."
J.M. Keynes

"Financial capital, once cut loose from its original role as a modest helper of a real economy of production to meet human needs, inevitably becomes speculative capital geared solely to its own self-expansion.

"In earlier times no one ever dreamed that speculative capital, a phenomenon as old as capitalism itself, could grow to dominate a national economy, let alone the whole world.

"But it has.

"This is the reality we face today. (June, 1994)

"Its dire consequences are visible on all sides, from 35 million unemployed in the advanced industrial countries to deepening poverty and destitution in the Third World and unchecked ecological deterioration everywhere."

 

[Otis Mayfield]

If it's true the internal logic of the capitalist system is seen most clearly in the Great Depression, then the normal condition of the mature capitalist system is stagnation and rampant speculation:

Monthly Review | The Triumph of Financial Capital

"Speculators may do no harm as bubbles on a steady stream of enterprise. But the position is serious when enterprise becomes the bubble on a whirlpool of speculation. When the capital development of a country becomes a byproduct of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done."
J.M. Keynes

"Financial capital, once cut loose from its original role as a modest helper of a real economy of production to meet human needs, inevitably becomes speculative capital geared solely to its own self-expansion.

"In earlier times no one ever dreamed that speculative capital, a phenomenon as old as capitalism itself, could grow to dominate a national economy, let alone the whole world.

"But it has.

"This is the reality we face today. (June, 1994)

"Its dire consequences are visible on all sides, from 35 million unemployed in the advanced industrial countries to deepening poverty and destitution in the Third World and unchecked ecological deterioration everywhere."

Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary - 2024 M09 Results

www.bls.gov

11 million job openings right now.

 

[georgephillip]

11 million job openings right now.

Your link:

"Job openings increased in several industries with
the largest increases in accommodation and food services (+254,000); nondurable goods manufacturing
(+45,000); and educational services (+42,000)."

What percentage of those jobs paid a living wage.
What percentage were safe places to work with current Covid infection levels?

Between roughly 1945-1975 capitalism entered a golden age where workers and corporations each acquired a fair share of productivity gains. Those days are long gone. Today corporate profits soar almost as fast as prices, and workers pay the cost.

Fattest Profits Since 1950 Debunk Wage-Inflation Story of CEOs

 

[initforme]

Employers have a big labor force to chose from now.

 

[Oddball]

If it's true the internal logic of the capitalist system is seen most clearly in the Great Depression, then the normal condition of the mature capitalist system is stagnation and rampant speculation:

Monthly Review | The Triumph of Financial Capital

"Speculators may do no harm as bubbles on a steady stream of enterprise. But the position is serious when enterprise becomes the bubble on a whirlpool of speculation. When the capital development of a country becomes a byproduct of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done."
J.M. Keynes

"Financial capital, once cut loose from its original role as a modest helper of a real economy of production to meet human needs, inevitably becomes speculative capital geared solely to its own self-expansion.

"In earlier times no one ever dreamed that speculative capital, a phenomenon as old as capitalism itself, could grow to dominate a national economy, let alone the whole world.

"But it has.

"This is the reality we face today. (June, 1994)

"Its dire consequences are visible on all sides, from 35 million unemployed in the advanced industrial countries to deepening poverty and destitution in the Third World and unchecked ecological deterioration everywhere."

 

[georgephillip]

Employers have a big labor force to chose from now.

Yet they are choosing to raise profits and prices instead of wages.
Maybe they need a little competition?

The Green New Deal Is Good for the Planet—and the Democratic Party

 

[georgephillip]

View attachment 581133

Monthly Review | The Triumph of Financial Capital

"The real economy, the one that produces goods and services that enable people to live and reproduce, is owned by a tiny minority of oligopolists.

"It is structured to yield them large profits, far beyond what they could or would even want to consume.

"Being capitalists, they want to invest most of their profits.

"But the very same structure that yields these profits puts strict limits on the incomes of the underlying population.

"They can just barely buy the current level of output offered to them at prices calculated to yield the going rate of oligopoly profit.

"There is therefore no profit to be made from expanding the capacity to produce the goods that enter into mass consumption.

"To do so would be to invest in excess capacity, a patent capitalist irrationality.

"What, then, are they to do with their profits?"

Adam Smith’s Glorious Vision - ppt download

 

[Ringo]

Bloomberg: "Billionaires are hoping for crypto if the value of today's money drops to 0"

2 heads of hedge funds are sitting in their bunkers, each of them has 100, O.K., 1000 servants-slaves, whom they, for example, will subordinate. Why do they need the means of exchange? On the surface, it's either Mad Max or the desert