Capitalist crisis "The criterion of the expansion of production is capital itself, the existing level of the conditions of production and the unlimited desire of the capitalists to enrich themselves and to enlarge their capital, but by no means

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Capitalist crisis"The criterion of the
expansion of production is capital itself, the
existing level of the conditions of production
and the unlimited desire of the capitalists to
enrich themselves and to enlarge their capital,
but by no means consumption, which from the
outset is inhibited...Since the circulation
process of capital is not completed in oneday
but extends over a fairly long period until the
capital returns to itsoriginal form... and great
upheavals and changes take place in the marketin
the course of this period, it is quite clear,
that between the starting-point.. and... the end
of one of these periods, great catastrophesmust
occur and elements of crisis must have gathered
and develop... - Marx
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Capitalist crisis shaped specially by the huge
financialisation since 1980
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And in Europe further shaped by the clash between
high economic integration and the division into
many states
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From 1980, "fictitious capital" explodes (US
figures)
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Big expansion in trade in tickets to future
surplus value
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Bubble burst 2007-8. Not because of profits
having fallen. But they did fall after.
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Banks crashed or came near crashing worldwide
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Is this a tale of good capitalists (industrial)
vs bad capitalists (banks)?
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Noooooooooooooo!
1. Globalisation of production and distribution
makes fluid and lively international financial
dealings a capitalist necessity.2. Industrial
corporations' "treasury departments" are big
factors in the financial markets.3. The
industrial capitalists extract the surplus value
some of which the bankers then pocket.
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States bailed out banks
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Banks relatively bigger in Europe than USA
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Irish bank bailout especially huge
Irish bank bailout especially huge
"Banks are international in life but national in
death"
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European Central Bank, unlike Federal Reserve,
unwilling to intervene
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Result in worst-hit countries dance of death
where banks bring down states, and states bring
down banks
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Since euro, "peripheral" countries had grown
faster with easier credit but built up debts
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EU and ECB strategy crash wages and conditions
in "periphery"
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Other moves OMT(The ECB will buy unlimited
quantities of eurozone governments bonds... for
governments which have officially requested it
and agreed to submit to a programme of cuts and
economic restructuring).
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Talk of EU budgets to promote growth in hard-hit
areas but...
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Talk of a European banking union
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Talk of Eurobonds (eurozone governments being
able to use collective credit of eurozone to
borrow)
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The answer?