|
|
Farewell to Neoliberalism
by Klaus Fischer
Tuesday, May. 06, 2008 at 8:15 AM
mbatko@lycos.com (email address validated)
State interventions in the economy are unpopular and generally regarded as "against the system"-when the state interferes in profiteering. In the case of a crisis, the losses should be socialized.
FAREWELL TO NEOLIBERALISM
By Klaus Fischer
[This short article published in: Junge Welt 3/19/2008 is translated from the German on the World Wide Web, http://www.jungewelt.de/2008/03-19/064.php?print=1.]
Material existence determines consciousness. In the course of the worldwide financial- and banking crisis, more and more actors from “free enterprise” champion the idea of leaving the clearing work to others. Yesterday strictly neoliberal, today they sing the song of the state. The state must intervene, the US financial system, German bankers and the uniform media urged in a homely choir in the middle of March 2008. These calls did not fall on deaf ears among central bankers and politicians. Capital itself is neither able nor ready to correct the devastating disaster.
Josef Ackermann, head of Deutsche Bank, clarified in March 2008: “Urging the banks to mutual help is no longer enough. We cannot believe “only in the self-healing powers of the market.”
German finance minister Peter Steinbruck picked up the ball. In Potsdam, he diagnosed: this is “one of the greatest financial crises in the last decades” and advocated an intervention of politics. The effects of the crisis on the real economy cannot be denied. This sounded quite different a short time ago.
The politicians have already shown how “the state’s help” could appear. The US government drafted a $150 billion program to prevent a recession. The Fed gave billions in guarantees to J.P. Morgan, the buyer of the deadbeat investment bank Bear Stearns. Great Britain’s New Labor government nationalized the building-and loan association Northern Rock when it faced bankruptcy. The plan to destroy a third of the jobs was revealed. In Germany, Saxony and North Rhine must guarantee speculative billions for their regional banks.
But even more is involved. In the US, the Fed is urged to buy up all the bad speculative securities of private banks to take away the risk. Further nationalizations of stricken financial houses are openly discussed – to protect investors and owners.
State interventions in the economy are unpopular and generally regarded as “against the system” when the state interferes in profiteering. In the case of a crisis, the losses should be socialized. Acting to protect the German economy is vital, Steinbruck said in approving the public authority’s involvement in the game.
All taxpayers should benefit from the state interventions, the economics spokesperson of the Left party in the Bundestag, Herbert Schui, said. “The fool’s privilege or carnival license in the financial markets must be ended,” the former economics professor underscored. Unregulated institutions like hedge funds and special conduits should not exist after the financial crisis. The “speculative transactions” of managers with stock options must also be relegated to the past.
In the meantime, the whole took its very typical course. The quarterly reports of the mammoth US investment banks Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs reported lower profits but not the dreaded collapse. The expectation of a further reduction of the Fed’s key interest soon led to a temporary relaxation on the stock markets.
www.mbtranslations.com
|
No events have been posted for this week.
 | N25 4:40PM |
| bARACK oBAMA NO PRIORIZO LA DEMOCRACIA |  | N24 4:01PM |
| Democraticamente. Fernando Lugo, el impeachment y la proyección del golpismo |  | N24 3:14AM |
| Zhibin Gu: Chinese multinationals vs global financial crisis: outsourcing, jobs, politics |  | N24 2:10AM |
| Health Bill Ignores Industrial Health Harms |  | N23 5:20PM |
| Solidarity with the UC Student Protests; Education is our right! |  | N23 1:46PM |
| CUBANUESTRA. LA KAKISTOCRACIA DE FERNANDO LUGO |  | N23 9:20AM |
| VIDEO and transcript: Nomi Prins' "It Takes a Pillage" |  | N22 6:06PM |
| where will it end |  | N21 9:28AM |
| PFP Gubernatorial Candidate Alexander Condemns UC Tuition Hikes |  | N21 8:52AM |
| El Judaismo, un invento |  | N20 12:40PM |
| Sobre Boicot a Flor de Caña y la IRC: CST rechaza iniciativa antiobrera |  | N20 11:44AM |
| |  | N20 11:04AM |
| BTL:Protests in 19th Year Demand Closure of U.S. Military School for Latin American Soldie |  | N20 8:18AM |
| El racismo criminal de rabinos en Israel |  | N20 6:55AM |
| FERNANDO LUGO: EL MORALISTA VIOLADOR Y SECUESTRADOR |  | N20 5:16AM |
| Zhibin Gu: globalization map: China, India, and next stage world politics, finance, leader |  | N19 2:24PM |
| La virgen de guadalupe y los curas |  | N19 9:31AM |
| BTL:Obama Breaks with Latin America on Overturning Honduran Coup |  | N19 9:23AM |
| The Dominance of the Financial Sector is a Mortal Danger |  | N18 4:01PM |
| CUBANUESTRA. NEGOCIADO CON TIERRAS, DE CONSTANTINO Y SILVESTRE I A FERNANDO LUGO |  | N17 5:32PM |
| El partido como antítesis de la Revolución (o el anacronismo de las sectas-partido) |  | N17 4:24PM |
| La crisis financiera explicada de forma sencilla |  | N17 11:49AM |
| A Year of Obama |  | N17 2:48AM |
| Zhibin Gu: China outsourcing, tech, stock market, management lessons |  | N16 6:08PM |
| Honduras. El Imperio contraataca |  | N16 4:05PM |
| Free "Plan B: 4.0. Mobilizing to Save Civilization" |  | N16 3:54PM |
| Good and Bad Choices for Energy Policy and the Environmental Movement 2009-2010 |  | N16 10:19AM |
| AUNG SAN SUU KYI, OMAR KHADR, AND BARACK OBAMA: A DREADFUL TALE OF WHAT AMERICA HAS BECOME |  | N16 3:37AM |
| Tour various Vault Sites and the Hemet facility |  | N16 3:36AM |
| The Hubbard Is Bare |  | N15 9:16AM |
| BTL:Media Spins Nov. 3rd GOP Victories as "Change Election" |  | N15 6:59AM |
| DIARIO SIGLO XXI. ZUNY CASTIÑEIRA, LA MUSA INSPIRADORA DE FERNANDO LUGO Y LÓPEZ PERITO |  | N14 1:31PM |
| Tasar la especulación financiera |  | N13 7:46PM |
| Anti-Fascist Hackers Destroy Holocaust Denier David Irving's Website |  | N13 3:07PM |
| Over 300 Homeless People Expected to Participate: Informational Picketing @ Rivers Casino |  | N13 12:58PM |
| Alexander: Gov. Schwarzenegger Should Investigate A.G. Jerry Brown’s Office |  | N13 8:51AM |
| BTL:Pro Choice Groups Declare War on Anti-Abortion Amendment in Healthcare Bill |  | N13 1:05AM |
| Zhibin Gu: China's corruption vs modern politics, economy, finance and globa financial cri |  | N12 11:58PM |
| The Team is Real |  | N12 7:25PM |
| En defensa del ateismo, la discusión y el pensamiento libre |
Older Newswire Posts
View Hidden Posts
|