THE AGE OF SPECULATIVE CAPITAL AND GLOBAL CIRCULATION FIGHTS (2)

by Achim Szepanski

The financial investors, who focus primarily on the realization of short-term profits, are today important players in the financial markets. In their own interest in the markets, they observe all the news that points to better profits for companies, as well as their observation of the attractiveness of nation states, and it is particularly gratifying for governments to announce budgetary cuts, curtail social benefits and to reduce the regulations on the financial markets. The valuation of individual human capital also depends on similar criteria, such as the speculation about future qualifications and the question of flexibility and adaptability of the employees.
​
Just as the working-class movement has always denounced exploitation in wage-bargaining and sought new forms of negotiation and struggle, according to Michel Feher, today's activists fighting in the sphere of circulation should use their opponents' skills and forms of negotiation, In so far as it concerns the manner of speculation, to invent new forms of struggle itself, ie the Investee activism itself should change the conditions of accreditation of capital, even play the game of self-fulfilling prophecy of investors to something to that Feher calls "counter-speculation." It is important to constantly confuse the governance of the states and the investment activity of the companies and at the same time increase the attractiveness of their own practical alternatives,

Today's big companies always create a dominant shareholder / owner relationship with a number of other players, including managers who are not only responsible for increasing dividends over wages and reinvestments, but also constantly worrying about increasing stock market valuation of companies. This "corporative governance" is not geared to the endogenous growth of companies, as was the case with management in Fordism, but is primarily about the valorisation of the financial assets that companies represent in the eyes of investors. Instead of the long-term profits that result from the sale of goods, it's about the methods of short-term capitalization,​

​On the one hand, a certain responsibility towards the stakeholders must be preserved, but without losing sight of the performance for investors for just one second. If it is the role of the managers to focus on the stock market value of the companies, this also very quickly affects the very different interests of different groups of stakeholders. If the social impact of measures that are necessary for investors to gain confidence in a company is generally negative for stakeholders, then they will have to consider whether to formulate their claims on investors together rather than their particular interests to follow. To develop a class consciousness of the stakeholders to share a common antagonism is therefore necessary, but not enough, to achieve joint mobilization. The organizations that represent the various stakeholder interests - trade unions, consumer groups, fair trade propagandists, environmental activists, etc. - must look after the various relationships and "links" between the particular interests of the stakeholders and strive for any kind of subversive cooperation. Stakeholders should also strive to "simulate" the methods of the credit rating agencies, which are important players in the financial markets when it comes to evaluating the short-term projects of financial investors, by creating their own organizations that send signals to investors that point to the social and environmental accountability of companies and the fact that Failure to comply with certain standards can even lead to business losses. This concerns, for example, the "global print" of companies, their influence on the climate, the health of workers, working conditions and the influence on state budgets. Feher calls on stakeholder organizations to develop something like a "common accreditation index" that takes into account labor laws, environmental protection, consumer protection and the fight against tax cuts for corporations.

​As financial capitalism became hegemonic, the influence of the tripartite relationship responsible for Fordism - entrepreneurs, workers, and state employees - receded and was overshadowed by the triangular interaction between shareholders, managers, and stakeholders. But even if the influence of the states has declined, they are not disappearing from the scene, but they are in a dual dependency in the developed countries. On the one hand, governments are still dependent on the electorate, but on the other hand, they must constantly defend the interests of the people consider financial investors. While the first aspect concerns democratic legitimacy, the second concerns the size and design of households.

The economic stagnation that hit most industrialized countries following the exhaustion of the Fordist model of capital accumulation, as well as new opportunities for capital owners (made possible by floating currencies, energy liberalization, and deregulation of financial markets), seriously curtailed the autonomy of states. When productivity in mass production stagnated in the 1970s, governments had to adjust wages to prices for fear of further worker and student protests. This kind of inflation, which was supposed to ensure social peace, quickly met with the reluctance of financial asset holders who refused to accept the depreciation of their portfolios.

​The savings moved more into speculative investments than productive investment, due to the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, with its fixed exchange rates, oil price volatility and new financial instruments/derivatives. It was Paul Volcker, the head of the Fed, who in the late 1970s focused the US government's interests on the supply of money and the support of financial investment owners, triggering a dramatic rise in interest rates. In a period of declining growth rates, this shock led to the cessation of the inflationary developments that were part of Keynesian politics. Volcker's monetary asceticism and Reagan's corporate tax credits that speculators from all over the world went to the US capital markets because of the high returns of investment and the favorable fiscal regime. At the same time, while the sudden inflow of foreign money capital led to a rapid fall in interest rates, all developed-country governments made raising their investors' financial attractiveness an absolute priority for investors. The monetary and fiscal policy of Keynesianism came to an end. that all the governments of the developed countries made investing in the financial attractiveness of their territories an absolute priority for investors. The monetary and fiscal policy of Keynesianism came to an end. that all the governments of the developed countries made investing in the financial attractiveness of their territories an absolute priority for investors. The monetary and fiscal policy of Keynesianism came to an end.

It is the power of financial investors to blame for declining wages and the dismantling of the welfare state. The abolition of legal and administrative barriers, facilitating both the circulation of capital at international level and financial activities, and allowing the creation of new financial instruments, was also a prerequisite for financial investors to be competitive both in business and in business States could influence massively. Therefore, the accreditation, the valuation of capital, should be judged regardless of the consequences for distribution and production. If, on the other hand, labor disputes are no longer as important as in Fordism, that does not mean that they have lost all their value, because the experiences which can be drawn from them also remain relevant to today's social movements. But if we live in a time when capital accumulation is driven by finance, then new forms of struggle must necessarily be developed.

translated by Dejan Stojkovski

taken from:

non.copyriot