Fwd: [Marxism] [microsound] Greek crisis and Europe

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Subject: [Marxism] [microsound] Greek crisis and Europe
Date: Wed, 05 May 2010 02:00:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: szg <gafourov at yandex.ru>
Reply-To: Activists and scholars in Marxist tradition <marxism at lists.econ.utah.edu>
To: aorta <aorta at home.nl>


S. Gafurov, D. Mitina
Abstracts on the Greek crisis and United Europe.

The logic of the Greek crisis is rather simple.
1. German big capital has always been in need of markets, and assured
sources of raw materials. They translated to the language of propaganda  it
as a requirement of "living space" and United Europe.
2. While Germany's capital was in a political alliance with the Prussian
Junkers to get  markets Germany tried to conquer them in wars - with France
in 1813 and 1815, with Austria, Denmark, France (1870), the first and second
world wars. The results were not always good - the competitors were strong.
3. But the existence of the GDR destroyed Prussianism. Prussianism, Prussian
spirit - this is not a national  feature. It is the socio-economic  feature
, based on the largest capitalized latifundies in conditions of low soil
fertility, poor land and permanent war, a kind of Frontier. Present-day
Germany, the materialized dream of Frederick the Great, Bismarck, Kaiser
Wilhelm and Corporal Schicklgruber of the united Europe - is no longer a
country of the Prussian Junkers. The superpower (and now also the United
Europe) is ruled by Bavarians, Rein, Mainz, Hessians capitalists distant
from Prussian militarism. They too have their own militarism, and the fate
of Yugoslavia has demonstrated it, but it is quite different militarism.
Capital knows no nationality, no religion. Money does not smell, especially
the big money.
4.Germany has successfully eliminated industry in countries of southern and
eastern Europe during the process of unification of Europe. However Germanic
industry continued to grow.
5. By bankrolling and the existence of de-facto single emission center of
the euro Germany managed to support the position of masters of life (ruling
classes) in Greece, Spain, Portugal and even Italy.
6. Capital structure in South Europe is different from Germanybecause of
historical tradition of attracting capital. For example, for private
enterprises in Southern Europe are characterized by a desire to avoid
selling shares of their enterprises, while maintaining complete control over
them. Companies attracted additional capital primarily in the form of loans.
7. At the South capital does not like to dissolute, and the profits are
derived from the ownership of enterprises. In contrast, in Germany, the main
income is formally obtained through capital management, rather than through
dividends, for example, through the submission of loans controlled by banks.
Credit is becoming much more important resource of capital than equity of a
company owned by shareholders, the loans can be much greater than equity.
If, say, the liabilities of the company is ten times more than funds raised
from the IPO, then at the rate on loans at 10%, the company will annually
pay creditors an amount equal to all the funds of shareholders.
8. When one states that one or another large company is "owned" or
"controlled" by a financial group, it usually refers to the fact that this
company is financially served by credit institutions, belonging to the
group. That is, for example, if a company takes from a group a loan under
the current rate of LIBOR +1% for the amount of one billion, for the group,
which has huge limits on the interbank market, 1% of a billion is actually
risk-free money yearly profit. There are a lot of capitalists wishing to
obtain these benefits, and the struggle for these funds is very tough. In
addition, the creditors usually have an opportunity to operate the current
balance in the accounts of the company. They are usually very large. As a
result, it appears that the financial group takes money from the company and
gives back to it as a debt of the same company and gets its share of surplus
value.
9. In Germany the real owners of companies do not fear to distribute the
shares within the small investors because the control of the company can be
achieved without concentrating of ownership of its shares in the hands of
the controlling group. The company's activities usually are governed by a
Board of Directors, and legally defined procedure for the election of its
members actually leads to co-optation of new members of the Board of
Directors by the old members, which ensures the continuity of real control
over the company to original owners. Moreover, it turns out that the
ownership is more risky and less profitable than simply binding the company
to take credits for its business of certain banks that belong to real
owners. On the one hand, it reduces taxes (some taxes are paid by small
investors, rather than by the present owners), and on the other – it
minimizes the risks of a failed business. If the company will suffer losses,
it will damage the shareholders, however, as credit lenders (the real owners
of the nominally independent legal entities) will be paid according to
existing legislation including at the expense of small investors that have
invested in the capital of the company.
10. Perhaps the capital of Southern Europe in time, too, will go on this
way, but until now the situation has been fundamentally different. Tradition
and inertia in economic structures create a different model.
11. For ensuring profits through capital flows, as it is in Germany and not
through the property (as in the South of Europe) strong currency is
extremely important. Enters euro. For profits from ownership strong currency
is not that important. If a factory belongs to a capitalist, inflation of
drachma it is not so threatening as it is for a the financier who provided
loans to this factory.
12. The interests of the Greek industrial capital suffered from strong euro
through losing competition with the Germanic corporations, but the Germans
could at that time to pay off from them. The German and French banks and
financial companies had given Greece a huge amount of cheap credit.
13. Under the slogan of the liberal destruction of internal barriers it was
told to the Greeks and other Spaniards that in the United Europe it should
be all the same, where the economy is growing - in Munich or in Patras, and
the strong euro is good. The Portuguese and the Greeks believed. Their
confidence was backed by loans. As one Belarusian journalist wrote on
Greece: “The piglet was fed for a hard day to come” (in Belorussian it
sounds!).
14. A strong currency is good only for the economy of the main emission
center, that is, Germany and to a lesser extent France. Smart Scandinavian
and British policy-makers understood that and did not enter the euro zone.
The Greeks, who rightly consider themselves as the center of Mediterranean
trade, entered the euro zone. Strong Euro is a benefit for trade capital. It
is bad for industry.
15. As a result of this industry of southern Europe had been destroyed. No,
Fiat, Eni and Telefonica are safe, but the vast majority of enterprises, for
example, precision machinery, simply disappeared, as, for example, chemical
industry, shipyards and mines.
16. Industrial jobs are destroyed, the authorities said that the
specialization of Southern Europe in Joint Europe is the service sector. In
practice this means that a Greek miller should become a waiter and serve
German tourists with coffee, and his daughter should be a prostitute at
service the U.S. Navy sailors in the Mediterranean.
17. In fact, liberalism has shown itself completely - survival of the
fittest. The strongest was the industry of Germany. No, capital is not evil
or malicious, it is simply indifferent to everything except their profits,
but that is why it aims for less expensive means to achieve the maximization
of profits. And they began the destruction of Greek industry. That was
cheaper.
18. In this conditions, in the European Union transfer of inefficient
industries from Germany to less developed countries with cheaper and higher
exploited working class took place, but capital went to the European
countries that were outside the euro area – to the East and not to the
South.
19. Germanic and French banks have financed the Greek loans. Now, in the
event of default and exit of Greece from the euro area back to the drachma
they will suffer. It is just to avoid such losses of their banks the EU and
the IMF agreed to print more money and give it to the Greek government. The
amount of this money most likely, is enough for the first payment to banks.
Their losses, at least, are delayed, and further something could change.
Maybe through the printing machine. It is a choice of two evils, ending, as
usual, with a compromise. It is not clear, is it a good compromise or bad
one".
20. It seems that in Greece, they still are preparing for default. Leaving
the euro zone, denial of credits or transfer the loans to new drachma with
sharp and rapid inflation will mean the actual depreciation of the debt. It
can save big Greek capital. But it is too tied to Germany. And the political
forces at service of the Greek capital is less powerful than the Germanic
capital political servants. But the capital rules the world only if it is
allowed by the dispossessed and disadvantaged. And the Greeks, and
Spaniards, Portuguese and Italians have already shown that voluntarily they
will not agree to the deterioration of their lives...
21. In Europe, which was forced to agree to credit the Greek budget, there
is full understanding that the money will not be paid back by Greece they
have no source.
22. The European ruling class is sure that if Greece now collapses, then the
left-wing coalition - the Communists in alliance with the anarchists and the
far-left parties there will come to power. Some of the left are speaking for
“re-negotiation of the debt”( SYRIZA and the Maoist KOE); the KKE( Communist
Party) ignores the issue, anarchists speak about a repudiation of the
foreign debt in the way that Correa in Ecuador did, and the USFI section
preach to solve the problem in the way that Kirchner in Argentina did. The
EEK calls for the cancellation of the debt to the international usurers and
nationalization of all banks. The situation, Spain and Portugal is similar.
And in other small countries - Finland, Iceland, Denmark, in Italy the debt
can be become critical.
23. But Germany's capital as well as Greek capital is ready to use armed
force to resolve their market problems, although in the arsenal of the
industrial and financial capital there are peaceful methods. The war,
especially war against its own people is an expensive thing.
24. Now peacefulness of the ruling classes is based solely on the goodwill
of their own. Will it be always the same? This a question and a concern. We
have no means to force them to be peaceful.

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