The Doctrine of Inevitability

[Doug Henwood]

Max Sawicky wrote:

>Coordination is clearly a problem for a global reflation.
>But if Capital is sufficiently powerful, purposeful,
>and supra-national, it ought to be able to override
>mere national interests for the sake of its own
>survival.

One of the interesting aspects of this economic crisis is the political
crisis that is accompanying it. The Japanese ruling class is dithering,
disorganized, confused; Russia, well, one doesn't need to say anything
about Russia; the EU is in transition to an unknown and potentially
unstable governance structure; and the U.S. is, as Zbiggy said the other
day, "headless" (a strange choice of words given the origins of Clinton's
troubles). Internationally, the IMF is virtually out of both money and
credibility. That's one big difference from the Latin American debt crisis
of the 1980s, when neoliberalism was young and confident.

And capital, even in the most placid of times, is far from supra-national.
We still live in a world of national currencies and central banks, to start
with.

Doug