> Chris Beggy wrote:
>
> > The current government may kill finance capital before it has a chance
> > to mend its ways and help repair manufacturing and social capital.
>
> An unusual rant. If I remember correctly, you're into Hardt-Negri, right?
( not just aitchenen, sometimes eminem too)
> Is this neo-SaintSimonism? Non-national non-located investment
> bankers planning the global economy, primarily in the interest of the
> largest (and poorest) segment of the world population? The idea has an
> interesting history (the Pereire brothers), but in practice can't think
> of an instance where finance capital in fact acted on behalf of the
> largest (and poorest) segment of the population instead of the usual
> swine segment.
If you are saying that financiers act in their self interest, I agree. To the extent that my rant above denies this, it is wrong.
I had nothing theoretical in mind, but just the idea that when capitalism breaks, the tradition in the US is that government at *least* makes the capitalists play nicely with each other for a while. If it breaks because of an asset bubble like the US has had, damage from the misallocation of capital must be repaired, and financiers are needed to accomplish that.
That's all very conventional, probably historical. Thanks for reminding me that I enjoy looking at things through Hardt and Negri goggles.
In the chapter, Generation and Corruption, H&N give the example of the progressive telos of capitalism breaking down, leaving nothing essential but corruption. They go on to say that corruption loses the ability to play a role in restoring values in Empire.
> Or perhaps it's descriptive of their current distressed state of mind.
> If that's the case, is neoSaintSimonism an alternate and potentially
> antisystemic - that is, to the US empire system - ideology available
> to them? Has it surfaced? NeoSaintSimonian Yankees vs. the
> petroleorealistimperial Cowboys?
No, it was a rant, descriptive of *my* current distressed state of mind.
And speaking of yankees, I forgot to throw in the absence of the Yankees from the AL championship series and the 0-4 record of the St. Louis Rams as stimulating. H&N will have much more to explain about Empire in their upcoming work.
Chris