[lbo-talk] "Clash of Civilizations, or Capital Accumulation?" by Jonathan Nitzan and Shimshon Bichler

[Michael Pollak]

On Fri, 6 Aug 2004, Doug Henwood wrote:

>> 5. Global dominant capital is rather happy to see inflation in the offing.
>
> I think Nitazn & Bichler are right about oil prices, but "dominant capital" 
> isn't necessarily happy about it.

Unless I'm misunderstanding, the only things Nitzan and Bichler are right 
about are the things no one ever questioned.  Propositions 1-3, that the 
war would drive up oil prices, were subscribed to by everyone who thought 
invading Iraq would lead to chaos in one form or another, which is just 
about the entire anti-war movement from Chirac to Chuck0. Their only 
original contribution seems to be in propositions 4 and 5 -- that 
inflation has been unleashed and that capital is happy about it -- and on 
the face of it both those propositions seem diametrically wrong: there is 
no serious inflation threat anywhere and yet the markets are already 
terrified even at the thought of it.  Europe has arguably been paralyzed 
by this fear -- it might have just snuffed out an incipient recovery by 
convincing them to keep the monetary choker pulled tight.  Instead of 
inflation, higher oil prices seem to have led to slower growth, which 
contradicts the last of their points, that they would be good for 
accumulation.

Am I missing something?

Michael