[lbo-talk] Behind The Drums Of War With Iran: Weapons of Compound Interest

wrobert at uci.edu wrobert at uci.edu
Wed Nov 14 15:06:54 PST 2007



> No one talked about shielding it from criticism; the objection is to
> singling it out for special criticism. Why was J.P. Morgan any worse
> than Andrew Carnegie?
>
> ^^^^^
> CB: Those who single out finance capital for special criticism may be
> making some valid criticisms of finance capital, even when they don't
> make criticisms of other sectors of capital. And there is this pattern
> ( for example, when this came up on PEN-L) of rejecting their criticisms
> of finance capital out of hand , because they don't criticize
> non-finance capital. Just because they don't knock profit doesn't mean
> they are wrong that interest should be abolished. We can fill in the
> anti-profit half, while cheering their anti-interest half. If they can
> get interest abolished, we have a much better chance of abolishing
> profit. Abolishing interest is an interesting reform demand.
>
> When somebody says "abolish interest" ! It's a dodge to respond, "no
> don't abolish interest , because you aren't also saying abolish profit
> as well. " The best answer is " You are right: abolish interest. And
> abolish profit, too"
>
>
> Also, I'm not sure all those who single out interest for criticism are
> anti-semitic. Has somebody shown a one-to-one correspondence between
> anti-semitism and anti-interest theory ? The anti-semitism charge is
> used to squash discussion of anti-interest theories.
>
> I seem to hear a lot more singling out of profit over interest for
> criticism by the left.
>
> Also, isn't there some sense in which finance capital does dominate
> industrial capital today ? Isn't finance capital topdog ? Didn't
> Carnegie or his progeny become a banker - Carnegie-Mellon ? Shouldn't
> there be special criticism of finance capital in the era of finance
> capital ?

Charles, the problem with the monomaniacal focus on interest is that it naturalizes the structures of domination that exist in surplus value itself. Financial institutions may play a role in organizing that domination, but it's role is imeshed in the system of domination. There isn't a one to one correspondence to these theories, but they are analogous in their mystifying function. It is also important to note that anti-semitic argumentation tends to draw on the unnatural nature of interest and anti-interest advocates frequently fall into anti-semitism. Let me turn to Horkheimer and Adorno for the anti-semiticism side.

"Bourgeois anti-Semitism has a specific economic reason: the concealment of domination in production. In earlier ages the rulers were directly repressive and not only left all work to the lower classes but declared work to be a disgrace, as it always was under domination; and in a mercantile age, the industrial boss is absolute monarch. Production attracts its own courtiers. The new rulers simply took off the bright garb of the nobility and donned civilian clothing. They declared that work was not degrading, so as to control the others more rationally. They claimed to be creative workers, but in reality they were still the overlords of former times. The manufacturer calculated, arranged, bought and sold. On the market he competedfor the profit corresponding to his own capital. He seized all he could, not only on the market but at the very source: as a representative of his class he made sure that his workers did not sell him short with their labor. The workers had to supply the maximum amount of goods. Like Shylock, the bosses demand their pound of flesh. They owned the machines and materials, and therefore compelled others to produce for them. They called themselves producers, but secretly everyone knew the truth. The productive work of the capitalist, whether he justifies his profit by means of gross returns as under liberalism, or by his director's salary as today, is an ideology cloaking the real nature of the labor contract and the grasping character of the economic system.

And so the people shout: Stop thief!--but point at the Jews. They are scapegoats not only for individual maneuvers and machinations but in a broader sense, inasmuch as the economic injustice of the whole class is attributed to them.... The merchant presents them with the bill which they have signed away to the manufacturer. The merchant is the bailiff of the whole system and takes the hatred of others upon himself. The responsibility of the circulation sector for exploitation is a socially necessary pretense." (Horkheimer and Adorno 174)

robert wood



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