On Jul 27, 2011, at 3:58 PM, c b wrote: <snip happens>
> 2. So, the Tea Partiers in the House ,who reportedly are taking an
> absolute non-compromise position the there must be enough cuts in
> social programs with no raising taxes on the rich to "balance", are
> sort of rogue in relation to finance capital. The ruling class leaders
> don't want a default.
A question: perhaps nowhere is the interests of global capital better represented than in the IMF. If that’s a fair statement, what does history tell us about the choices of the IMF when it comes down to a choice between a victim defaulting or avoiding such default by easing off on austerity? You mentioned Greece. Against the face of formidable citizen protest the Greek govt is proposing not tax hikes or nationalisation but round after round of benefit cuts and privatisation. Germany (and Co) aren’t going to blink first, even if in the short-term a Greek default might set financiers back.
^^^^^ CB: I believe I follow you. Global capital's relationship to the US is different than its relationship to Greece. The relationship with the US government is not mediated by the IMF, but by Wall Street firms. Also, Greece has a real problem. The US debt is not what its being made out to be, because the US can do things like bailout Wall Street to the tune of 16 trillion when it goes bankrupt. Greece's govt. couldn't do that. So, the whole "default" and debt crisis thing is a complete fraud from the standpoint of the US having lower credit worthiness or ability to pay debts. Us : Greece:: apples:oranges.
^^^^^^^
The ruling class leaders may not want a default, but if they got to severely kneecap the populace in the bargain, why wouldn’t they take it?
^^^^ CB: Well, they certainly wouldn't want to get knee capped themselves ( a default) without knee capping the populace.
^^^^^^
The ruling class has ideological commitments too and are not profit-maximising automatons, I would say - consider Doug and Seth’s post y’day about Bill Gates’s propaganda in favour of KIPP when in fact KIPP is using more money, *his* (Gates’s) money! (It is of course most likely true that their ideological commitments *are* profit-maximising in the long-term).
—ravi
^^^^^^^ CB; Definitely, but they aren't into getting their profits knee capped. That's not being a profit maximising automaton. And they definitely constantly seek to knee cap the working class on the principle of weakening that class on class struggle general principles. They rather do that other than by defaulting the US which would hit them too.