Criminal Capitalism
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Two interesting articles from Paul Mason:
https://medium.com/@paulmasonnews/the-alternative-magna-carta-2585358a750d
With the common theme that criminal activity has become central to modern capitalism:
Quote:And then there’s organised crime. Organised crime is not incidental to capitalism. But in the past 25 years its become far more central. Cybercrime alone is worth betewen $200bn and 400bn a year. The criminal economy of Britain is probably as large as the university sector….In fact the longer you stare at the spectacle of modern capitalism the more you wonder why nobody talks about this openly: the official, honest world — the institutions, the city livery companies, the top floor piano bar at the Hilton Hotel… is pervated by money and people engaged in organised crime.Young Master Smeet wrote:Two interesting articles from Paul Mason:https://medium.com/@paulmasonnews/the-alternative-magna-carta-2585358a750dhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/14/global-cybercrime-infected-soul-capitalism-evil-financial-systemWith the common theme that criminal activity has become central to modern capitalism:Quote:And then there’s organised crime. Organised crime is not incidental to capitalism. But in the past 25 years its become far more central. Cybercrime alone is worth betewen $200bn and 400bn a year. The criminal economy of Britain is probably as large as the university sector….In fact the longer you stare at the spectacle of modern capitalism the more you wonder why nobody talks about this openly: the official, honest world — the institutions, the city livery companies, the top floor piano bar at the Hilton Hotel… is pervated by money and people engaged in organised crime.The solution in both articles is based on the faulty assumption that capitalism can be controlled. And that once controlled the framework engineers its own demise.And pigs may fly.
I don't think that's what he's suggesting, more that if held to its own rules capitalism would eventually self destruct, or transmute into something else..
I was reminded of this article:http://www.theguardian.com/global/2009/dec/13/drug-money-banks-saved-un-cfief-claims
Quote:Antonio Maria Costa, head of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said he has seen evidence that the proceeds of organised crime were "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks on the brink of collapse last year. He said that a majority of the $352bn (£216bn) of drugs profits was absorbed into the economic system as a result.So, not only did criminal enterprise save capitalism, but it became a big part of the legitimate holdings of many businesses. I suppose there is a big question of the role of organised crime in primary accumulation…
Young Master Smeet wrote:I don't think that's what he's suggesting, more that if held to its own rules capitalism would eventually self destruct, or transmute into something else..Which is only paraphrasing what I've said. The ideal of the market place operating under some kind of rules and the reality exemplify that the only rule of capitalism is to exchange commodities under the prevailing conditions. Whether or not those prevailing conditions are legal or illegal are immaterial to the exchange of commodities. Thus so long as the exchange of commodities is perpetuated capitalism wont self destruct or transmute into something else.Mason is not, and never will, introduce something novel – its old bloody hat!
Well, he has provided a novel analysis both of Magna Carta and of present consitions in the light of the model of the transition from feudalism to capitalism…
Young Master Smeet wrote:Well, he has provided a novel analysis both of Magna Carta and of present consitions in the light of the model of the transition from feudalism to capitalism…But those conditions from feudalism to capitalism do not relate to the revolutionary process from capitalism to socialism. The revolutionary process of the past is not applicable to a revolution carried out by a majority.His mindset is on the lines of a minority of capitalists carrying out the next revolution. In short, according to him, capitalism is not fully developed until most of the (ideal) rules and regulations are in place. He's assummng that capital as a whole is open to manipulation by a minority of big capitalist cooperations. He's not novel in this sense for Rifkin is arguing along much the same lines.Nope pigs definately don't fly!
No, he's saying that the rules are outmoded, capitalism has gone beyond its founding ideas. Thus even taking capitalism ack to its own ideological formation would probably destroy it.Now, forgive me if I'm wrong here, but the point of Marx's historical materialism is that the process of one social form outgrowing its own logic and becoming something else is applicable to several stages of society. The revolutionary method may differ between revolutions, but the basic motor doesn't.If capitalism has (long since) stopped operating in terms of it's own self-image, that is an interesting and useful thing to consider.
Young Master Smeet wrote:No, he's saying that the rules are outmoded, capitalism has gone beyond its founding ideas. Thus even taking capitalism ack to its own ideological formation would probably destroy it.Now, forgive me if I'm wrong here, but the point of Marx's historical materialism is that the process of one social form outgrowing its own logic and becoming something else is applicable to several stages of society. The revolutionary method may differ between revolutions, but the basic motor doesn't.If capitalism has (long since) stopped operating in terms of it's own self-image, that is an interesting and useful thing to consider.And I'm saying there were never any rules to start with other than the exchange of commodities and that's a logic its not outgrown. Its self-image is a caricature whereas the reality is about legalised robbery in the act of exchange. The self-image is a myth promoted by the likes of Mason who would have us believe that the sectional interests of capitalism are surmountable through more cooperation and less competition.The pigs are still not airborne!You right about the basic motor not differing but wrong to assume that capitalism has outgrown its own logic. The logic is still about the exchange of commodities. Once a majority determine that the capitalist logic does not apply to their interests then that logic becomes redundant.
So, when companies cease to be about exchange of commodities, but forceable extraction, extortion and rent seeking, that is a different logic.Nor is Mason suggesting that sectional interests are surmountable through more co-operation and less competition (in fact that's the xact opposite of what he said).
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jun/04/hsbc-fined-278m-over-money-laundering-claims
Quote:HSBC has been ordered to pay a record 40m Swiss francs (£28m) and been given a final warning by the Geneva authorities for “organisational deficiencies” which allowed money laundering to take place in the bank’s Swiss subsidiary.http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/15/hsbc-has-form-mexico-laundered-drug-money
Quote:Much of the money swilling into HSBC from the cartel came through an apparently small exchange house, Casa de Cambio Puebla. The bank would later protest that it knew not whence the money came, but Puebla had been under investigation by Mexican and US Federal authorities for two years when HSBC was caught, for handling a staggering $376bn of suspect money for an American bank, Wachovia. Wachovia was punished with a “deferred prosecution” – a yellow card; none of its employees was arrested.and
Quote:The bank was fined more than Wachovia, a record $1.9bn. But this was less than five weeks’ income for HSBC’s American subsidiary.The point of digging out this one bank, is to see bioth the scale of the operation, and the way in which states are benefiting, those millions and billions of dollars in fines came from profits from illicit financial dealings.
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