The main argument of (Kliman 2012KLIMAN, A. The failure of capitalist production: underlying causes of the great recession. London: Pluto, 2012.) points to the historical and persistent trend of profit rate fall in the US economy throughout the postwar period. The following graph, compiled by Kliman, shows the evolution of the profit rate of the corporate sector of industrial and financial companies of the US economy when the stock of fixed capital is measured at historical cost and profit is estimated as the sum of all property income. In this Graph 1, the profit rate, in deflated values, presents a clear downward trend throughout the post World War II period.
Quite differently than was done in the period in which the social protection of the European and American State of Welfare developed, it was no longer the industrial capital that led the movement of capital. Mainly from the 1980s, we can see the resurgence of capital producer interest in a consistent manner, and he goes on to determine the economic and social relations of contemporary capitalism. "The interest-bearing capital", with its unfolding in the form of fictitious capital, adds (Chesnais 2005CHESNAIS, F. O capital portador de Juros: acumulação, internacionalização, efeitos econômicos e políticas. In: ______. A finança mundializada: raízes sociais e políticas, configuração, consequências. São Paulo: Boitempo; 2005. p. 35-67., p. 35), "seeks to 'make money' without leaving the financial sphere, in the form of loan interest, dividends and other payments for own shares and, finally, interests generated by successful speculation".
novissimo receituario industrial pdf 12
When you assign to the contemporary moment of capitalism the main idea of dominance of the financial value (the interest-bearing capital in its unfolding as fictitious capital) does not mean that financial recovery is more important than the productive value under the quantitative aspect, although financial wealth has been growing steeply over the past three decades, as mentioned before3434The idea that contemporary capitalism is characterized by "financialization" has been accepted in the field of Marxist political economists in recent decades. However, it is important to distinguish their different views, albeit in very brief form. Our vision is supported mainly on the work of Chesnais, as shown. Therefore, we use the work of Callinicos (2010), professor of King's College of London, which exposes three different interpretations: 1) The first view believes that "finance", specifically financial institutions, is economically dominant. Three French Marxist economists are highlighted: Gérard Duménil, Dominique Lévy, and François Chesnais. The first two interpret neoliberalism as "the restoration of finance hegemony". The third takes the view that, since 1980, capitalism lives under a regime of accumulation with dominance of financial recovery; 2) The second view emphasizes the growing autonomy of the financial sector, practically defended by Costas Lapavtisas, professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London; 3) The third marks the integration of a wide range of participants in financial markets, banks, financial investors, industrial and financial capitalists and also the common working class that owns real estate in advanced economies. The main authors are: Itoh and Costas Lapavitsas. For a more detailed discussion of this subject, see Callinicos (2010), Chapter 1..
The purpose is to highlight that the prevalence of financial valuation is more qualitative than quantitative. In the capital movement, in this period, there was priority of different strategies to recover their profit rate, using various mechanisms such as: job insecurity, lower wages, transfer of industrial plants to places where wages are less high, among others (Marques; Nakatani, 2011MARQUES, R.; NAKATANI, P. A crise mundial e a economia brasileira. O Olho da História, Salvador, n. 16, jul. 2011. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 25 nov. 2011.)3535In addition, it is important to note that the capital strength of the movement to promote such changes was such that there were significant losses in the working world. Marques and Nakatani (2011) point to the defeat of the strikes of aviators in the United States and the miners in Britain in early 1980. They also add the following clashes: "later, this correlation of forces was intensified by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. To complete this picture, which for the first time placed the workers in an actual global competition, China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001" (IBID., p. 3).. 2ff7e9595c