Article by Jorge Cadima, member of the International Department of the CC
It undoubtedly produces a certain effect to read Alan Greenspan’s recent statements, he who occupied the most influential USA financier post (President of the Federal Reserve) between 1987 and 2006. Two months after his nomination by Ronald Reagan, the world markets suffered an historical meltdown. In a single day (the 19th October 1987) the New York market fell 22,7%, the greatest daily fall, up to now. During two decades, Greenspan did everything to avoid the (inevitable) capitalist system crisis explosion, keeping it up unto an illusive good health, through successive speculative "bubbles" and artificial credit injections.
Initially, helped by the enormous sums of money, in result of the counter-revolution plunders in Eastern Europe, Greenspan presided, afterwards, to the technological "new economy" bubble, the market bubble, the most recent housing sector bubble. Each speculative bubble postponed the falling in, but at the same time, allowed the future explosion to be more and more devastating. Greenspan was the neo-liberal creed Pope, an active promoter of the "economic non-regulation", the "free markets", the unlimited exploitation and the anti-Welfare State.
The official mythology was followed by a real and colossal conveyance of wealth, which emptied the pockets of the peoples’ and the workers’ from all over the world (including the USA working class), in order to fill, beyond all imagination, a parasite and corrupt class, which convinced itself (and many incautious) it was almighty and invincible by being more intelligent than the mere mortals, to which it condemned, so many times, to lives deprived of hope and to premature deaths.
But the financial drug addiction could not elude reality, eternally. In scarcely six months ( which seem an eternity), the formerly almighty financial system crashed, and the mythical car industry became bankrupt. The productive economy is demolishing, at frightening scales all over the world. Millions of workers have already lost their jobs. The capitalist countries governments are sailing at sight ("following the stars"), in the words of our Finance Minister who –can you imagine!– spoke out the truth). The "intelligent" seem to set out, towards the achievement of colliding simultaneously in Cila and Caribdes. The falling out reveals itself everyday, worse than the darkest of the scenarios.
And now Greenspan brings to light "it might be necessary to temporarily nationalize some banks, so that a fast and orderly restructuring might be facilitated. It seems to be what is undergone every hundred years" (Financial Times, 2009.02.18). The capitalism Pope (wild, by nature) confesses that the God he had been preaching is not almighty, nor omniscient. But the most optimist must be free from illusions. The confession does not reveal any desire in facing reality. It reveals but the desire to rescue the dominant class, its true God: that same nationalization "will allow the government to transfer the poisonous securities onto a "discredited bank", thus avoiding the problem of conferring them a price".
A " discredited bank" is currently the used slang to name a dustbin (public), where to throw in, the marvellous "new financial instruments"( private) which now are said to be "toxic" in other words, worthless. The markets’ chief-spokesman wants to avoid markets to "deliver a price" to its creations, for it knows the verdict. Markets, only but when worthwhile (and profit). In Cinderella’s story, false wealth turned into pumpkins, which, at least would be somewhat useful and bearing nutritional value. But, within Greenspan’s and Socrates’ reality world, false wealth is poisonous. And, therefore, they want to empty it, unto the hands of those who live on their work.
But, for those who have suffered so much under that capitalist feast, during the last decades, certainly have different ideas on the fate to be given to the remainders of that feast. And about what has to be done "once in every hundred years". Earth has begun to tremble shake, from Greece to Guadalupe, from Iceland to Eastern Europe.
