Categoria: contemporary socio-economic situation

BREXIT – is that actually the real topic

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in academic life - living in academia, contemporary socio-economic situation, general, thoughts on life and its philosophy

I was just approached by Yang Yuhan, asking for my opinion on the results in the UK.

I mentioned in a brief note some of the problems, e.g. that the result may be just the date of preparing a new referendum (as it happened so often), that the claimed economic strength by the “leavers” may be just another illusion but also that it is a strategy of one country to look for advantage on the back of others.
And then I said, “as it had been the case with (in particular) the German-Greek relationship.
As Yang said she would not know about Germany-Greece-relationships
 I answered in a nutshell – more is barely possible via QQ:
Perhaps we meet at some stage again, and we can chat. Too much to write …: Germany forced Greece to take loans, knowing that they would not be able to repay. Germany also kept the economy of Greece down, not allowing them to develop – we talked about world-systems, center-periphery etc. in the workshop. After a while the Germans said: now you have to return the money. And because you cannot do it “easily”, we dictate the conditions under which you do it. In consequnece, for instance, the social security systems had been dismantled (people getting 60 % of the retirement they expected, and it must in many cases serve the entire family; the health system is deteriorating; children cannot go to school, or they cannot concentrate because they are hungry …), the ariports had been “bought” by the German FRAPORT (Frankfurt airport), without proper pay …
Of course, the Germans could rely o their “European supporters” and the IMF and the World Bank but still they had been the main drivers.
And I directed her to things I wrote earlier – about Two Dreams and One Nightmare, there looking in particular at the second dream. Indeed, many things had been not known to the public, they had been veiled in populist disguises, hiding the
 And so we may even take up on people like Churchill who said, in a different context:
This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is perhaps the end of the beginning.
And as Henry added in the mail he sent a few minutes ago:
the beginning of the complete disintegration of the EU….
Cunning of unreason – including the unreason of populist movements back in the other home? There was one star in Bethlehem, now there are five in Rome …
Just received another mail . actually taking up on the point I alluded to in the blog entry:
“The triumph of malign populism and a betrayal of the younger generation.”
Yes, there had been some betrayal, and my generation is guilty, if not directly betraying, allowing those others they dirty business …
Seeing all this in a wider context, I just feel miserable, actually since a couple of days already, the BREXIT is only a small part. It is about “us” – the elderly, the Europeans, the “better Europeans” … all these … “superiors” who claim to know everything and know everything better, and in which way ever, it is differ difficult to “escape”, difficult to remain sane and honest, and the only thing ome can do is to talk to some students, encouraging them …, to do what we cannot do anymore to the extent to which we want: move on and be honest …. – but also considered, not following the populist tendencies that lurk around everywhere, making education to a fun-park.

Searching for a new way of Thinking Society for Today

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, social quality, thoughts on life and its philosophy, works, works, projects, publications

A new piece, written together with Vyacheslav N. Bobkov, is titled

Searching for a new way of Thinking Society for Today—Noospheric Social quality

It is published in Volume 12, Issue 2 of the journal Ekonomika regiona [Economy of Region], on pages 451-462 (doi 10.17059/2016–2–11)

The abstract states:

Obviously, we face an economic crisis that dominates the headlines of daily newspapers, academic journals and features as the title of TV-and-radio casts alike. And, not withstanding political differences, there is widespread consensus that the economic crisis is only the tip of an iceberg. However, there is little readiness to go beyond the inherited fundamental assumptions of a “modern industrial capitalist market society”.
The article argues that all the categories are increasingly under threat. The social quality, the quality of life and the noosphere paradigm of global social development offer space for considerations that question societal developments not only on the phenomenological level. Instead, the authors ventilate gnoseological, ontological and axiological prerequisites of sustainable global social development. The noosphere paradigm is
enriched with the theories of social quality and the quality of life, thus contributing to the wider and diverse debates on what can be called people’s humanistic socialism. In view of the complexity of the impending transition from the present to a future global society with people’s humanistic socialism, it is necessary to plan it thoroughly, beginning with the support of the processes and institutions that currently provide a seedbed;
developing new transformational forms of the future features of global society has to go hand in hand with this. It makes sense to carry on with the conceptualization of questions bearing on the formation of nooshpheric social quality and its design.

Further information cane found on the researchgate site – https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Peter_Herrmann

Un manifiesto de 177 economistas pide el voto para Unidos Podemos

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in academic life - living in academia, contemporary socio-economic situation, general
ELECCIONES GENERALES

Un manifiesto de 177 economistas pide el voto para Unidos Podemos

Académicos como Thomas Piketty o Vicenç Navarro apoyan el texto

[… y también algunas luces más pequeñas ;-)]

Un total de 177 economistas de universidades españolas e internacionales ha suscrito un manifiesto que reclama el fin de las políticas de austeridad en España y en Europa, y pide el voto para la candidatura de Unidos Podemos a las elecciones generales del próximo 26 de junio. El texto —que firman expertos como Thomas Piketty, de la Escuela de Economía de París; Viçenc Navarro, de la Universidad Pompeu Fabra (ambos asesoraron a Podemos con su programa); o Ann Pettifor, asesora del líder laborista Jeremy Corbyn— asegura que el programa de la coalición “servirá para poner punto final a las políticas de austeridad en España y, con ello, servirá también para abrir un nuevo tiempo en Europa”. ….

 

 

“New Economics”

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, social quality

A standard definition of participation rate defines it as measure of the active portion of an economy’s labor force, namely those who are employed or actively looking for employment.

Now, some students came up with a participation rate higher than 100 % – first I thought it is absurd, but then I considered that it may be a reflection of the current economy, where people are working in different jobs, looking for several employment opportunities as one job doesn’t allow to “make a living” – thus a personal participation rate of more than 100 % says something about the economy today and when it makes with (and against) life …

France – labour law, code du travail, Arbeits(un)recht

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, general

scroll for the different languages

Solidarité avec les contestataires 
de la “réforme” du code du travail en France

Solidarität mit den Protesten gegen die Arbeitsrechts-„Reform“ in Frankreich

In solidarity with the protests against the “reform” in France’s labour laws

****

Solidarité avec les contestataires 
de la “réforme” du code du travail en France

Nous, scientifiques, publicistes et syndicalistes d‘Allemagne, exprimons notre solidarité avec les personnes qui en France poursuivent leur contestation de la “réforme” du Code du travail et continuent à faire grève contre elle. Ces grèves et cette contestation sont légitimes, indispensables, et constituent un exemple pour l’ensemble de l’Union Européenne

Nous protestons contre cette loi en voie d’être imposée par ordonnance, sans vote du Parlement, qui reprend en grande partie les revendications du MEDEF (confédération patronale) et va à l’encontre de l’avis et des intérêts de la majorité de la population. Cette “démocrature” durcit l‘évolution de la législation dans l’Union Européenne.

Nous protestons également contre la violence policière massive et les condamnations qui limitent la liberté de rassemblement et d‘expression des grévistes et des manifestants.

Le Président François Hollande et le Premier Ministre Manuel Valls invoquent les prétendus succès obtenus par des lois similaires dans d’autres pays de l’Union Européenne. Mais ces succès n’existent pas, au contraire.

C’est l’Allemagne qui, avec l’Agenda 2010 du chancelier Gerhard Schröder (SPD), a inauguré de telles”réformes”, ce qui l’a conduit à devenir le principal pays à bas salaires en Europe. Cela ne porte pas seulement préjudice aux salariés, aux chômeurs et surtout aux plus jeunes en Allemagne même, mais également aux économies des autres pays membres de l’UE, à commencer par la France. Ces réformes sont l’une des causes de l’augmentation du chômage dans toute l’UE.

L’Agenda 2010 et d’autres mesures prises par les gouvernements suivants ont conduit à un recul des conventions collectives élaborées de façon transparente. Les syndicats sont affaiblis. Sous la pression interne des employeurs – qui menacent de fermer, délocaliser ou licencier – les accords d‘entreprise aboutissent à une déréglementation de la durée du travail, à des baisses de salaire, à des heures supplémentaires non rémunérées, à un accroissement du nombre des temps partiels et petits boulots ainsi que des emplois à durée limitée,voire non rémunérés (stages).

Même le gouvernement allemand doit désormais admettre que les bas salaires et la baisse des retraites entraînent une paupérisation considérable. De plus en plus de retraités sont contraints de reprendre un travail. L’État doit venir en aide à des centaines de milliers de travailleurs pauvres Les associations caritatives font ce qu’elles peuvent pour nourrir tant bien que mal les personnes paupérisées. Une insécurité croissante et une pression excessive au travail ont aggravé le stress et conduit à une augmentation des maladies psychiques et dépressions.

Les “réformes” du Code du travail menées sur le modèle allemand font partie intégrante d’une concurrence internationale dévastatrice et ont conduit à des inégalités qui d’ores et déjà portent gravement atteinte à la cohésion sociale et démocratique de l’UE.

Nous sommes en plein accord avec les grévistes et les manifestants de France: Le travail salarié doit être revalorisé. Il faut mettre un terme à sa dépréciation financière et morale. Et les réfugiés ne doivent pas être utilisés à des fins de dumping salarial.

Nous nous associons aux revendications d’Attac France : augmenter les salaires, tout particulièrement pour les bas revenus, investir dans ce qui crée de l’emploi, notamment dans la reconversion écologique du transport et de l’énergie, ainsi que dans la culture et la formation pour tous, réduire le temps de travail de tous, mettre un terme au dumping et à la course au moins-disant salarial entre les pays de l’UE. Il faut un soulèvement démocratique pour riposter et élaborer des alternatives.

Signatures (liste provisoire)

Conseil scientifique d’Attac Allemagne (à l’initiative de la déclaration, d’où les nombreuses signatures)

 

Prof. Dr.                   Rudolph            Bauer

PD Dr.                        Josef                           Berghold

Prof. Dr.                   Armin               Bernhard

Prof. Dr.                   Stefan             Bestman

Prof. Dr.                   Alex                           Demirovic

Prof. Dr.                   Ulrich                         Duchrow

Prof. Dr.                   Heide               Gerstenberger

Prof. Dr.                     Michael             Hartmann

Prof. Dr.                 Frigga             Haug

Prof. Dr.                   Peter               Herrmann

Prof. Dr.                   Rudolf             Hickel

Prof. Dr.                   Uwe                 Hirschfeld

Ass. Prof. Dr.             Stefanie               Hürtgen

Dr.                             Harald             Klimenta

Dr.                             Reinhart                   Kößler

Dr.                           Lydia                           Krüger

Prof. Dr.                   Ingrid                         Kurz-Scherf

Prof. Dr.                   Mohssen             Massarrat

Dr.                             Wolfgang                 Neef

Dr.                             Silke                           Oetsch

Dr.                             Norman             Paech

PD Dr.             Ralf                           Ptak

Katharina               Pühl

Dr.                           Oliver             Pye

Dr.                             Werner             Rügemer

Dr.                             Thomas             Sablowski

Prof. Dr.                   Michael             Schneider

Prof. Dr.                 Jürgen             Schutte

Dr.                             Manuela             Troschke

Prof. Dr.                   Michael             Vester

Hon.-Prof. Dr.             Frieder Otto             Wolf

Diverses signatures d’Attac Allemagne

Prof. Dr. Heiner Flassbeck (Makroskop Mediengesellschaft)

Dr. Paul Steinhardt (Makroskop Mediengesellschaft)

Mag Wompel (Labour Net Germany)

Dr. Werner Rügemer (Aktion gegen Arbeitsunrecht)

Dr. Winfried Wolf (Lunapark21)

Franz Kersjes (Welt der Arbeit)

Uwe Hiksch (Naturfreunde Deutschlands)

Marie-Dominique Vernhes (Sand im Getriebe)

Prof. Dr. Rainer Roth (Klartext)

Einzelunterschrift:

Heinrich Bleicher-Nagelsmann (Geschäftsführer Verband der deutschen SchriftstellerInnen)

Kontakt: Dr. Werner Rügemer 0049-163-8689945

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Solidarität mit den Protesten gegen die Arbeitsrechts-„Reform“ in Frankreich

Wir, Menschen aus Wissenschaft Publizistik und Gewerkschaften aus Deutschland, erklären unsere Solidarität mit den Menschen in Frankreich, die gegen die Arbeitsrechts-„Reform“ weiter protestieren und streiken. Diese Streiks und Proteste sind berechtigt, notwendig und ein Vorbild für die gesamte Europäische Union.

Wir protestieren gegen das Gesetz, das per Notverordnung am Parlament vorbei diktiert wird. Es stimmt weitgehend mit den Forderungen des Arbeitgeberverbandes MEDEF überein und richtet sich gegen die Meinung und Interessen der Mehrheitsbevölkerung. Diese Demokratur verschärft die Rechtsentwicklung in der Europäischen Union.

Wir protestieren ebenfalls gegen die massive Polizeigewalt und Verurteilungen, mit denen die Versammlungs- und Meinungsfreiheit der Streikenden und Protestierenden eingeschränkt wird.

Präsident Francois Hollande und Premierminister Manuel Valls haben auf angebliche Erfolge gleichartiger Gesetze in anderen EU-Staaten verwiesen. Doch diese Erfolge gibt es nicht, im Gegenteil.

Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland, die unter Bundeskanzler Gerhard Schröder (SPD) mit der Agenda 2010 am frühesten mit solchen „Reformen“ begann, wurde dadurch zum größten Niedriglohnstaat in Europa. Das schädigt nicht nur die Beschäftigten, die Arbeitslosen und vor allem die Jüngeren in Deutschland selbst, sondern auch die Volkswirtschaften der anderen EU-Mitgliedsstaaten, nicht zuletzt Frankreichs. Diese Reformen sind eine Ursache für die wachsende Arbeitslosigkeit in der ganzen EU.

Durch die Agenda 2010 und weitere Maßnahmen der Folgeregierungen wurden in Deutschland kollektive, transparent entwickelte Tarifverträge zurückgedrängt. Die Gewerkschaften werden geschwächt. Einzelbetriebliche Vereinbarungen führen unter dem internen Druck der Arbeitgeber – sie drohen mit der Schließung oder Verlagerung des Betriebs oder mit Entlassungen – zur noch weiteren Entgrenzung der Arbeitszeiten, zu Lohnsenkungen, zu unbezahlten Überstunden, zu noch mehr Teilzeit- und Minijobs, zu noch mehr befristeten oder sogar unbezahlten Arbeitsplätzen (Praktika).

Selbst die deutsche Regierung muss mittlerweile zugeben: wegen der Niedriglöhne und begleitende Rentenkürzungen bildet sich bereits jetzt eine gewaltige Altersarmut. Pensionäre sind in wachsender Zahl zu Nebenarbeit gezwungen. Hunderttausende Niedriglöhne müssen staatlich subventioniert werden. Mithilfe von etwa tausend Tafeln muss der Hunger der Verarmten notdürftig gestillt werden. Die wachsende Unsicherheit und der unkontrollierte Leistungsdruck haben zu mehr Stress und einem Anstieg der psychischen Krankzeiten und Depressionen geführt.

Die nach deutschem Vorbild durchgezogenen Arbeitsrechts-„Reformen“ sind Teil eines zerstörerischen Standort-Wettbewerbs und haben zu Ungleichheiten geführt, die auch den demokratischen und sozialen Zusammenhalt in der EU schon jetzt schwer schädigen.

Wir stimmen mit den Streikenden und Protestierenden in Frankreich überein: Die abhängige Arbeit muss aufgewertet, deren finanzielle und moralische Herabwürdigung muss beendet werden! Auch Flüchtlinge dürfen nicht für Lohn-Dumping missbraucht werden!

Wir schließen uns der Forderung von Attac Frankreich an: Lohnerhöhungen insbesondere für die unteren Einkommensgruppen! Investitionen müssen in arbeitsplatzschaffende Produkte fließen, etwa in den ökologischen Umbau der Systeme für Transport und Energie! Investitionen in Bildung und Ausbildung für alle! Arbeitszeitverkürzung für alle! Beendigung des zerstörerischen Lohndumping-Wettbewerbs zwischen den EU-Mitgliedsstaaten! Zur Gegenwehr und zur Entwicklung von Alternativen sind auch demokratische Aufstände notwendig.

Wissenschaftlicher Beirat attac Deutschland:

Prof. Dr.                Rudolph         Bauer

PD Dr.                  Josef            Berghold

Prof. Dr.                Armin            Bernhard

Prof. Dr.                Stefan          Bestman

Prof. Dr.                  Christoph         Butterwegge

Prof. Dr.                Alex            Demirovic

Prof. Dr.                Ulrich          Duchrow

Prof. Dr.                Heide            Gerstenberger

Prof. Dr.                  Michael          Hartmann

Prof. Dr.                       Frigga          Haug

Prof. Dr.                Peter            Herrmann

Prof. Dr.                Rudolf          Hickel

Prof. Dr.                Uwe              Hirschfeld

Ass. Prof. Dr.          Stefanie       Hürtgen

Dr.                       Harald          Klimenta

Dr.                       Reinhart       Kößler

Dr.                              Lydia            Krüger

Prof. Dr.                Ingrid          Kurz-Scherf

Prof. Dr.                Mohssen          Massarrat

Dr.                       Wolfgang     Neef

Dr.                       Silke            Oetsch

Dr.                       Norman          Paech

PD Dr.                   Ralf            Ptak

Katharina     Pühl

Dr.                              Oliver          Pye

Dr.                       Werner          Rügemer

Dr.                       Thomas          Sablowski

Prof. Dr.                Michael          Schneider

Prof. Dr.                       Jürgen          Schutte

Dr.                       Manuela          Troschke

Prof. Dr.                Michael          Vester

Hon.-Prof. Dr.          Frieder Otto Wolf

Weitere Unterzeichner:

Makroskop Mediengesellschaft (Prof. Dr. Heiner Flassbeck, Dr. Paul Steinhardt)

Labour Net Germany (Mag Wompel)

Aktion ./. Arbeitsunrecht (Jessica Reisner )

Lunapark21 (Dr. Winfried Wolf)

Welt der Arbeit (Franz Kersjes)

Naturfreunde Deutschlands (Uwe Hiksch)

Sand im Getriebe (Marie-Dominique Vernhes)

Klartext (Prof. Rainer Roth )

Einzelunterschrift:

Heinrich Bleicher-Nagelsmann (Geschäftsführer Verband der deutschen SchriftstellerInnen)

Kontakt:

Dr. Werner Rügemer 0049-163-8689945

 

****

In solidarity with the protests against the “reform” in France’s labour laws

We, scientists, publishers and trade unionists from Germany, confirm our solidarity with people in France who are continuing their protests and strikes against the “reform” in labour laws. These strikes and protests are justified and necessary and set an example for the whole of the European Union.

We protest against the law that is about to be dictated as an emergency order, bypassing parliament. It is largely in line with demands from the employers’ confederation MEDEF and flies in the face of the opinion and interests of the majority of the population. Legislative trends in the European Union are being made worse by this elected dictatorship.

Similarly we protest against the excessive force used by police and the sentences passed that have been used to restrict strikers’ and protesters’ freedom of assembly and expression.

President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls have referred to the supposed success of similar laws in other EU states. However there are no such success stories, quite the contrary.

Germany, which was the first to embark on “reforms” of this kind under Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (SPD) with Agenda 2010, was turned into the largest low-wage economy in Europe as a result. That is not only detrimental to employees, the unemployed and above all to younger people in Germany itself but also to the economies of other EU states, not least of France. These reforms are one reason for the growing levels of unemployment in the EU as a whole.

As a result of Agenda 2010 and further measures adopted by subsequent governments, transparent collective bargaining agreements were curtailed in Germany. The unions have been undermined. Agreements reached in individual firms under internal pressure from employers – who threaten to close or relocate the business – lead again to the removal of more limits governing working time, to cuts in wages, unpaid overtime, to even more part-time jobs and marginal work, or even to unpaid positions (internships).

Even the German government has now had to concede that low pay and the accompanying cuts in pensions are already causing immense poverty amongst the elderly. A growing number of pensioners are being forced to take jobs on the side. Hundreds of thousands of low wages have to be subsidised by the state. As a stopgap measure, around one thousand food banks must help feed hungry people suffering from poverty. Increasing insecurity and unchecked pressure to succeed have led to greater stress and a rise in absences due to mental health problems and depression.

The “reforms” in labour laws enacted in line with the German model are part of a destructive competition to attract business to regions and have caused levels of inequality that are already causing serious damage to democratic and social cohesion in the EU.

We sympathise with the strikers and protesters in France. The importance of paid employment needs to be better valued, it is time to put a stop to its financial and moral vilification. Refugees must also not be exploited in the name of wage dumping!

We endorse the demands of Attac France: higher wages, in particular for lower income groups! Investments must be made in products that create jobs, for instance redesigning transport and energy systems to reduce the environmental impact! Investments in education and training for everyone! Reductions in working hours for everyone! An end to the destructive wage-dumping competition between EU member states! Democratic revolt is also needed for resistance and to help develop alternatives.

English version translated by Cherry Shelton-Mills, Coorditrad

Wissenschaftlicher Beirat attac Deutschland:

Prof. Dr.                Rudolph         Bauer

PD Dr.                  Josef            Berghold

Prof. Dr.                Armin            Bernhard

Prof. Dr.                Stefan          Bestman

Prof. Dr.                  Christoph         Butterwegge

Prof. Dr.                Alex            Demirovic

Prof. Dr.                Ulrich          Duchrow

Prof. Dr.                Heide            Gerstenberger

Prof. Dr.                  Michael          Hartmann

Prof. Dr.                       Frigga          Haug

Prof. Dr.                Peter            Herrmann

Prof. Dr.                Rudolf          Hickel

Prof. Dr.                Uwe              Hirschfeld

Ass. Prof. Dr.          Stefanie       Hürtgen

Dr.                       Harald          Klimenta

Dr.                       Reinhart       Kößler

Dr.                              Lydia            Krüger

Prof. Dr.                Ingrid          Kurz-Scherf

Prof. Dr.                Mohssen          Massarrat

Dr.                       Wolfgang     Neef

Dr.                       Silke            Oetsch

Dr.                       Norman          Paech

PD Dr.                   Ralf            Ptak

Katharina     Pühl

Dr.                              Oliver          Pye

Dr.                       Werner          Rügemer

Dr.                       Thomas          Sablowski

Prof. Dr.                Michael          Schneider

Prof. Dr.                       Jürgen          Schutte

Dr.                       Manuela          Troschke

Prof. Dr.                Michael          Vester

Hon.-Prof. Dr.          Frieder Otto Wolf

Weitere Unterzeichner:

Makroskop Mediengesellschaft (Prof. Dr. Heiner Flassbeck, Dr. Paul Steinhardt)

Labour Net Germany (Mag Wompel)

Aktion ./. Arbeitsunrecht (Jessica Reisner )

Lunapark21 (Dr. Winfried Wolf)

Welt der Arbeit (Franz Kersjes)

Naturfreunde Deutschlands (Uwe Hiksch)

Sand im Getriebe (Marie-Dominique Vernhes)

Klartext (Prof. Rainer Roth )

Einzelunterschrift:

Heinrich Bleicher-Nagelsmann (Geschäftsführer Verband der deutschen SchriftstellerInnen)

Kontakt:

Dr. Werner Rügemer 0049-163-8689945

 

Education – the Fairy tale of not having enough money

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in academic life - living in academia, contemporary socio-economic situation

Of course, different arguments and dimensions have to be taken into account when it comes to incomes that university staff receive. And the

shameless greed of university fat cats

is surely one point.

However, looking at the overall picture the really alarming fact is a different one: the increase of the income of admin staff, which goes much beyond the increase of the income of academic – the

Times Higher Education pay survey 2016

reveals surely interesting data, and may provoke once more the question if we are talking about education or systems that are established for the purpose of generating gain?

It fits too well into the debate on the recently leaked TISA-documents. And so it was also part of the teaching – which will soon be available as recordings (17/18).

And with few exceptions this is obviously a male dominated system.

 

How to write a bestseller and get a Pulitzer Award?

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in academic life - living in academia, contemporary socio-economic situation, Peter's Log, projects, works, works, projects, publications

I am not sure if I missed something, or if it was just a rumor about some things that went wrong around that time?

What makes capital provision work so well in America is the security and regulation of our capital markets, where minority shareholders are protected. Lord knows, there are scams, excesses, and corruption in our capital markets. That always happens when a lot of money is at stake. What distinguishes our capital markets is not that Enrons don’t happen in America—they sure do. It is that when they happen, they usually get ex- posed, either by the Securities and Exchange Commission or by the business press, and get corrected. What makes America unique is not Enron but Eliot Spitzer, the attorney general of New York State, who has doggedly sought to clean up the securities industry and corporate board-rooms. This sort of capital market has proved very, very difficult to duplicate outside of New York, London, Frankfurt, and Tokyo. Said Foster, “China and India and other Asian countries will not be successful at innovation until they have successful capital markets, and they will not have successful capital markets until they have rule of law which protects minority interests under conditions of risk… We in the U.S. are the lucky beneficiaries of centuries of conditions of risk… We in the U.S. are the lucky beneficiaries of centuries of economic experimentation, and we are the experiment that has worked.”

From: Thomas L. Friedman: The World is Flat; New York: Picador: 2007: 332 f.

Well, the Friedmans, be it Thomas or Milton, don’t understand that we face what James Galbraith calls

The End of Normal: The Great Crisis and the Future of Growth

as reviewed here.
One important point is, and that is another way of thinking about the end of the normal, the need to question the normal or at least part of it. Three (we always strive for trinities) essential parts of the normal were: growth, growth, and some form of regulation – and indeed Friedman talks about such regulation. But what he does not say is that this had been about marginal forms of social distribution, limited control of excesses and in particular/not least about securing the conditions of and for growth. It is interesting that even this is now largely taken away. As we know since recently, namely the leak of the TISA-Annex on the Annex on State Owned Enterprises the role of securing the conditions of and for growth is now under the increasing pressure of being finally, formally and completely handed over to the ‘market’. This is globalisation not simply by imposing specific structures and conditions on other countries but by establishing the control
Freedom and democracy – the flattening of the world by fattening the few global players.

Does one ‘super-corporation’ run the global economy? Study claims it could be terrifyingly unstable

The Network of Global Corporate Control – Research Article

The Network of Global Corporate Control – Annex

Indeed, I took up on some of the issues of the supposedly flattened world not only recently in Havana (here for for a background paper), but now again during the Shanghai Forum, presenting on ‘Growth and Development – Complement or Contradiction? Challenges for a Global Agenda‘ – more information can be found here.

Religion

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in academic life - living in academia, contemporary socio-economic situation

Economics is the religion of equations.

Had been said before, by several others … . A pity that good presentations on the role of monetary expansions are “religionised”, so much deceiving the real issues, even if the directly deal with them.

If you put an ‘almighty god’ into any equation, there is only one solution. If you leave human beings, there needs, the abuse of power ecc. out of economics, there is no solution. As recently said, the devil is not always in the detail; and as also said Brazil is not just a geographical place …

The Devil, the Detail and the Devil’s Home

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation

It is often said that the devil can be found in the detail – and this is not contest here as general rule. However, we should never forget to think about the place where the devil can be found, namely the devil’s home.

The Council of the Economic Advisors is looking in an issue brief from April 2016 at the

BENEFITS OF COMPETITION AND INDICATORS OF MARKT POWER

While we talk in the meantime extensively about inequality of wealth and the unbelievable affluence of the super-rich, and while we look with disgust at the Panama-papers, there is indeed something in the report that is more appalling  and actually the showing the real issue that is covered by all those scandals, clearly apparent from the report: the real inequality is still the inequality in the control of means of production though, though those means changed over the years they appearance – it may be true that

we are about to make the transition from a society in which energy was the engine of progress, innovation and productivity to one where data and the information technologies that underpin it will be the engine of progress.’

(Degryse, Christophe, 2016: Digitalisation of the Economy and its impact on labour markets; Working Paper 2016.02; Brussels: ETUI: 9 f.; with reference to Babinet, Gilles, 2015: Big Data, penser l’homme et le monde autrement; Paris: Le Passeur)

The inequality not in terms of money but in terms of capital is the decisive factor, so the analysis should really look at The Capital of the 21st Century, and not just at the distribution of money – students are at least sometimes told that there is a difference between money and capital.

This means as well that we have to be careful, resisting the attractive models that are easily offered – resisting in the dialectical way of overcoming the shortcomings while maintaining the potentials. Joe Stiglitz looked recently at the

Monopoly’s New Era

surely raising important issues. However, this makes us easily forget the systematic character, the law if you want, that stands behind the development. It is not the Sshumpetarian entrepreneur who develops with inventiveness and courage the empires, be they empires of steel barons or information gurus. As long as we believe in such magic powers, we easily find ourselves in the trap of distributing income, forgetting to consider the need to question power. Brecht’s words

The womb is fertile still from which that crept

are also valid in this context, not least making us alert of the dangers, posed by capital looking for spheres for investment and war. Indeed, taking it from my forthcoming publication “Security in insecure times” (which is linked to the presentation I made in Gdansk)

… we find as well the mention if the immediate security threat: Paul Krugman, in a conversation with Tony Atkinson on Inequality and Economic Growth at the Graduate Centre of City University of New York speaks of ‘a large public work stimulus programme known as the second world war’ (15/05/16; minute 1:18:13 ff.).[1] And in his opinion page/blog in The New York Times, Krugman contends that ‘World War II is the great natural experiment in the effects of large increases in government spending, and as such has always served as an important positive example for those of us who favor an activist approach to a depressed economy.’

And indeed, we have sufficient evidence of the aggressiveness, be it in international relations, regionally in Latin America or in the name of national democracy.

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[1] Btw, going hand in hand with a rejection of trade unionism.

 

 

 

Democracy

da Peter Herrmann's Blog, posted in contemporary socio-economic situation, thoughts on life and its philosophy

Of course it would be silly to deny the value of democratic rules and mechanisms as free elections, representation and the like. But looking at countries where all these are in place, one may occasionally ask what all this really means.  A report on the situation in France and its labor reform may make us think a bit more. Quoted from the Telsur-aricle:

The plan, opposed by three in four French people, according to pollsters, has provoked weeks of often violent demonstrations and added strains on police who were already stretched by extra security duties in the wake of last November’s deadly Islamist attacks on France.