Life’s Pacman

In the evolution of capitalism, capital not only hegemonized the relationship with the other three factors of production (land, technology, and labor), but also it progressively transformed them into a commodity.

 

In previous articles, I have presented an introduction to the analysis of subordination relationships of three of the four factors of production (land, technology, and labor) with respects to the fourth: capital. In the evolution of capitalism, capital not only hegemonized the relationship with the other three factors but also it progressively transformed them into a commodity; thus, it seems that just with money we can access everything that is needed to undertake any production.

In fact, this true “Pacman of life” did not stop when those hierarchies were established. Then, large capitalists devoured the smallest ones. Following the sequence, at the same time, capitalists from imperial countries devoured those from the colonies; international merchants subordinated national producers in each country. Finally, financial capital ended up setting the rules, in a phase that lasts until today, known by the heinous title of financialization of the economy. That is: making money with money, without producing any good or providing any community service. It is the sublimation of a tendency where there is nothing left for capital but to devour itself, because in such space fortunes not only change hands with a casino’s vertigo but also they destroy themselves in an almost inexplicable way.

In such logic, the final reassurance of big players is controlling the casino, which means taking charge of the governments, or of enough influence over them, so as to establish the right to never lose, protected by that slogan that says “it is too big to fail.”It is argued that the successive damages produced by those bankruptcies would be much higher than the community cost of subsidizing any type of economic savagery. In United States the discussion on moral hazard, which is nothing other than such debate, has already taken more than 20 years and it is always settled in favor of large corporations. It is thus installed the general resignation of society. And the concentration goes on.

From what we would call “sensible academy,” attempts to de-concentrate wealth through fiscal policy appear. In response, fiscal havens multiply, even within the first world power. To control, to regulate, to exhort are verbs that are becoming obsolete; thus, overtaken by the competition among countries to call for investments, even secondary ones, from those who have previously destroyed national production attempts.

The solution is not appearing. It cannot appear when the premises of the relationship between factors of production are the ones that have been distorted up to the point of making everything kneel before capital. This dependency is what needs to be changed, despite the great difficulty that comes from having the model present in everybody’s mind, even in those of losers and those who suffer because of it.

As in the disaster film movies, some signs are starting to appear under the debris.

  • Agriculture supported by the community, with alliances between producers and consumers, is disseminated through the central world, with thousands and thousands of cases that have made the issue part of the official policy of Agricultural departments in England and United States.
  • Trusts that develop popular housing neighborhoods on lands that are owned by the community, making possible to sell and buy homes in installments strictly paired with salaries: http://community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/clts/index.html.
  • The generation of solar energy in hospitals, schools, and productive spaces shared in common by several units—that are becoming autonomous from any central system.
  • Effluent treatments at neighborhood scale, with simplified designs and the promotion of small enterprises to execute them.
  • Community banks, virtual money, for now in a curious sophistication phase but with a more than foreseeable social scope development.

The world is hegemonized by financial capital and it will remain like this for a long while. Within it, there are some million citizens who are warning us to escape from the trap. The construction of an economic democracy will demand much different public policies and, in this new context, popular production will contribute valuable innovations that emerge from the bottom, showing that there are other ways of social and economic organization. The creativity forged in the talent and need is part of the human adventure.

 

* Instituto para la Producción Popular.

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