Der militärische Arm der Europäischen Union

This essay examines whether the European Union, already the most powerful economic and financial rival of the United States, can develop its military arm to a level compatible with its economic and financial weight. It concludes by suggesting a parallel between European currency and the European military. The ECU started as virtual money that evolved into the Euro to become a real danger for the U.S. dollar. At this point, the nascent EU army is only a potential threat to a still unchallenged U.S. military power, but a parallel and ominous evolution is under way

Die Ost-Erweiterung der EU

The recent expansion of the European Union to the Easter European countries was preceded by the 2004 Treaty of Nice through which the stronger countries retain their dominant position within the EU institutions also after the expansion. The traditional imperialist motives still play a role but the basic aim of this expansion is the enlargement of the Euro area within the context of the strife between the Euro and the dollar for international seignorage

From the Crisis of Surplus Value to the Crisis of the Euro

The financial crisis that erupted in 2007 and the subsequent crisis of the euro have received enormous attention both in the media and in specialized journals. One of the features of the recent literature is that the relation between Marx's law of the tendential fall in the rate of profit and the earthquake that has stricken the euro zone has been, with a few exceptions, overlooked. The basic reason for this failure is that it has become almost a matter of common sense to regard Marx's law as internally inconsistent and empirically disproved. What follows submits empirical material supporting the validity of the law. It then proceeds to sketch the basic lines of Marx's analysis of crises. Finally, it relates this analysis to the present financial turmoil and to the euro crisis

The Long Roots of the Present Crisis: Keynesians, Austerians, and Marx's Law

The ultimate cause of crises in capitalism is lack of profitability. The Keynesian and Austerians (the supporters of austerity measures), deny this. So their solutions to crises do not work. Keynesian state-induced stimulus programs (redistributive, monetary, and fiscal) cannot overcome the underlying tendency for profitability to fall. The same holds for the policies of “austerity,” which are designed to reduce debt and raise profitability. These conclusions are particularly relevant for the weaker Eurozone economies in the midst of the euro crisis. In a case study of Argentina, we argue that it was not competitive devaluation that restored growth after the 2001 crisis, but default on state debt caused by the previous destruction of productive capital

Imperialism, Dollarisation and the Euro

If the notion of globalization is as rich in ideological substance as it is poor in heuristic content, analysis requires a different frame of analysis than that offered by globalization theorists. This essay shall argue that the phenomena the theorists of globalization deal with should be seen from an opposite frame of analysis, one focusing on the world imperialist system and the new developments and contradictions within it. Elements of such an alternative view are submitted, even if in a necessarily sketchy form, in section 2. By way of example, section 3 focuses upon one aspect of this new imperialist dimension, that of international seigniorage and of the struggle between the dollar and the Euro as an aspect of inter-imperialist rivalries. Finally, section 4 draws some conclusions on the class structure emerging from these developments

Reproduction des classes sociales au niveau des rapports de production

Carchedi Guglielmo, Trèves Eddy. Reproduction des classes sociales au niveau des rapports de production. In: L'Homme et la société, N. 37-38, 1975. Sociologie politique et culture théorie sociale et linguistique. pp. 35-64