Verity M.
Bourgeois economists have gone quiet on neoliberalism of late which does
not mean it has been abandoned as an economic and political strategy to
make the working class pay for a system in crisis.
Neoliberalism builds on and reinforces the requirement that capital and the state act in tandem to restore profit certainty and the preservation of the system.
The primary role of the state is to ensure that favourable conditions exist for the investment of the surplus workers have created for capital. If that means privatising public assets or importing workers either to break strikes as in the 1998 waterside workers' struggle or to create a surplus supply of workers as a means of controlling wages then so be it.
We are already seeing a new spate of privatisation of public assets as the states are being urged to sell off 'old' assets such as wharves to pay for new infrastructure which will undoubtedly be handed over to private developers.
Privatisation is not just about getting some cash in hand to ameliorate the impact of high government debt; it is also about ensuring that capital has state-created spaces for the realisation of profits.
Neoliberalism builds on and reinforces the requirement that capital and the state act in tandem to restore profit certainty and the preservation of the system.
The primary role of the state is to ensure that favourable conditions exist for the investment of the surplus workers have created for capital. If that means privatising public assets or importing workers either to break strikes as in the 1998 waterside workers' struggle or to create a surplus supply of workers as a means of controlling wages then so be it.
We are already seeing a new spate of privatisation of public assets as the states are being urged to sell off 'old' assets such as wharves to pay for new infrastructure which will undoubtedly be handed over to private developers.
Privatisation is not just about getting some cash in hand to ameliorate the impact of high government debt; it is also about ensuring that capital has state-created spaces for the realisation of profits.
Productivity
is another sacred cow, usually measured in amount produced per working
hour. Productivity, closely related to profits, can be increased by
improved technology, better methods of organising the workspace etc but the
cheapest way is to have workers work for less. Productivity is also
measured by profits realised out of the surplus accumulated from the
labour of workers.
Workers and the general population receive concessions and the occasional handout when things are going well but the needs of capital will always take precedence over the needs of the people.
Neo liberalism, applied to varying degrees depending on the immediate and long term needs of capital, becomes apparent in times of economic crisis and less obvious in the good times (for capital that is) but it is always there: a system of applied economics incorporating in particular, wage control, destruction of working class organisations and privatisation of public assets.
A decline in profit as is the case in economic crises cannot be tolerated. Profitability has to be restored and continually increased. Profits decline for a variety of reasons - overproduction, under consumption resulting from wage cuts. and people's loss of faith in the economic system and the inherent tendency of the rate of profit to fall as explained by Marx.
Profits tend to fall as technology replaces workers. It must make a lot of sense to capitalists to replace labour with machinery which works long hours without complaint and doesn't go on strike, but unfortunately (for capital) only human labour can produce what Marx called surplus value derived from free labour time which makes up the bulk of profit- just one of the many contradictions that bedevil capitalism.
Cutting wages and public services will always be the first option of capital with the blessing of the state. We are currently being groomed to accept the necessity of wage ‘restraint'. Employers organisations are all over the media telling us that the basic wage of 'like' economies is much less than ours; promised improvement in child-care workers’ wages is being reviewed while the conservatives’ own newspaper The Australian tells us that if car workers want a job they should accept the wage the company can afford or move on, all being reinforced by a manufactured budget crises.
When the economy slows and profits decline governments are called upon to legislate change and they invariably do so whichever parliamentary party holds office. Workers are well aware of the threats to their organisations and to their job security. Fortunately, or unfortunately for the powers that be, workers are many and the powerful are few, and they will be widely supported in the struggle for a truly just society and a people's democracy that serves the majority of the people.
Workers and the general population receive concessions and the occasional handout when things are going well but the needs of capital will always take precedence over the needs of the people.
Neo liberalism, applied to varying degrees depending on the immediate and long term needs of capital, becomes apparent in times of economic crisis and less obvious in the good times (for capital that is) but it is always there: a system of applied economics incorporating in particular, wage control, destruction of working class organisations and privatisation of public assets.
A decline in profit as is the case in economic crises cannot be tolerated. Profitability has to be restored and continually increased. Profits decline for a variety of reasons - overproduction, under consumption resulting from wage cuts. and people's loss of faith in the economic system and the inherent tendency of the rate of profit to fall as explained by Marx.
Profits tend to fall as technology replaces workers. It must make a lot of sense to capitalists to replace labour with machinery which works long hours without complaint and doesn't go on strike, but unfortunately (for capital) only human labour can produce what Marx called surplus value derived from free labour time which makes up the bulk of profit- just one of the many contradictions that bedevil capitalism.
Cutting wages and public services will always be the first option of capital with the blessing of the state. We are currently being groomed to accept the necessity of wage ‘restraint'. Employers organisations are all over the media telling us that the basic wage of 'like' economies is much less than ours; promised improvement in child-care workers’ wages is being reviewed while the conservatives’ own newspaper The Australian tells us that if car workers want a job they should accept the wage the company can afford or move on, all being reinforced by a manufactured budget crises.
When the economy slows and profits decline governments are called upon to legislate change and they invariably do so whichever parliamentary party holds office. Workers are well aware of the threats to their organisations and to their job security. Fortunately, or unfortunately for the powers that be, workers are many and the powerful are few, and they will be widely supported in the struggle for a truly just society and a people's democracy that serves the majority of the people.
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