Economics for Activists

Week Six – Conclusion

F2 Building, New Fatima, Rialto16 July 2013

The purpose of capitalism is self-expansion – capital begets capital – and it does so by monetizing social value and human labour. This is a circuit of transformation.

The purpose of capitalism is self-expansion – capital begets capital – and it does so by monetizing social value and human labour. This is a circuit of transformation.

“Historical capitalism involved therefore the widespread commodification of processes – not merely exchange processes, but production processes, distribution processes, and investment processes – that had previously been conducted other than via a ‘market’. And, in the course of seeking to accumulate more and more capital, capitalists have sought to commodify more and more of these social processes in all spheres of economic life.”

Immanuel Wallerstein, Historical Capitalism (London: Verso, 2011), 15.

1. From finance capital to financialisation

Financialisation sees financial assets not as representing wealth in the ‘real’ economy, but as wealth creating investment in their own right. (p.85)

Leverage became the most important tool of financial accumulation… debt [or leverage] piled on a small amount of initial investment can vastly increase the profit made.

The secret is access and banks were lending incredibly cheaper to speculative finance companies. (p.89)