2 Financialization
Roberts
The theme of an increasingly authoritarian state is raised in a new book, entitled, The rise and fall of American Finance by Stephen Maher and Scott Aquanno.
The authors argue that the ‘financialisation’ of capitalism since the 1980s has not weakened the capitalist mode of production but changed and strengthened its ability to exploit with the support of “an increasingly authoritarian state.” The authors claimed that they were arguing differently from “strict financialist theorists” by not claiming “a qualitatively new phase of capitalist development is emerging” but just the same interlocking of finance, industry and the state that has always existed in capitalism.
What to do about this authoritarian state? The authors’ policy conclusions are vague, namely that: “reducing economic inequality and bringing investment in “Good Jobs” back to the United States requires challenging the competitive logic of global financial integration with state-imposed barriers on the movement of investment worldwide.” Or to be clearer: “establishing a greater public role in determining the allocation of investment”. That seems somewhat feeble if capitalism is taking a more repressive formation.