Content uploaded by Daniel Bin
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Daniel Bin on Mar 10, 2024
Content may be subject to copyright.
Dívida pública, classes e democracia no Brasil pós-real
Abstract
Public debt, classes and democracy in "post-real" Brazil | This dissertation addresses class exploitation and economic democracy in “post-real” Brazil focusing on the country’s public debt as the analytical object. Against the background of the global switch from Keynesian liberal ideology to one of monetarist neoliberalism, the study attempts to explain the phenomena of capitalist crisis and readjustment that have led to the expansion of financial activities in Brazil. This expansion, reflecting simultaneously the state’s modified but undiminished economic role, has taken firm root in the state apparatus which, responding to the new liberalism, has adopted financial logic as its hegemonic springboard for action. Reduced welfare budgets, anti-inflationary fundamentalism and selective fiscal responsibility are, inter alia, concrete examples of the application of this logic. In addition to the class character of the state these factors denote a class fraction, in this case the financial one, which is reinforced by labor exploitation through the distributive apparatus comprising the tax system and public debt. Since the state possesses the legitimacy to raise the aggregate rate of surplus value through taxation it can also legitimately increase the rate to the upper limit of equivalent interest payments to public debt creditors. This is a non-capitalist—primitive accumulation—device for accumulating capital. In the political dimension, which cannot be separated from the economy dimension, public debt is one of the phenomena which highlights capitalism as antithetical to democracy by expanding material inequality, which in turn leads to political inequality and imposes strict limits on real freedom. A further expression of such restricted democracy is the selective insulation of economic policies from the classes which are (not) allowed the power to influence such policies and those policies which eschew subjects (not) open for public discussion. The legislative branch avoids and is incapable of addressing the macroeconomic agenda whose control is thus assumed by the executive branch economic apparatus, bowing to the disproportionate political influence exercised by financial sectors. In summary, given its approach to public debt management, the Brazilian state manifests its class and anti-democratic credentials by intensifying the exploitation of one’s labor, both through its fiscal and monetary policies and through placing restrictions on popular participation in decision-making related to these policies. The apparently blocked pathway to decentralization of political power and wealth, which would signify movement towards some kind of democratic socialism, can be surpassed by enhanced effective popular participation in economic decision-making, commencing with the decisions resulting from class struggle on state budget.
O paradigma da acumulação é determinante para as tendências e configurações dos direitos sociais. Este artigo procura articular fundamentos teóricos da economia política do trabalho com as configurações empíricas presentes no processo de acumulação da riqueza de nossa sociedade e com os direitos sociais. Os dados empíricos evidenciam as questões do orçamento, do emprego, da riqueza social e da renda do trabalho. Conclui que os efeitos da superpopulação relativa somados aos efeitos da dinâmica do orçamento público qualificam e determinam de forma ampla como as necessidades da acumulação limitam as possibilidades dos direitos sociais.
RESUMO: Neste artigo procuramos demonstrar que a política econômica brasileira adotada durante o período de 1995 a 2014, particularmente no que diz respeito à gestão da dívida pública, não sofreu significativas alterações e esteve em sintonia com a preservação da posição hegemônica do setor financeiro no bloco no poder. Utilizou-se a metodologia da Análise Discriminante, de forma a organizar os dados mensais em classes de acordo com as semelhanças apresentadas por eles. As informações agrupadas pelo critério de vizinhança mostraram uma tendência acentuada para a homogeneização das decisões ligadas à gestão da dívida pública nos governos FHC, Lula e Dilma. Com isso, concluímos que este aspecto da política econômica reforça a tese da predominância da fração de classe financeira no bloco do poder atualmente constituído no Brasil.
ABSTRACT: In this article we try to demonstrate that the Brazilian economic policy adopted from 1995 up to 2014, especially regarding the management of the public debt, underwent no significant changes, being in line with preserving the hegemonic position of the financial sector on the Power Bloc. We used the Discriminant Analysis methodology, in order to arrange the monthly data into classes according to their similarities. The information grouped by neighborhood criterion showed a marked tendency to homogenization of the decisions linked to the management of the public debt during the presidential terms of FHC, Lula and Dilma. Thus, we conclude that this aspect of the economic policy reinforces the thesis of the predominance of the financial bourgeoisie class fraction in the current Brazilian Power Bloc.
O termo globalização, pouco preciso mas largamente utilizado, merece certamente uma avaliação crítica. Na academia e entre a opinião pública, uma das críticas mais difundidas é a de François Chesnais, que propõe a utilização da expressão alternativa de mundialização do capital para descrever o capitalismo contemporâneo. Este seria atualmente caracterizado por um regime financeirizado de acumulação. Suas teses são desenvolvidas mencionando conceitos cunhados por Karl Marx e, por isso, os fundamentos teóricos e os conceitos utilizados por Chesnais são analisados, neste texto, criticamente à luz da teoria daquele autor. Conclui-se que a aplicação do instrumental desenvolvido por Chesnais leva a uma análise unilateral e formal do movimento do capital em sua fase pós-1980. Nela o capital financeiro surge como principal e único responsável pelo desenvolvimento do sistema, com um papel basicamente predador no capitalismo contemporâneo e deixando totalmente de lado a produção, fundamento do sistema capitalista, e sua relação contraditória com a esfera financeira.
This book was originally published by Macmillan in 1936. It was voted the top Academic Book that Shaped Modern Britain by Academic Book Week (UK) in 2017, and in 2011 was placed on Time Magazine's top 100 non-fiction books written in English since 1923. Reissued with a fresh Introduction by the Nobel-prize winner Paul Krugman and a new Afterword by Keynes’ biographer Robert Skidelsky, this important work is made available to a new generation.
The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money transformed economics and changed the face of modern macroeconomics. Keynes’ argument is based on the idea that the level of employment is not determined by the price of labour, but by the spending of money. It gave way to an entirely new approach where employment, inflation and the market economy are concerned.
Highly provocative at its time of publication, this book and Keynes’ theories continue to remain the subject of much support and praise, criticism and debate. Economists at any stage in their career will enjoy revisiting this treatise and observing the relevance of Keynes’ work in today’s contemporary climate.
This is a published book readily available from booksellers, including in electronic formats. Please do not ask me for a free copy.
Jeff Frieden
Contested by popular movements from Buenos Aires to La Paz, the neoliberal model's fate in South America's most populous country. Emir Sader presents a balance sheet of the Lula government as it approaches the final year of its mandate amid continuing social iniquities, corruption allegations and comfort for finance.
