Modern Capitalism – The Marxist View: Part 9 Treachery!! Предательство!! The feared “Soviet” secret service, the KGB, was always controlled by the the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency of the USA). As such, the CIA - KGB played an insidious and decisive role in the destruction of the Soviet Union. The KGB's successor in conspiracy, the “Russian” secret service FSB (ФСБ - Федеральная служба «безопасности» России) is likewise controlled by the CIA. Among the manifold CIA – FSB tasks in stifling Arnold Lockshin is to block almost all commentaries sent in response to my material on the internet. Arnold Lockshin, political exile from the USA living in Russia ФСБ - Федеральная служба «безопасности» России - по приказу своего секретного постоянного хозяина - американского ЦРУ блокирует почти все отправленные мне комментарии. И это далеко не всё. Арнольд Локшин, Политэмигранта из США ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Capitalist “solutions:” Phony-baloney money (continued) “Money is in some ways the most agile and powerful tool that macroeconomic policy-makers can employ to affect output, inflation and unemployment” ” (Economics, Paul A. Samuelson and William D. Nordhaus, 1989, p. 224). ///////////////////////////////////////////////// We earlier made mention of a “fantasy-hypothetical system,” whereby some magical external (to the real world economy) force buys up everything that would otherwise be “over-produced,” paying real hard cash for all these goods.” Nothing of the sort exists or could exist, of course. But even if it did, the problems of capitalism would not end there. If everything produced were automatically purchased, there would be no end to what prices the capitalists would charge. Infinite demand would lead to infinite inflation. The divorce of money from real value could theoretically approach the character of our fantasy-hypothetical genie. Former US Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is widely quoted as saying that money (dollars) could be dumped from helicopters. There are no legal or physical restrictions on how many dollars the US Fed can print or electronically manufacture. A more moderate approach is utilized. To the degree that central banks increase the money supply, to that extent they increase society's purchasing power - unless the process is overwhelmed by inflation. Capitalist governments, central bankers and ideologues actually – and explicitly – aim to depreciate the apparent value of their currency, but gradually. Along the lines of 2-3% yearly. (Currency devaluation is the reverse side of inflation.) Who would aspire to devalue their wealth – say, by 25% over a decade? Sounds crazy! But not crazy, as money in modern-day capitalism has lost its status as a repository of real value. Therefore, the increase in the money supply is not infinite, but is doled out in measured steps. Purchasing power – and with it, additional stimulus for capitalist investment and employment – may be nonetheless enhanced in society. In any case enough to temporarily alleviate the contradiction of “over-production,” which is inherent in the capitalist mode of reproduction itself. Enough to forestall – but ultimately not prevent - a major economic crisis. Capitalist society's inherent problems - gross inequality, unemployment, poverty, murderous military belligerence and wars, etc. - remain But gradual influxes of “new” money can relieve – temporarily - the pressures of inadequate demand and therefore abate the economic tensions in society. That is, IF (a) public confidence in the essentially valueless money is retained and (b) inflation (money