4. Class Formation
As Cohen argues, the nationalization of currencies, as enshrined in the Peace of Westphalia, marked the separation of medievalism and modernity; the de-nationalization of those currencies in modern currency-spaces marks an atavistic return to medievalism (p.149). Returning to the discussion at the beginning of section 2, it is important to examine the class structure associated with money creation. Gill has construed this class' composition as that of "key executives of transnationals, central and other international bankers, many, though not all, leading politicians and civil servants in most advanced capitalist countries and those in some developing nations."34 Leslie Sklair has offered a similar class composition of owners and controllers of transnationals and their local affiliates, globalizing bureaucrats, politicians and professionals as well as retail and consumer elites.35 This Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC) exercises its policies through three arms. Robinson and Harris36 lay out two arms, the formal economic arm and the formal political arm, whereas Cox37, on the other hand, adds an informal politico-economic arm. This global policy implementation apparatus, the Transnational State Apparatus (TNSA) can be conceptualized as follows:Formal Economic Arm: International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization and regional banks.
Formal Political Arm: G8, G22, United Nations, The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Informal Politico-economic Arm: The Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, Bilderberger Group, World Economic Forum, Mont Pelerin Society.
Robinson and Harris' penetrating analysis of the TCC has identified three class factions of this globalist bloc at work within the TNSA as: 1) free-market conservatives, 2) neo-liberal structuralists, and neo-liberal regulationalists. These three factions are global in the sense that they speak for global capital rather than national capital. Also, they initially achieved consensus/hegemony by organizing around the Washington Consensus. Free-market conservatives call for an 'undiluted' version of the Washington Consensus largely enshrined in laissez-faire capitalism. Neo-liberal structuralists, however, want to adjust the Washington consensus to provide stability to the world financial system vis-à-vis a global superstructure. Neo-liberal regulationalists "call for a broader global regulatory apparatus that could stabilize the financial system as well as attenuate some of the sharpest social contradictions of global capitalism in the interests of securing the political stability of the system".38 Not afraid to 'name names', Robinson and Harris break down these factions as follows:
Conservatives: George Shultz (former Secretary of State and speculator), Walter Wriston (former Citibank CEO), William Simon (former Treasury Secretary and speculator) Lawrence Kudlow and Martin Fieldstein (Reagan-era economists), Edwin Feulner (President of the Heritage Foundation) Ian Vasquez (Cato Institute). This faction is deeply influenced by Milton Friedman's economic theory and regards all centralization (by government) as interference in the purity of the market. Wriston has argued that power and policies are best given to international financiers, insofar as they serve to act as a 'check' on 'bad' government policies.
Structuralists: Bill Clinton, George Bush Sr. & Jr., Newt Gingrich, James Wolfenson (World Bank President) Michael Camdessus (IMF director) George Soros, some Trilateralists as well as executives of transnational corporations and major financial institutions. These players want to adhere to neo-liberal economic and political policies while maintaining a stable and regulated global environment of accumulation.
Regulationalists: US Democratic party - Congressmen Dick Gephart and Dave Bonoir as well as former Secretary of Labour, Robert Reich - Tony Blair's 'new' labour party, social democrats in Germany and France, and Brazil. These factions are devoted to global capitalism (they are not devoted to national capital) and call for stronger labour and environmental standards in addition to a slowdown in capital mobility by means of different regulations.
Robinson and Harris believe the leading global faction is the Structuralists. They wish to protect the global financial structure from failure, because their tremendous profits are made possible from both the volatility of financial capital and the freedom of its movement. They value reformation of the financial architecture insofar as it preserves the ability of nations to repay debts while simultaneously ensuring that the investors' confidence is maintained. The final question, then, is whose confidence matters?
Be Sure to Continue to Page 9 of "E Pluribus Unum: Dollar Hegemony and Money Creation in IPE".
