Neo-liberalism is thought
of as the era of flows of money (money flows from multinationals to the people and vice versa, between nations, in daily transactions that make some rich and others poor etc), but money does not flow out of its
own nature, rather, it has to be pushed through the global economy
with the help of human intervention. Money tends to
'stand still' at some points in the global economy rather than flow
through the economy freely; standing still, money allows for the accumulation and exploitation of wealth around certain privileged points in the economy.
We hear of some multinational companies being worth hundreds of billions, and this is the measure of how much money became stationary in the contact with the multinationals (as trillions and trillions come into contact with the multinationals, it is only obvious that a fraction of these trillions stops flowing when coming into contact with multinationals); in a different kind of economy where money kept flowing around, the multinationals would not be worth so much. It is very possible that the measurement of the net worth/value of these multinationals pays more emphasis to how much money is in their 'bank vaults' at the time of measurement rather than to other features, like their buildings and machines, the quality of their workforce, their levels of innovation etc. But, money in the vault is not a very good indicator of measuring multinationals' worth because the money's flows and stoppages are erratic in nature, and that ultimately its stoppage in a multinational's 'bank vault' means nothing but a happenstance. Another different example of money standing still in the form of accumulated wealth is in families with inherited wealth: this inherited wealth of the elites even today does not flow through the neo-liberal economy because this wealth has very high sentimental/emotional/romantic value and is not conceived as wealth to be circulated within today's economy. Thus, it is in the smaller business, non-inheritance based pure capitalist economy of today that money keeps flowing around rapidly. Ironically, the left has enabled this rapid-flowing neo-liberal capitalism to arise, but such a system hasn't been implemented fully.
We hear of some multinational companies being worth hundreds of billions, and this is the measure of how much money became stationary in the contact with the multinationals (as trillions and trillions come into contact with the multinationals, it is only obvious that a fraction of these trillions stops flowing when coming into contact with multinationals); in a different kind of economy where money kept flowing around, the multinationals would not be worth so much. It is very possible that the measurement of the net worth/value of these multinationals pays more emphasis to how much money is in their 'bank vaults' at the time of measurement rather than to other features, like their buildings and machines, the quality of their workforce, their levels of innovation etc. But, money in the vault is not a very good indicator of measuring multinationals' worth because the money's flows and stoppages are erratic in nature, and that ultimately its stoppage in a multinational's 'bank vault' means nothing but a happenstance. Another different example of money standing still in the form of accumulated wealth is in families with inherited wealth: this inherited wealth of the elites even today does not flow through the neo-liberal economy because this wealth has very high sentimental/emotional/romantic value and is not conceived as wealth to be circulated within today's economy. Thus, it is in the smaller business, non-inheritance based pure capitalist economy of today that money keeps flowing around rapidly. Ironically, the left has enabled this rapid-flowing neo-liberal capitalism to arise, but such a system hasn't been implemented fully.
The leftist feels that money does not belong to anyone anymore, it must simply
be pushed along the system, ultimately with no meaning and no end to
this flowing (flowflowflowflow...and so on with no 'Stop'). In hurrying money along the system, however, the
leftist institution is motivated as much by political-symbolic
reasons as by its philosophical-economics. The main political question for the
left is how to participate in the capitalist, neo-liberal economy
without critics deeming the left as being complicit in capitalist
wealth accumulation. All sorts of leftist organizations exist that
actively participate in the process of wealth accumulation, and there
is perhaps a sense of guilt in participating in such a capitalist
pursuit. Hence, the left tendencies have developed financial
institutions and instruments which enable the left to keep the flows
of money at maximum intensity, so that the money they generated flows
away from them and gets lost in the economy; the whole of the left,
in an ideal world of tomorrow, becomes money-maker but not
wealth-accumulator.
It is interesting to note that the left does not shun or avoid the multinationals in its ideal economy of rapid flows, but implicates multinationals, inherited wealth etc in its project of keeping money flowing: the money flows through to the multinationals as much as it flows through to the poor, and multinationals are not to be avoided or destroyed, but their roles re-configured within the global economy as 'money-makers' but not 'wealth-accumulators.' As a side note, employing the very contemporary and technological process of hurrying cash along, the leftist becomes archaically sacrificial and altruistic. Today, these ancient values such as altruism have gotten a chance to re-emerge with the help of the most cutting edge technologies.
It is interesting to note that the left does not shun or avoid the multinationals in its ideal economy of rapid flows, but implicates multinationals, inherited wealth etc in its project of keeping money flowing: the money flows through to the multinationals as much as it flows through to the poor, and multinationals are not to be avoided or destroyed, but their roles re-configured within the global economy as 'money-makers' but not 'wealth-accumulators.' As a side note, employing the very contemporary and technological process of hurrying cash along, the leftist becomes archaically sacrificial and altruistic. Today, these ancient values such as altruism have gotten a chance to re-emerge with the help of the most cutting edge technologies.
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