Abstract, International Financial Capital and the Brazilian Land Market

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International Financial Capital and the Brazilian Land Market
by Maria Luisa Mendonça and Fábio Teixeira Pitta


International financial capital stimulated the production of industrial agricultural supplies in Brazil during the foreign debt crisis of the 1980s. In the mid-1990s new financial sources became available for debt rollovers, and this fueled a new cycle of industrialization in agriculture. This trend intensified in the years that followed, when commodity prices were high on the international markets. It led to an increase in the concentration of capital in agricultural assets such as machinery and land, which in turn generated a new cycle of indebtedness for agribusiness. This process of crisis accumulation was marked by the overexploitation of labor and predatory control over natural resources.

Political Report # 1196 Wall Street and the Pentagon: Pre-mature Political and Military Ejaculations

By James Petras

Introduction             Wall Street and the Pentagon greeted the onset of 2016 as a 'banner year', a glorious turning point in the quest for malleable regimes willing to sell-off the most lucrative economic resources, to sign off on onerous new debt to Wall Street and to grant use of their strategic military bases to the Pentagon.             Brazil and Argentina, the most powerful and richest countries in South America and the Philippines, Washington's most strategic military platform in Southeast Asia, were the objects of intense US political operations in the run-up to 2016.              In each instance, Wall Street and the Pentagon secured smashing successes leading to premature ejaculations over the 'new golden era' of financial pillage and unfettered military adventures.  Unfortunately, the early ecstasy has turned to agony: Wall Street made easy entries and even faster departures once the 'honeymoon' gave way to reality.  ; The political procurers persecuted center-left incumbents but, were soon to have their turn facing prosecution.  The political prostitutes, who had decreed the sale of sovereignty, were replaced by nationalists who would turn the bordello back into a sovereign nation state.             This essay outlines the rapid rise and dramatic demise of these erstwhile 'progeny' of Wall Street and the Pentagon in Argentina and Brazil, and then reviews Washington's shock and awe as the newly elected Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte embraced new ties with China while proclaiming, 'We are no one's 'tuta'(puppy dog)!'

Abstract, Commetary: Brazilian Left Bonapartism and the Rise of Finance Capital: A Critique of the Internal-Bourgeoisie Thesis by Jawdat Abu-El-Haj

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Brazilian Left Bonapartism and the Rise of Finance Capital: A Critique of the Internal-Bourgeoisie Thesis 
by Jawdat Abu-El-Haj

Boito and Saad-Filho interpret the rise and fall of the power bloc that has sustained Brazil’s PT governments in the tradition of Poulantzas’s work on classes, class struggle, and the state. They consider the Brazilian state to be the main arena in which classes manifest their interests and power to influence economic outcomes. As did Poulantzas, they fall into the trap of structural determinism, in which collective choices and actions are derived mechanistically from fixed social spaces. I disagree with their thesis that the PT administrations represented an internal-bourgeoisie power bloc in an alliance with the middle classes and the popular masses and instead describe those administrations, especially under Lula, as left Bonapartist. The federal government under them exhibited greater autonomy from the bourgeoisie because of positive economic indicators such as a large trade surplus through commodities exports, the expansion of incoming foreign direct investment, and the capitalization of state-controlled pension funds. The increasing fiscal efficiency of the state led the government to amass unprecedented financial power.

Political Report # 1117 International Monetary Fund's Rogues Gallery Crooks, Rapists and Swindlers By James Petras LAP Editor

Introduction             The IMF is the leading international monetary agency whose public purpose is to maintain the stability of the global financial system through loans linked to proposals designed to enhance economic recovery and growth.             In fact, the IMF has been under the control of the US and Western European states and its policies have been designed to further the expansion, domination and profits of their leading multi-national corporations and financial institutions.             The US and European states practice a division of powers:  The executive directors of the IMF are Europeans; their counterparts in the World Bank (WB) are from the US.             The executive directors of the IMF and WB operate in close consultation with their governments and especially the Treasury Departments in deciding priorities, deciding what countries will receive loans, under what terms and how much.             The loans and terms set by the IMF are closely coordinated with the private banking system.  Once the IMF signs an agreement with a debtor country, it is a signal for the big private banks to lend, invest and proceed with a multiplicity of favorable financial transactions.  From the above it can be deduced that the IMF plays the role of general command for the global financial system.             The IMF lays the groundwork for the major banks' conquest of the financial systems of the world's vulnerable states.