Pseudo Market Economy: Labour, Land, Capital And The Globalisation Of The Economy

Udo Herrmannstorfer Pseudo Market Economy Labour, Land, Capital and the Globalisation of the Economy Published by: Institut für soziale Gegenwartsfragen e.V. Stuttgart edited by Dr. Christoph Strawe Translation: Carol Bergin, Julia Kramer, Prof. Dr. Hellmut Fischmeister, Johannes Lauterbach and Ulrich Morgenthaler © Verlag Freies Geistesleben Stuttgart The German Text is published under the title: Scheinmarktwirtschaft. Arbeit, Boden, Kapital und die Globalisierung der Wirtschaft. Stuttgart 31997 1 Contents Preface for the English Edition (Christoph Strawe) .................................................................. 3 Preface for the 3rd Edition........................................................................................................ 6 Chapter 1: Economic Globalisation .......................................................................................... 7 Chapter 2: The Break-up of Systems ..................................................................................... 15 Chapter 3: Associative Economy - the Search for Social Justice ........................................... 20 Chapter 4: Land is not for Sale - Proposal for a new Land-legislation ................................... 46 Chapter 5: The Fundamental Social Law - Altruism as a socially creative Power ................. 63 Chapter 6: Unemployment and the Distribution of Productivity-gains Practical Steps towards a Solution ......................................................................................... 75 Chapter 7: Harnessing Money Within the Social Organism ................................................... 85 Chapter 8: What can one do practically ? ........................................................................... 115 Addendum ............................................................................................................................ 117 About the Author .................................................................................................................. 121 [24.03.2009] 2 Preface to the Internet Publication in the English language, 2009 The book presented here was published originally in1991 immediately after the breakdown of state socialism. An extended version was then published in 1997, as the neoliberally powered form of globalisation began to dominate development. Distribution was limited to the German speaking public; despite the fact that the publisher believes that it is one of the most important publications in the last decades to tackle the root causes of social crises and questions of social renewal; so it only enjoyed limited availability for the beginning of the global civil society’s’ discussion on alternatives, which began in 1999. The translation into the English language has been long overdue. Efforts to undertake this since 1999 continually met with obstacles. All the more gratitude to all those who have been involved, that it has at last become possible. What was written by the author about the relationship between the 3rd revised edition from 1997 and the original 1991 version, is perhaps more pertinent for the present English edition to the original: “[…] In this respect, the remarks of this book are even more up-to-date than at the time of its initial appearance, even if the conditions are constantly changing.“1 This applies to such themes as unemployment, social security, the development of the European Union, and much more besides. The accurateness of Herrmannstorfer’s analysis is shown most clearly in the present global finance crisis, which has begun to expand to a crisis of the whole economy. “To keep intact the illusion of monetary proliferation without social responsibility, new forms of capital investment are continuously being developed and offered, ‘slammed into the market’…2 At the time this sentence was written few