Documents Huffschmid, Jörg 6 results

"Liberalisierte Kapitalmärkte sind mit Problemen verbunden. Dies gilt nicht nur für Entwicklungsländer mit schwachen, sondern auch für Industrieländer mit ausgereiften Finanzsystemen. Die größere Mobilität des Kapitals sowie die Strategien der dominierenden Akteure (institutionelle Anleger, Private Equity Firmen, Hedgefonds) verschieben die Machtverhältnisse zwischen Kapital, Arbeit und Gesellschaft zugunsten des Kapitals, mit negativen Folgen für Arbeitsplätze, soziale Sicherheit und die Demokratie. Politische Gegensteuerung sollte sich auf eine stärkere Regulierung der Finanzmärkte richten, makroökonomische Politik neu ausrichten, Umverteilung von oben nach unten fördern und demokratische Strukturen stärken."

"This article discusses the accumulation of private financial assets and the pressure on public budgets as powerful drivers of privatisation. Financial investors are the central actors in this process, which is developing within a framework of increasingly financeled capitalism. Financial investors are the main beneficiaries and strong promoters of the worldwide move towards pension system privatisation. With financial assets growing as a result of upward income redistribution and pension reform, traditional institutional investors are finding it difficult to generate attractive profits for their clients, and this calls for financial innovation. The activities of innovative financial investors have a twofold impact on privatisation and privatised sectors: (i) private equity firms are opening up new areas for the privatisation of public assets and services, and (ii) the ‘shareholder activism' of hedge funds is making it increasingly difficult to meet public service obligations in privatised sectors. The EU is not countering, but rather stimulating and supporting these developments. To avoid further destabilisation and social polarisation, social resistance and political intervention are necessary, in both financial markets and public services."

"This book poses a critique of neoliberal economic polices in the EU and proposals for alternatives. The book argues that the economic weakness of the EU is the result of the very restrictive economic policy of the Union and most member states. The book advances from a comprehensive critique of macroeconomic, social and structural policies towards a concrete concept for a democratic European social model based on the objectives of full employment, welfare, social equity and ecological sustainability."