Financial Capital in the 21st Century: A New Theory of Speculative Capital (Marx, Engels, and Marxisms)

The book’s central theme is to develop a new theory of speculative capital related to other forms of capital, the world market, and the state. Unlike most Marxist and heterodox theories, the book distinguishes credit and fictitious capital from speculative capital to show its hegemony today in the capital markets. Speculative capital structures and also controls the so-called “real capital.” The method is Marxist while also incorporating material from contemporary Marxist and heterodox authors like John Milios, Robert Meister, Tony Norfeld, Li Puma, Harald Strauß, Michael Heinrich, Suhail Malik, Bichler/Nitzan and Ellie Ayache. Offering a comprehensive study of the logic and mode of existence of capital in the 21 st century, the book will be of interest to academics and students of monetary and financial economics alongside political economy. "A brilliant contribution to present-day discussions on Marx's value theory, money, capital and finance, highlighting the cardinal regulatory role of the financial sphere in capitalism. Achim Szepanski, following Marx's analyses, takes finance seriously. He shows that 'financialization' is not a deviation from some 'good' industrial capitalism, or a new, 'predatory', method of exploitation ('exploitation by dispossession' etc.), a 'bad' exploitation as opposed to the 'good' exploitation by the 'productive' capital, but a historic development expressing the formal determinations innate in the capitalist mode of production." -- John Milios, Author of The Origins of Capitalism as a Social System The book's central theme is to develop a new theory of speculative capital related to other forms of capital, the world market, and the state. Unlike most Marxist and heterodox theories, the book distinguishes credit and fictitious capital from speculative capital to show its hegemony today in the capital markets. Speculative capital structures and also controls the so-called "real capital." The method is Marxist while also incorporating material from contemporary Marxist and heterodox authors like John Milios, Robert Meister, Tony Norfeld, Li Puma, Harald Strauß, Michael Heinrich, Suhail Malik, Bichler/Nitzan and Ellie Ayache. Offering a comprehensive study of the logic and mode of existence of capital in the 21st century, the book will be of interest to academics and students of monetary and financial economics alongside political economy. Achim Szepanski is the founder of the Electronic Music Labels Force Inc., and Mille Plateaux. His research focuses on speculative capital. His recent publications are Capitalisation 1 & 2, Non-Marxism, Capital and Power in the 21st Century, Imperialism, State-Fascism and the War Machines of Capital, and Ultrabablack of Music. He is the Editor of the online magazine NON Series Editor’s Foreword 6 Titles Published 6 Titles Forthcoming 8 Acknowledgments 12 Praise for Financial Capital in the 21st Century 13 Contents 15 1 Introduction 18 References 26 2 Capital 28 2.1 Commodity, Money and Capital 28 2.2 Capital and Total Capital: The Quasi-Transcendentality of Capital and the Actualisation-Virtualisation Connection 54 References 72 3 Credit 75 3.1 Credit and Interest-Bearing Capital 75 References 90 4 The Category of Capitalisation 92 References 102 5 Fictitious Capital 103 5.1 The General Term of Fictitious Capital 103 5.2 Bonds and Shares 111 References 117 6 Speculative Capital 118 6.1 Derivatives 118 6.1.1 Excursus 1: The Black–Scholes Formula 135 6.2 Securitisation 139 6.2.1 Excursus 2: Rating Agencies 143 6.3 Derivatives as Forms of Speculative Capital and Power Technologies 146 6.4 The Derivative Market 175 6.5 Heterodox Positions 180 6.6 Portfolio Theory 188 References 190 7 Private Banks 192 7.1 The Functions of Private Banks 192 7.2 Creation of Credit by Private Banks 204 7.3 Leverage 222 7.4 Investment Banks and Funds 227 References 230 8 The Financial System and the State 232 8.1 The State 232 8.2 The Functions of Central Banks 258 References 278 9 Capital and the World Market 281 9.1 Introduction 281 9.1.1 The Export of Commodities 284 9.2 Capital Export 291 9.3 The Financial Industry and the World Market 297 9.4 Imperialism 299 9.5 The Dollar as Leading Currency 307 9.6 Global Value Chains and the Global Proletariat 311 9.7 The Global Proletariat and the Different Zones 317 References 323 10 Technology and Finance 325 References 335 11 The Functions of Financial Markets for the Capitalist Economy 337 References 348 12 The Financialised Subject of Risk 349 References 359 13 Financial System and Crisis 361 References 375 Index 378