The document discusses the financial crisis in the UK and Europe from 2009-2012. It includes a letter stating there is no money left in the UK Treasury. It discusses quantitative easing measures taken by central banks to stimulate the economy. It discusses the ECB providing cheap loans to banks, some of which banks used to buy their own government bonds. However, many banks just deposited the money without increasing lending. The document discusses the increasing role of financial markets and motives in economies.

8. 11 May 2010
Dear Chief Secretary,
I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left.
Sincerely,
Liam Byrne.
chief secretary to the Treasury.

9. “The British Government has
run out of money because all the
money was spent in the good
years.”
George Osborne, 25 February
2012

10. “So we cannot just carry on as we are. Unless we reform our
economy - rebalance demand, restructure banking, and restore the
sustainability of our public finances - we shall not only jeopardise
recovery, but also fail the next generation.”
Mervyn King, TUC Conference, 15 September 2010.

11. 5 March 2009. QE : £75
billion
10 October 2011. QE : £75
billion
2009 – 2011. corporate bond
purchase via asset purchase
facility : £375 billion
2012: Monetary Policy
Committee approve a further
£50 billion.
“So we cannot just carry on as we are. Unless we reform our
economy - rebalance demand, restructure banking, and restore the
sustainability of our public finances - we shall not only jeopardise
recovery, but also fail the next generation.”
Mervyn King, TUC Conference, 15 September 2010.

12. Long Term Refinancing Operations
(LTRO)
21 December 2011: €489.2 billion to
523 banks – 3yrs @ 1 per cent
29 February 2012: €529.5 billion to
800 banks – 3yrs @ 1 per cent

13. “Some banks, particularly in Spain and Italy,
used portions of those funds to buy higheryielding bonds issued by their governments at
a time when most investors remained skittish,
and it helped reduce government borrowing
costs.

14. “Some banks, particularly in Spain and Italy,
used portions of those funds to buy higheryielding bonds issued by their governments at
a time when most investors remained skittish,
and it helped reduce government borrowing
costs.
But many banks primarily used the funds to
pay down maturing debts or simply deposited
the money at other banks or with the ECB
itself, even though they yield less.

15. “Some banks, particularly in Spain and Italy,
used portions of those funds to buy higheryielding bonds issued by their governments at
a time when most investors remained skittish,
and it helped reduce government borrowing
costs.
But many banks primarily used the funds to
pay down maturing debts or simply deposited
the money at other banks or with the ECB
itself, even though they yield less.
The infusion fell short of some politicians'
hope that it would stimulate bank lending to
customers in struggling European
economies.”
Wall Street Journal, 1 March 2012

20. Financialization refers to the increasing
importance of financial markets,
financial motives, financial institutions
and financial elites in the operation of
the economy and its governing
institutions, both at the national and
international levels.
Gerald Epstein (2002) Financialization, Rentier Interests,
and Central Bank Policy’

21. 1970s – The Monetarist revolution
1980s – war on labour
1990s – Credit as a substitute for wage increases
2000s – Credit solution for wage stagnation fails
Present day – open conflict over monetary policy
once again

23. Work as a realm of
class conflict
Inflation as a realm of
class conflict

24. “In the case of the United States, financialization
during the 1990s led to a closer alignment of large
industrial and financial firms in the U.S., leading to
a greater emphasis by Alan Greenspan and the
U.S. Federal Reserve in financial asset appreciation
as a goal of monetary policy.”
Gerald Epstein (2002) „Financialization, Rentier Interests,
and Central Bank Policy „

26. “Part of the reason people get less giddy
about the Dow than they did five years ago
is that they have learnt a bit about
inequality.
what looks like a recovery, a rally or an
increase in consumer confidence may just be
the effect of elites passing money among
themselves.“
Christopher Caldwell, FT 9 March 2013

43. Michael Taft, „The Inexorable Rise of the Wealthy Class‟ Unite‟s
Notes on the Front, 22 January 2014 - http://goo.gl/O84GJn

44. Michael Taft, „The Inexorable Rise of the Wealthy Class‟ Unite‟s
Notes on the Front, 22 January 2014 - http://goo.gl/O84GJn