An argument that under capitalism, debt has become infinite and
unpayable, expressing a political relation of subjection and
enslavement. Experts, pundits, and politicians agree: public debt is
hindering growth and increasing unemployment. Governments must reduce
debt at all cost if they want to restore confidence and get back on a
path to prosperity.
Maurizio Lazzarato's diagnosis, however, is
completely different: under capitalism, debt is not primarily a question
of budget and economic concerns but a political relation of subjection
and enslavement. Debt has become infinite and unpayable. It disciplines
populations, calls for structural reforms, justifies authoritarian
crackdowns, and even legitimizes the suspension of democracy in favor of
"technocratic governments" beholden to the interests of capital.
The 2008 economic crisis only accelerated the establishment of a "new
State capitalism," which has carried out a massive confiscation of
societies' wealth through taxes. And who benefits? Finance capital. In a
calamitous return to the situation before the two world wars, the
entire process of accumulation is now governed by finance, which has
absorbed sectors it once ignored, like higher education, and today is
often identified with life itself.
Faced with the current
catastrophe and the disaster to come, Lazzarato contends, we must
overcome capitalist valorization and reappropriate our existence,
knowledge, and technology. In Governing by Debt, Lazzarato confronts a
wide range of thinkers-from Felix Guattari and Michel Foucault to David
Graeber and Carl Schmitt-and draws on examples from the United States
and Europe to argue that it is time that we unite in a collective
refusal of this most dire status quo.
Governing by Debt - Maurizio Lazzarato
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£12.99