L’œil sur 2012, DSK fait de l’anti-globalisation au FMI

L’œil sur 2012, DSK fait de l’anti-globalisation au FMI

On ne retiendra pas l’expression d’une certaine surprise, mais tout de même mesurée, de voir sous la plume de Joseph Stiglitz un éloge du FMI. L’ancien cadre dirigeant de la Banque Mondiale et Prix Nobel de l’Economie est devenu un dissident notoire, mais à l’intérieur du Système, critiquant le Système dans son fonctionnement actuel mais nullement son fondement. Il le montre ici en adressant ses félicitations au FMI qu’il tenait jusqu’ici dans la détestation la plus complète, dans cet article du 5 mai 2011, sur Project Syndicates.

Le FMI, observe Stiglitz, est en train d’accepter l’idée que la lutte contre la crise passe par la lutte contre l’inégalité. Grande trouvaille et trouvaille anti-globalisation (par rapport aux normes de ce domaine dévastateur), que Stiglitz n’hésite pas à mettre au crédit de son président, le bien connu DSK (notre sémillant et séduisant Dominique Strauss-Kahn). Dans le “chapeau”, ou abstract, présentant l’article, on nous signale tout de même, ce que Stiglitz omet de faire dans son article lui-même, que DSK file vers une candidature aux présidentielles françaises, redécouvrant par conséquent qu’il est socialiste et que le sort du brave citoyen de base, au budget serré, importe au moment du vote. («The annual spring meeting of the IMF was notable in marking the Fund’s effort to distance itself from its own long-standing tenets on capital controls and labor-market flexibility. It appears that a new IMF has gradually emerged under the leadership of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who may soon be leaving to seek the presidency of France.»)

Il en restera ce qu’il en restera, et nous ne faisons guère d’illusions sur la vertu du phénomène (le FMI devenant une sorte d’“altermondialiste”, sic), mais voilà un exemple qui ajoute au désordre. Il montre qu’il est des cas désormais, qui sont le signe de ce désordre, où la situation d’une nation et les ambitions qu’on entretient à son propos peuvent influencer dans un sens inattendu un des principaux outils de la globalisation, dans le chef de son citoyen-président pouvant bien devenir un citoyen-candidat à la présidence.

«The annual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund was notable in marking the Fund’s effort to distance itself from its own long-standing tenets on capital controls and labor-market flexibility. It appears that a new IMF has gradually, and cautiously, emerged under the leadership of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. […]

»…But an even more important change is the link that the IMF has finally drawn between inequality and instability. This crisis was largely a result of America’s effort to bolster an economy weakened by vastly increased inequality, through low interest rates and lax regulation (both of which resulted in many people borrowing far beyond their means). The consequences of this excessive indebtedness will take years to undo. But, as another IMF study reminds us, this is not a new pattern.

»The crisis has also put to the test long-standing dogmas that blame labor-market rigidity for unemployment, because countries with more flexible wages, like the US, have fared worse than northern European economies, including Germany. Indeed, as wages weaken, workers will find it even more difficult to pay back what they owe, and problems in the housing market will become worse. Consumption will remain restrained, while strong and sustainable recovery cannot be based on another debt-fueled bubble.

»As unequal as America was before the Great Recession, the crisis, and the way it has been managed, has led to even greater income inequality, making a recovery all the more difficult. America is setting itself up for its own version of a Japanese-style malaise.

»But there are ways out of this dilemma: strengthening collective bargaining, restructuring mortgages, using carrots and sticks to get banks to resume lending, restructuring tax and spending policies to stimulate the economy now through long-term investments, and implementing social policies that ensure opportunity for all. As it is, with almost one-quarter of all income and 40% of US wealth going to the top 1% of income earners, America is now less a “land of opportunity” than even “old” Europe.

»For progressives, these abysmal facts are part of the standard litany of frustration and justified outrage. What is new is that the IMF has joined the chorus. As Strauss-Kahn concluded in his speech to the Brookings Institution shortly before the Fund’s recent meeting: “Ultimately, employment and equity are building blocks of economic stability and prosperity, of political stability and peace. This goes to the heart of the IMF’s mandate. It must be placed at the heart of the policy agenda.”

»Strauss-Kahn is proving himself a sagacious leader of the IMF. We can only hope that governments and financial markets heed his words.»

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