A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

minor and temporary nature. In contrast, the United Nations Commission
on the Reform of the International Financial and Monetary System
(Joseph Stiglitz, 2010) presented a series of much more advanced regulations.
Thus it was proposed to set up a UN Global Economic Coordination
Council, at the same level as the Security Council, as well as an
International Panel of Experts to monitor the world economic situation
on a permanent basis. Other recommendations involved the abolition of
tax havens and of bank secrecy, as well as greater requirements for bank
reserves and a more stringent control of rating agencies. A far-reaching
reform of the Bretton Woods institutions was included, and also the possibility
of creating regional currencies, rather than having the US dollar
as the world’s only reserve currency. In the words of the Commission’s
report, all this would aim at promoting “new and robust growth”. These
were fairly strong measures in opposition to the current neoliberalism
in vogue, but the United Nations conference that took place in June
2009 passed only a few cautious measures that were soon interpreted
in a minimal way by the big Western powers.
Although the regulations proposed by the Stiglitz Commission to reconstruct
the financial and monetary system made a few references to
other aspects of the crisis, like climate, energy and food and, in spite of
using the word ‘sustainable’ to qualify the growth to be restored, there
was not enough in-depth consideration about the objectives. “Repairing
the economic system”: for whom? Was it to develop, as before, a mod -
el that destroys nature and is socially inequitable? It is very probable that
the proposals of the Commission to reform the monetary and financial
system would prove effective in extricating us from the financial crisis,
and much more so than all that has been done so far – but … is this
enough to solve our contemporary global challenges? The solution is
still being sought within capitalism, a system that is historically worn
out, even though it possesses all kinds of ways of adapting itself. The
transition to a system that is built on different bases evidently requires
regulations, but not just any kind but rather in the sense of creating another
situation, instead of adapting the system to new circumstances.
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