The floating of Glencore today at a value of £38bn is a watershed in contemporary international capitalism. Its initial public offer is the biggest yet launched on the London stock market, making its chief executive an overnight multi-billionaire worth £6bn, but its significance goes far wider. It may well mark the turning point in the simultaneous boom in almost all commodities over the last 18 months which has pushed up inflation sharply in both the developing and developed world. Just as the ill-fated RBS takeover of ABN Amro foreshadowed the high-water mark of bank recklessness before the financial crash of 2007-8, so the Glencore flotation may well represent the point of disclocation which always occurs eventually in all unsupportable booms. Continue reading →