Eric Chester (RCN and IWW), who comes from the USA, uses the experience of the ‘New Deal’ Keynesian reforms to show that the neo-Keynesian ‘solutions’ advocated by so many on the Left today will be unable to resolve the current crisis of capitalism in any way that benefits the working class.
The Great Depression in the USA
The global economy is mired in the worst crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, and yet capitalism has always been characterized by instability and insecurity. An economic system that operates without an overall plan, and in which powerful economic forces act on the basis of maximizing short-run profits, is a system that is inherently unstable. Marx predicted a collapse of capitalism leading to a revolutionary upsurge as early as the 1850s.[i] This would appear to be one of his predictions that has been contradicted by the course of history, but in fact the global economy has been plunged into one crisis after another.
The unpleasant reality we confront today is that although capitalism is constantly changing, the impact of these changes is, on balance, overwhelmingly destructive. Indeed, as capitalism grows and expands, it destroys everything in its path. As the system unravels, more and more workers become permanently displaced from the workforce; income and wealth differentials widen within the already industrialized societies, as an increasing number of countries are added to the list of “failed” nations; and ecological catastrophe threatens the continued existence of the planet as we know it. We are at a crossroads. Either the working class acts as a class and wrests power from the capitalist class, or the system will disintegrate into a catastrophic freefall.
Continue reading “THE CRISIS OF CAPITALISM: A SOCIALIST PERSPECTIVE”
Tags: anti-trust legislation, Austrian school of economics, Author: Eric Chester, Bangla Desh, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, business cycle, China, Deficit Financing, Democrat Party, Eurozone Debt Crisis, Franklin D Roosevelt, Glass-Steagall Banking Bill, globalization, Great Depression, India, Keynesianism, neo-Keynesism, Republican Party, Tea Party, The New Deal, USA, Works Program Administration
