jeudi 23 octobre 2008

Marx

This summarises the causes of the depression pretty well. The element of over-production has not been put forward enough by Marxist critics of late. "A strong possibility of a “global depression” – rather than the euphemism “recession" – is what the world today is facing. It is rooted in enormous over-production and income inequalities among and within the “producing nations" (China and India for example as against Britain and the US). there are also many possible outcomes. The worst would be new imperialist alliance systems and a global and probably nuclearized world war (the “ruin of the contending parties” to quote the Communist Manifesto). The best would be either the establishment or re-establishment of working-class power and socialist policies of economic development based on cooperative planning and public ownership in both industrialized and industrializing countries. Many other outcomes, such as global systems of resource and labor management through corporations, trade unions and governments operating through international organizations are also possible, depending on the developing social struggles as they are enacted in political-economic contexts. "

My fear is that the rling elites will try to tought this out and blithely, smugly carry on regardless. My worst fear is that they will ultimately get away with it. Hence, "the worse the better" at least in the medium term. Once people see plainly what's happening, then "the best" will get room to work itself out.