I’ve added an article on the current crisis. It is a combination of a couple of bits from An Anarchist FAQ plus some general comments I sent to Freedom after being asked to write a few words on it.
I’ve added an article on the current crisis. It is a combination of a couple of bits from An Anarchist FAQ plus some general comments I sent to Freedom after being asked to write a few words on it.
The problem is that things are changing so fast it is hard to make firm statements as they will probably be outdated within days, if not hours. Which makes writing articles for a fortnightly paper like Freedom somewhat tricky! Therefore the generic nature of this article, plus the links to neo-classical economic theory and pointing out that capitalism is always based on the state bailing out the elite.
And, of course, I’m not willing to indulge in Leninist-style rhetoric about this being the final crisis of capitalism. It survived the Great Depression, after all, plus numerous other slumps. Unless working class people take action to transcend capitalism, then capital will find a way of surviving — and making us pay for the activities of the rich.
Still, it is hard to believe a mere year ago capitalism was (apparently) fine and how many of the “experts” failed to see the bubble. Personally, I’m only surprised that the housing bubble took so long to burst in the UK. It has been seriously overvalued for years. So welcome to neo-liberalism, where the appearence of prosperity is based on debt and bubbles while the elite get staggeringly rich…