Seven
Reasons Why Capitalism,
As We
Know It, Has Run Its Course
As
world trade continues its anemic 1.2% average annual growth rate,
politicians in most industrial countries, and particularly in the US,
have an incentive to make exaggerated claims about the alleged
ongoing economic recovery. The government wants us to think the Great
Recession is over, and that we're on "the road to recovery,"
while the American people and other nations look on skeptically. The
ugly truth is that more and more people have lost confidence in –
and consequently no longer trust – the federal government. To make
matters worse, 2015 turned out to be the year when the American
public lost confidence and trust in law enforcement (think Michael
Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Gardner in New York, and that's just
for starters). The street protests in Ferguson, New York, Chicago,
L.A., Atlanta, Baltimore and elsewhere attest to the authenticity of
that mistrust, which continues to get progressively worse. Below are
seven important social phenomena that point to a more realistic
economic and political outlook for 2019. Let's start where it matters
most by beginning with the economy.
My
Seven Reasons Why Capitalism Can't Recover
1)
The Central Banks are clueless. The usual tricks that U.S. and
European central banks use to keep their debt-based economies going
are long-exhausted. Interest rates cannot get much lower. And because
cheap money wasn't working, the printing press was turned up a notch,
into what the U.S. federal reserve calls quantitative easing --
injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into the world economy,
escalating an emerging trade war. Most recently, the Fed is raising
rates at the insistence of investors and retirees, who have been
seeing zero income from their “investments” for many years. This
is bound to end disastrously one way or the other.
2)
Trump's Trade Wars. For a global economy to grow, global
cooperation is needed. But in a major recession all countries engage
in a bitter struggle to dominate foreign markets so that their own
corporations can export. These markets are won by devaluing
currencies (accomplished in the U.S. by quantitative easing),
installing protectionist measures (so that a nation's corporations
have monopoly dominance over the nation's consumers), or by waging
warfare (a risky but highly effective form of market domination).
3)
The Pentagon's Military Wars.
Foreign war is a good symptom of economic decay. The domination of
markets – every inch of them – becomes an issue of life and death
importance. Wars have been unleashed in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and
Yemen. America is fighting scores of clandestine wars in numerous
other countries as well. "Containing" economies like China
and "opening" economies like Iran and North
Korea become more urgent during a major recession, requiring
brute force and creating further global instability in all realms of
social life.
4)
The U.S. Economy is going nowhere in a hurry.
The most important consumer market in the world, the U.S., is a
nation of totally bankrupt consumers. Nearly 18 million Americans are
unemployed or underemployed, while further job losses are certain due
to nearly every state's budget deficit. States are bracing for more
painful cuts, more layoffs, more tax increases, more battles with
public employee unions, more requests to bail out cities. And in the
long term, as cities and states try to keep up on their debts, the
very nature of government could change as they have less money left
over to pay for the services they have long provided." (date
12-05-10; the problem with state government budget shortfalls has
since gotten far, far worse – PB)
5)
Bailout Capitalism Emerges. First
it was the banks and other corporations that needed bailing out in
2008, and now whole nations want the same. Western nations bailed out
their banks by falling into the massive debt that they are now
drowning in. Greece and Ireland have been bailed out, with eyes
shifting to Portugal, Spain, and Italy. With the emergence of
“Brexit”, the entire European Union is being called into question
as the Euro takes a beating in the bailout spree. If the EU is
dismantled, the shock waves will quickly reach other economies
globally.
6)
Bailout Repercussions. All western nations -- starting with the
U.S., Canada and Great Britain – are grappling with their own
national debts. Rich bond investors are demanding that these
countries drastically reduce their deficits, while also demanding
that the deficits be reduced on the backs of working families instead
of rich investors. This is tearing the social fabric apart, as
working and poor people see their social programs under attack. In
Europe mass movements are erupting in France, Spain, Portugal,
England, Greece, Ireland, Italy, etc. Social stability is a
prerequisite for a recovered economy, but corporate politicians
everywhere are asking much more than working people are willing to
give.
7)
The Far Right Emerges. To deal with working people more
ruthlessly, the radical right is being unleashed. In normal times
these bigots yell furiously but no one listens. But in times of
economic crisis they're given endless airtime on all major media
outlets. The message of the far right promotes all the rottenness not
yet eradicated by education: racism, xenophobia, religious
intolerance, violence, and a backward nationalism that fears all
things "foreign." These core beliefs effectively divide
working people so that a concerted campaign against the corporate
elite is harder to wage. Meanwhile, labor unions, progressives, and
other working class organizations are instead targeted.
America
imports twice the dollar amount of manufactured goods than it does
oil. Since 2000 the US experienced a rapid increase in the imports of
advanced technology products. A country dependent on foreigners for
manufactured and advanced technology products is not a superpower.
When it comes to Americans ages
18-24, 63% could not locate Iraq, Iran or Israel on a Middle East
map. Fifty percent could not locate New York City. Moreover, 30% of
respondents thought US
population exceeded one billion. Forty-seven percent of all urban
school children do not possess basic grade level skills. Is there any
doubt as to why the jury system is a sham? Despotism and
dictatorship reign when ignorance and nonsense rule societies.
Society will divide itself into exploiters and exploited. In the
early 1800's, complex literacy in New England exceeded 93%. A small
farm nation, without newly built schools, sport stadiums, and
"prestigious" universities had a much better track record.
They keenly observed the American ideal of independence while never
watching TV or indulging in Virtual Reality.
A
country that has too many lacking in native knowledge is not a
superpower. Countless industrial plants have been closed as 3.5
million jobs in manufacturing have been outsourced in the last ten
years. In that time 7 million less jobs have been created than what
population growth required. The high tech jobs never appeared as
touted. Information Technology, computer system designs, and
telecommunications in fact lost 17%, 9%, and 25% of its work force
respectively. Even wholesale and retail trade experienced job losses,
mainly at the managerial levels. As
several hundred thousand engineers languished in unemployment lines
for years, salaries for law school graduates continue to skyrocket.
Firms in Philadelphia and New York are offering newly trained ruling
class members over $125,000.00 in annual salaries. A country that
does not fully utilize and reward its productive citizens and instead
caters to the parasitic and marginal sectors is not a superpower. A
country whose populace has
been reduced to chattel by the special interest-driven 'health care
for ransom' system is not a superpower.
Unfortunately,
lawsuits for unproven and astronomical monetary amounts are pursued
as the main recourse. These acts obviously fuel the healthcare
crisis. Senator Hillary Clinton, who received $4.6 million from a
trial lawyer group, helped to block medical lawsuit reform during her
2016 campaign. This mild bill would have saved her constituents
$800.00 a year in premiums. A country that allows legalized bribery
to plutocrats to influence law and policy is not a superpower. A
country in which 4-7% of its people are illegals who now choose to
dictate terms is not a superpower. This is clearly a breakdown of law
and order.....”
In
closing, the various reasons for capitalism's impending failure I
have just elaborated on do not happen in a normal economic cycle of
boom and bust. These symptoms point to a larger disease in the
capitalist economic system, a disease that cannot be cured by
politicians who swear allegiance to this deteriorating system and to
the wealthy elite who benefit from it. To ensure that the economic
system is changed so that working people benefit, the ones who do the
real work every day to keep things moving, large-scale collective
action is necessary based on demands that unite the majority of
working people. The ongoing fight for a $15.00 per hour minimum wage
is one good example of large-scale collective action. What America
needs is a massive job-creation program at the expense of Wall
Street, an expansion of Social Security and Medicare, and a
moratorium on home foreclosures. If the Christian community worked
cooperatively with the unions in promoting these demands, working
people could put up a real fight. After all, the Bible says, “The
workman is worth his/her wages”.
