Capitalism
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Lives or livelihoods?
6 April 2020 — Michael Roberts Blog There are now two billion people across the world living under some form of lockdown as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. That’s a quarter of the world’s population. The world economy has seen nothing like this. Nearly all economic forecasts for global GDP in 2020 are for… Continue reading
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Why coronavirus could spark a capitalist supernova
This day has come closer. Capitalism now faces the deepest crisis in its several centuries of existence. A global slump has begun that is already devastating the lives of hundreds of millions of working people on all continents. The consequences for workers and poor people in Asia, Africa, and Latin America will be even more… Continue reading
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The DWP’s latest coronavirus move is utterly twisted
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has descended into further chaos amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. But its latest move to try and keep itself afloat amid ‘unprecedented times’ is actually utterly twisted. Continue reading
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Work Sucks: Life After Work
In this book, authors Pfannebecker and Smith summarize the current anti-work movement and literature. In view of rapid displacement of blue and white collar workers by robots and computers, coupled with the offshoring of most manufacturing jobs, there are growing calls for an end to waged work altogether. Continue reading
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By Letting Small Businesses Fail, the State Is Handing Power to Corporate Giants
Research this week from a network of accountants suggests that up to one million small businesses – 20% of the UK’s total – will run out of cash before the coronavirus crisis ends. Continue reading
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Lockdown: Locking in the New Global Order
On 12 March, British PM Boris Johnson informed the public that families would continue to “lose loved ones before their time” as the coronavirus outbreak worsens. Continue reading
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Coronavirus: Drop the debt
As coronavirus gets a foothold in every country, governments in the global south are facing an appalling choice: pay for emergency healthcare, or pay off international debts. Continue reading
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The bigger picture is hiding behind a virus
Things often look the way they do because someone claiming authority tells us they look that way. If that sounds too cynical, pause for a moment and reflect on what seemed most important to you just a year ago, or even a few weeks ago. Continue reading
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Engels on nature and humanity
In the light of the current pandemic, here is a rough excerpt from my upcoming short book on Engels’ contribution to Marxian political economy on the 200th anniversary of his birth. Continue reading
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Catastrophe capitalism: climate change, COVID-19, and economic crisis
In the backdrop of the ravaging coronavirus pandemic, John Bellamy Foster, editor of Monthly Review, the famous socialist magazine, discusses the pandemic in relation to the present condition of capitalism and economic crisis in the following interview conducted by Farooque Chowdhury in late-March, 2020. Foster, professor of sociology at the University of Oregon, and author… Continue reading
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How Do We Get Out Of This One
Yesterday, March 31, 2020, Donald Trump’s “task force” projected 100,000 to 240,000 deaths resulting from infection with the covid 19 virus in the United States. Their “chief” who loves to characterize awkward questions as “nasty,” had no trouble accepting that bit of nastiness. Continue reading
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When the Invisible Hand Gives You the Finger
Since the days of Adam Smith, capitalists have been arguing that unfettered markets are the best way to organize the economy. Smith famously said that the rich are “led by an invisible hand” to, “without knowing it, advance the interest of the society.” Continue reading
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Global Recession Is Underway: Selected Stories
31 March 2020 — Global Research Warnings of Economic Depression By Stephen Lendman, March 31, 2020 According to a March 20 – 26 online survey of over 250 companies of varying sizes and business sectors, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reported that nearly half the number surveyed are likely to lay off workers over the next… Continue reading
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‘Can I Keep You Safe? Your Future Is Uncertain’: Climate And The Fate Of Humanity
In the face of the coronavirus pandemic, the most immediate objective is to slow its spread, minimise the death toll and help people through the crisis. But, despite government promisesto support citizens who are now losing their jobs and income, the underlying establishment concern will be as it always has been: to preserve the global inequitable… Continue reading
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Amid coronavirus crisis, China demonstrates that an alternative to the US-led, neoliberal order is possible
For nearly four decades the United States and its Western allies have proclaimed to the world that “there is no alternative” to neoliberalism, maligning the state and public sector as inefficient and unproductive. If the 2008 financial crisis loosened this myth’s stranglehold on notions of what is possible, the current coronavirus pandemic has shattered it. Continue reading
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COVID-19 MAY NOT ONLY KILL THROUGH INFECTION, BUT THROUGH RADIATION AS WELL!
Under the consistent (sic) hand of helmsman Trump, official estimates for the death toll in the USA are ranging up to 200,000. More worrying from the perspective of profits, talk is now centring on the probability of a six month lockdown. If the economy of the USA collapses while China’s recovers, then the US’s global… Continue reading
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A war economy?
If all country pandemics were the same, then the figure below would be how this pandemic will come to an end. The start-to-peak ratio of Covid-19 infections for all countries would be 40-50 days. Many countries are not yet near the peak point and there is no guarantee that the peak will at the same… Continue reading
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COVID-19 Crisis Positive Side Effects: End of Dog-Eat-Dog Civilization?
Before the pandemic, our world was already sick. Profoundly pathological and dysfunctional in our values, personal connections and, first and foremost, our species’ deadly impact on the natural world and its disequilibration of our host, planet Earth. But like any enormous collective challenge, it is the way we deal with it that will determine the… Continue reading
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Prof. Mario Caligiuri: “The Coronavirus Represents the Death of Capitalism and an Opportunity to Reinvent Society”
Mohsen Abdelmoumen: What is the situation in your country Italy in the context of the Covid19 virus epidemic? Continue reading
The New Dark Age 