Capitalism
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Archie and Jughead At Work
1. All of this stuff–this self-isolation, this quarantine, this social distancing, this confinement; all the lock-downs, ups; all the virtual meetings, the telecommuting, the face-timing- all of this eau gazeuse dispensed from the candy-cane headquarters of advanced capitalism with Archie behind the soda fountain and Jughead in the shipping room, are being manipulated as distractions, as… Continue reading
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Brexit, Covid-19 and the Debt Deluge – The perfect storm about to engulf us all
Remembering this impending event and recalling it from memory to your friends is as easy as A, B, C, D. Broadly speaking it is about four interlinked events that have already happened but their combined effects will engulf the country within a year. Austerity, Brexit, CoVid and Debt will lead to a ruinous recession or… Continue reading
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The Capitalist Pandemic, Coronavirus and the Economic Crisis
The coronavirus pandemic is a serious public health problem and the human suffering caused by the spread of this virus will be enormous. If it massively affects countries of the Global South with very fragile public health systems that have been undermined by 40 years of neo-liberal policies, the death toll will be very high.… Continue reading
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The Great Unravelling: Part 2, Coronavirus: A Very British Cull
The nation is at war. Peacetime production has slumped, foreign travel collapsed, casualties rise. In every part of the country, people anxiously worry about how to avoid the enemy. This time, however, it is germs, not Germans, that we fear. Even the Germans are under attack. Medically, economically and politically, the coronavirus pandemic has caught… Continue reading
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Anti-Capitalist Politics in the Time of COVID-19
As Marxist geographer David Harvey argues, forty years of neoliberalism has left the public totally exposed and ill prepared to face a public health crisis on the scale of coronavirus. Continue reading
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Coronavirus and capitalism: join our online event
We’ll be trying out a two hour online event discussing some of the pressing global justice issues raised by the coronavirus crisis, and I’m pleased to say that Shalmali Guttal, who had planned to come over for our conference, will join this online discussion live from Thailand. Continue reading
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The Show Must Go On. Event 201: The 2019 Fictional Pandemic Exercise [World Economic Forum, Gates Foundation et al.]
Questioning the ruling class narrative should never be seen, nor framed, as reckless. It should never be subjected to shaming. Rather, it should be a prerequisite and respected as such. The imperative to always question the ruling class narrative is not the responsibility of a small handful of individuals, but the responsibility of a thinking… Continue reading
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The ’emerging market’ slump
Forecasts of a global slump in the rest of 2020 are coming in droves from mainstream economists – it’s now the consensus that there will be a contraction in global real GDP in at least two consecutive quarters (Q1 and Q2), in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic and the ‘lock down’ in response. Continue reading
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THE BAIL OUTS WILL COST LIVES AGAIN
What follows is the cruellest of equations. At what point will the corona virus pandemic kill more people through the poverty it will generate as production collapses and jobs are lost, than will be killed by the virus itself. Hundreds of millions of workers have been sucked into this maelstrom. The majority do not live… Continue reading
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A lesson coronavirus is about to teach the world
If a disease can teach wisdom beyond our understanding of how precarious and precious life is, the coronavirus has offered two lessons. Continue reading
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Editorial: Only a collectivist approach can solve the Covid-19 crisis
The neoliberal orthodoxy which decrees that public services should be located in the marketplace, their functions subordinated to the profit nexus and service provision reduced to bare-bones delivery means the NHS has a limited number of intensive care units that — before the coronavirus epidemic really takes off — are already 80 per cent occupied. Continue reading
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Coronavirus Will Require Us to Completely Reshape the Economy
The Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic is a far more profound event for the global economy than the great financial crisis of 2008-9. It will have more significant consequences for the simple reason that it is operating at a more fundamental level of our economic relationships than the 2008-9 crash ever did. Continue reading
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Engels’ pause and the condition of the working class in England
On this day, 15 March 1845, Friedrich Engels published his masterpiece of social analysis, The Condition of the Working Class in England. This year is the 200th anniversary of Engels’ birth. Below is a short (rough) extract from my upcoming book on the contribution that Engels made to Marxian political economy. Continue reading
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It was the virus that did it
I’m sure when this disaster is over, mainstream economics and the authorities will claim that it was an exogenous crisis nothing to do with any inherent flaws in the capitalist mode of production and the social structure of society. It was the virus that did it. This was the argument of the mainstream after the… Continue reading
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The Emperor’s New Virus
Panic selling on Wall Street, and panic buying in supermarkets, those are the twin axes, in both meanings of the word, upon which the black hole of capitalism rests, rotates, wobbles, staggers, turns, turns, turns, and above all else, spins. Welcome to the culmination/collapse/triumph/apex/nadir of neo-liberalism, Friedmanism, the Reagan “revolution,” the cult of the Iron… Continue reading
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Sugar and Spice and Everything Vice: the Empire’s Sin City of London By Cynthia Chung
The over 1000 point plunge of the stock market on Feb 27th and broader ruptures of the financial system last week have been yet another wake up call for those who have been contented so far to “live in the moment” of fast money. Continue reading
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This Is How America And Britain Are Maximising Coronavirus Deaths
If you search on the web for the term ‘coronavirus bloodbath’, you’ll notice that the headlines are not about the mass deaths of vulnerable people that are inevitable on the sort of bungling business-as-usual trajectory adopted by the likes of President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Continue reading
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BigPharma’s Role: U.S. Sanctions Lead To Global Rise In Coronavirus
March 10 – As COVID-19 (coronavirus) spreads, it is a clear reminder that germs and viruses don’t respect national boundaries in an interconnected world. But the mainstream press has certainly not publicized how corporate capitalism and imperialism cross national boundaries to destroy people’s health. Continue reading
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Mike Davis on COVID-19: The monster is finally at the door
COVID-19 is finally the monster at the door. Researchers are working night and day to characterize the outbreak but they are faced with three huge challenges. Continue reading
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THE “GETTING IT DONE” BUDGET SOON TO BE UNDONE
12 March 2020 — theplanningmotivedotcom What left reformists and right populists have in common, their only commonality, is their profound failure to understand capitalist political economy. The Chancellor’s “Blue Sky” budget based on a “Strong and Resilient economy” facing a “temporary medical emergency” is an exercise in delusion. By the Autumn statement it will be… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 