Capitalism
-
A global manufacturing recession
As we enter October, the global recession is with us – in manufacturing. The PMI manufacturing activity indexes for most of the major economies are below 50, the threshold for expansion or contraction. These are only surveys of corporate managers asking them about production, sales, employment etc. But PMIs have been reasonably accurate indicators of… Continue reading
-
Capitalism and the climate disaster: The issues posed by the worldwide protests By Bryan Dyne
Last week’s climate strikes, in which more than 7.6 million people participated in international protests September 20-27, reveal the willingness among broad masses of young people to fight for their future, that of Earth and of humanity. Continue reading
-
‘How Dare You!’ The Climate Crisis And The Public Demand For Real Action
Reality clashed with the BBC version of false consensus in a remarkable edition of HardTalk last month. Roger Hallam, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, was starkly honest about humanity’s extreme predicament in the face of climate breakdown and refused to buckle under host Stephen Sackur’s incredulous questioning. Sackur’s inability to grasp that we are already in a climate emergency, and… Continue reading
-
The mounting human cost of the Thomas Cook collapse By Richard Tyler
The international scale of the crisis, with devastating economic and social implications, has rapidly become clear. The collapse means that the firm’s entire 22,000-strong global workforce have lost their jobs. Some 9,000 of these are employed in the UK, with 6,000 already laid off. The firm was headquartered in Manchester, with 3,000 previously employed in… Continue reading
-
Corporate Watch 27 September 2019: Save Greek Seas campaign; Energean oil company; Yara synthetic fertiliser giant; Dalradian mining
27 September 2019 — Corporate Watch In this newsletter: Save Greek Seas campaign; Energean oil company; Yara synthetic fertiliser giant; Dalradian mining There are few more urgent struggles than resisting the devastation of our planet earth. From the seas of western Greece, through the forests of Germany, to the hills of County Tyrone, communities are… Continue reading
-
Notebook #2: The Rate of Exploitation: The Case of the iPhone
As readers will notice, this is an excellent piece of work by our comrades at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research. We have done our best to layout the Notebook in HTML format but we highly recommend the PDF version (click here to download), which has been laid out beautifully for the purpose of education and… Continue reading
-
The Irreversible (but Laborious) Construction of a Multi-Polar Order
Ismael Hossein-zadeh, an Iranian-born Kurdish economist and professor emeritus at Drake University (Iowa) wondered in a recent post why China, India, Russia and other countries do not challenge the tyranny exerted by the US over the institutions that monitor, regulate and control the functioning of the international economic and financial system such as the IMF,… Continue reading
-
Pesticides in the Dock: Ecological Apocalypse but Business as Usual by Colin Todhunter
Much of the following article is based on a new 20-page report by environmentalist Dr Rosemary Mason. Readers are urged to access the full report containing all relevant citations here. Continue reading
-
Drug smuggling is HSBC’s raison d’etre By Dan Glazebrook
HSBC are in the news for attempting to suppress a report into money laundering. This is no surprise as the company’s entire history, right up to the present day, is one of financing drug cartels. Continue reading
-
The numbers behind Thomas Cook’s collapse lift the lid on capitalism and Tory greed
Travel giant Thomas Cook has collapsed leaving 150,000 UK tourists stranded around the world. Yet the maths behind this offers a searing indictment of Conservative driven greed and capitalism. Continue reading
-
Left Forum 2019: Black Liberation Strategies in the Empire of Exceptionalism
The Black Agenda Report team discusses “late stage” capitalism, the shrinking U.S. empire, and the dangers of a desperate ruling class on the wane. Continue reading
-
Will Vladimir Putin Declare Capitalism Dead Too? By Phil Butler
Is it time for a new Declaration of Independence? If true individual choice and truth are any factor of freedom, the writing is on the wall not just in the United States, but globally. The wealth divide that has grown into an impenetrable wall between the elites and the rest of us, it’s only a… Continue reading
-
What’s Good For the Price of Oil……. By S. Artesian
1. Staggering under the weight of its overproduction, capitalism spies in the visage of its recent savior, China, the image of its once and future enemy, China. Every thing that was the producer of “recovery,” “growth,” “expansion,” — fracked oil, microprocessors, corn, soybeans, smartphones, flat screens, container ships, becomes a relation of relapse, decline, contraction. Continue reading
-
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, Sept. 2019, Part 2
19 September 2019 — Climate & Capitalism Reading matters We seldom receive enough new books to justify two columns in one month, but our red and green bookshelf is overflowing … Climate & Capitalism can’t review every book we receive, but this column lists and links to those that seem relevant to our mission, along with… Continue reading
-
China and the Prospects for a Global Ecological Civilization
As the world leader in renewable energy capacity and production, China has the potential to open up a path for global ecosocialist transition, if … Continue reading
-
You can take a horse to water but…. by michael roberts
Last Thursday, Mario Draghi, the current head of the European Central bank, soon to be replaced by Christine Lagarde from the IMF, announced a parting gift to banks and financial markets. The ECB decided to reintroduce its bond purchasing programme in order to inject yet more billions into Europe’s banks in order to persuade them… Continue reading
-
Death by a Thousand Trumps: The Logical End Point of Capitalism by William Hawes
There is a fairly typical and recurrent notion among many Americans that Donald Trump and his administration is some sort of aberration. As if his brutal, venal, racist, and bullying nature is something new, or different from previous leaders. For those not inclined to look at the historical record; one only has to look beyond… Continue reading
-
Theft or exploitation?- a review of Stolen by Grace Blakeley
All our wealth has been stolen by big finance and in doing so big finance has brought our economy to its knees. So we must save ourselves from big finance. That is the shorthand message of a new book, Stolen – how to save the world from financialisation, by Grace Blakeley. Continue reading
-
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, September 2019
8 September 2019 — Climate & Capitalism Reading Matters Five books for reds and greens …. Waste … Solar Power … Sustainable Food Systems … Karl Marx and the Birth of Modern Society … America’s Overripe Economy. Climate & Capitalism can’t review every book we receive, but this column lists and links to those that seem… Continue reading
-
Question … Again: Does Anthropocene Science Blame All Humanity?
It’s a myth that won’t die. Because the word “Anthropocene” is derived from the Greek word anthropos, meaning human being, some radical critics charge that Anthropocene science blames all of humanity for the global environmental crisis. Some even claim that naming the new epoch Anthropocene is part of a deliberate effort to distract attention from… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 