Crisis opening in 2007

Ireland: the bank that ate a country

James Connolly, the Irish socialist and trade union leader shot by the British in May 1916 for his part in the Easter Rising, was convinced, early in the last century, that capitalism simply could not develop fully in Ireland. From that assessment he argued that only a Workers’ Republic could really free Ireland from foreign domination. In any case, he didn’t want capitalism to develop — didn’t want the Irish bourgeoisie to climb on the backs of the working people of Ireland. He was wrong in thinking that capitalism could not develop fully in Ireland. The way Ireland’s financial crisis is...

Banks: neo-liberals beat the regulators

“After the financial crisis”, in 2008, noted John Authers in the Financial Times of 16 July, “it was beyond argument that existing regulations had failed, and would need to be rethought. “Only a few months ago, it looked as though the Great Re-regulation might turn into a Great Revenge, as politicians planned to squeeze the banks”. In the last few months, inertia, the huge political and social power of high finance, the absence of an energetic lobby-group within the wider capitalist class for a definite scheme of “re-regulation”, and the leanings of most political leaders, have won out. The...

Neo-liberals win out

“After the financial crisis”, in 2008, noted John Authers in the Financial Times of 16 July, “it was beyond argument that existing regulations had failed, and would need to be rethought. “Only a few months ago, it looked as though the Great Re-regulation might turn into a Great Revenge, as politicians planned to squeeze the banks”. In the last few months, inertia, the huge political and social power of high finance, the absence of an energetic lobby-group within the wider capitalist class for a definite scheme of “re-regulation”, and the leanings of most political leaders, have won out. The...

Debating the crisis and socialist answers

Vasilis Grollios reports on the Toronto conference of the academic journal Historical Materialism , held on 13-16 May. Some of the most well known socialist researchers participated in this conference, just like the other conferences the journal organises in New York and in London. Here are the lectures that aroused my interest most. In his welcome speech, the organiser of the conference, Toronto-based Professor of Political Economy David MacNally, stressed some of the main ideas he analyses in his new book: Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance. According to him...

Europe-wide cuts drive: Europe-wide workers' response needed

The cuts programme is Europe-wide. Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Greece are all making big cuts in social provision. This is a social and political choice by the ruling classes. In the tumult of 2008, many mainstream writers said that neo-liberalism was dead, and capitalist governments would have to seek a new programme, possibly conceding more social provision. Yet the EU governments are gambling on a push for a strongly neo-liberal way forward from the crisis. That means gearing government policy to making the eurozone an attractive site for footloose global...

Questions and answers on the deficit, the debt, and the cuts

Q. Are cuts in public services, welfare benefits, and public sector pay, jobs, and pensions unavoidable? Click here to download this article as pdf. A. No. In the first place, there is nothing impossible about the government continuing with a large budget deficit for a while. In the second place, the Trident replacement (maybe £30 billion) could be cut. Military spending (total £37 billion a year) could be reduced. The vast administrative costs of the internal market in the health service and the payments to private contractors under PFI schemes (up to £10 billion a year) could be axed. In the...

The Crisis, Part Two

On 7 June the German government, which faces no acute government-debt crisis, announced £66 billion cuts. The cuts will come mostly from welfare benefits, but will also slice off 15,000 public sector jobs. Germany's move is part of a wider pattern. Germany is pushing for other European Union countries to adopt a constitutional amendment like the one Germany voted through in May 2009. That amendment comes into force from January 2011 and prohibits all but the smallest budget deficits from 2016. France has already made a constitutional amendment, banning budget deficits from 2018. Britain's...

London meeting debates Greek and eurozone crisis

The debate at a 2 June meeting in London on the crisis in Greece and the eurozone was framed by a forceful opening speech from Costas Lapavitsas, a professor of economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). Lapavitsas summarised ideas presented in his recent interview for Solidarity , and argued for a Greek "exit with social restructuring" from the eurozone as the best option. "I am not advocating the end of the world", he said. "The end of the world is nigh, whatever we do". Or, at least, the end of the current eurozone. Whatever the Greek government does now, it will...

Is neoliberalism dead?

Review of The Enigma of Capital: and the crises of capitalism , by David Harvey (Profile Books) and Meltdown: the end of the age of greed , by Paul Mason (Verso). Paul Mason's book, written in February 2009, is the best (and best-written) narrative I've read of the world financial meltdown of September 2008. Mason goes for journalistic sharpness rather than academic hedging-of-bets, and concludes unequivocally: "Whatever you think about it, the neoliberal experiment is over". He collects shocked comments from capitalist strategists from the midst of the meltdown. He thinks those point to a...

This website uses cookies, you can find out more and set your preferences here.
By continuing to use this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.