Economy

Global crisis

We live in exceptional times. The financial panic in the USA is creating waves that are threatening to engulf the whole world. This is rapidly transforming the consciousness of millions. Yesterday a demonstration called by the New York Central Labor Council mobilized about a thousand workers, including a large number of construction workers ‑ ironworkers, labourers, plumbers and steamfitters ‑ as well as teachers, city workers and others. The aim of the demonstration, called at less than two days' notice, was to protest against the President's plan to bail out Wall Street with a massive donation of 700 billion dollars of public money. Here is the Reuters report of the protest:

Panic has gripped the stock markets of the world. Things are completely out of control, and there is nothing that governments can say or do that can stop it. As in 1929, every time people thought that the worst had come, further falls were just round the corner. Nobody knows how far share prices have still to go. The world economy now finds itself in unsheltered waters. "We're way beyond fundamentals," said Chris Orndorff, head of equity strategy at Payden & Rygel, in Los Angeles. "This is just pure panic, that's all it is."

Another world is possible – socialism

Some misguided people say that it is the very advances of science that are the problem. They believe we would be happier squatting in mud huts and working from dawn to dusk in backbreaking labour the fields. This is foolishness. The way to attain true freedom to develop the potential of men and women to the full lies precisely in the fullest development of industry, agriculture, science and technology. The problem is that these powerful weapons for human progress are in the hands of individuals who subordinate them to the profit motive, distorting their purpose, limiting their application and holding back their development. It is clear that science would long ago have discovered a cure for cancer or found cheap and clean alternatives to fossil fuels if it had not been chained to the chariot of profit.

How to combat unemployment

During the boom, when fantastic profits were being made, the majority of working people did not see a real rise in wages. They were subjected to increased pressure for ever-higher productivity and longer hours. But now, as the crisis begins to bite, they are threatened not just with drastic cuts in living standards and conditions but also with the loss of their jobs. Factory closures and rising unemployment are on the order of the day. This in turn signifies a deepening of the crisis and a further deterioration in the living standards of the people. On a world scale, millions are faced with the danger of being cast into the pit of pauperism.

A global crisis of capitalism

The world crisis of capitalism is a fact that nobody can ignore. The economists only yesterday were assuring us that another 1929 was impossible. Now they are talking of the threat of another Great Depression. The IMF is warning of an increased risk of a severe and protracted economic downturn on a world scale. What began as a financial collapse in the USA has now spread to the real economy, threatening the jobs, homes and livelihoods of millions.