Full Marx if you can see history repeating itself | Business | The Observer

This link has been bookmarked by 2 people . It was first bookmarked on 12 May 2008, by Arabica Robusta.

13 May 08

Syll Dubh
2008 economics marx capitalism history marxism observer political_theory
12 May 08

Arabica Robusta
marx history industry globalization economics
- To piece together the fragments of today's worldwide crisis is to grapple with a sense of deja vu. The sweep of globalisation; strident inequalities (last weekend's FT ran a breathless piece about the Bond-style security mechanisms built into the luxury homes of the international superclass - alongside stories of food riots); vast intervention by central banks to prop up the banking system; the origin of the crisis in the explosive mixture of masters and leftovers of the universe - what does all this remind you of?
- In fact, apart from the predictions of capitalism's impending demise, it is remarkable how much its sharpest critic got right. Along with creeping monopolies, growing inequality and the all-absorbing momentum of the capital markets, Marx foresaw many of the effects of globalisation, which he called 'the universal interdependence of nations', not least the effects of an international 'reserve army of the unemployed' in disciplining and depressing the wages of workers in the developed economies.

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