Capitalism Requires a Great Depression.

[G2099]

Guaranteed security for the working class is anathema to the owning class. Exploitation cannot take place where a social safety net exists. Manipulation of the working class is more difficult when workers have options. Eliminate the social safety net; what better way to avoid having to make the payouts than to bankrupt the entire economic system? A profound depressing of the economy facilitates the probability that pension payouts will not have to take place at all. In other words, let the big meltdown happen so all obligations to the working class can be expunged. Let the markets crash and let the cycle start over. This is the "boom and bust" that is the signature of capitalism. The bust, as Marx predicted, must take place as a result of capitalist contradictions. The system reverts to salvage operations as the working class is destroyed. Anton Pannekoek writes in "The theory of the collapse of capitalism" (1934) that the,

The workers' movement has not to expect a final catastrophe, but many catastrophes, political - like wars, and economic - like the crises which repeatedly break out, sometimes regularly, sometimes irregularly, but which on the whole, with the growing size of capitalism, become more and more devastating.

http://civillibertarian.blogspot.com/2006/06/capitalism-requires-great-depression.html

[salinen]

1. It will happen

When Corporations become the Government. They have.

[AndyTiedye]

9. It's Not Capitalism Anymore When Robber Barons Buy the Government

There's another word for that form of government. It starts with an "F".

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[BeatleBoot]

4. Hard To Say When, but...

One things for sure.

It will happen as a result of Republican policies.

[Name removed]

11. Deleted message

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[undeterred]

3. Bush is giving me a major depressive episode

and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Does that count?

[Sarah Ibarruri]

12. And the Democrat politicians kissing Republican ass is depressing me. nt

[iamahaingttta]

5. Not just a depression...

...also a die-off.
That's what Iraq is all about.
The people sitting on all that oil have to be eliminated.
9/11 was the opening salvo.
2007 will be the bloodiest year in human history.

Count on it...

[BeatleBoot]

6. Self-Delete

[Matariki]

7. but who's going to buy their crap?

doesn't a strong middle class create prosperity for corporations via sales?

[Telly Savalas]

14. That's the gaping hole in this analysis.

It wouldn't really be that big a deal if only anti-capitalist theorists bought into this bullshit, but a lot of the right-wing nutjobs that are presently running things seem to believe it too.

[bridgit]

8. capitalism as 'practiced' too often in america is predicated upon...

stress, duress, and the misfortune of others

[AndyTiedye]

10. I Don't Agree. Depressions are Bad for Business, Too

[neoblues]

13. What Capitalism Wants, Capitalism Gets...

and soon we'll see the NeoDepression.

[The Backlash Cometh]

15. That's bullshit. Unless what you mean is that capitalism needs

a periodic collapse in order to hide the corrupt methods used to redistribute the wealth to the wealthy.

[dcfirefighter]

16. Ownership Class and the factors of production

Real free markets are a win-win-win situation: consumers trade their goods (usually currency) for goods they'd rather have. Producers do the same thing. Each trade is voluntary and seen as a good trade by both sides.


A laborer trades his labor for wages.
A capitalist trades his capital for interest.
A rentier trades his land (read - natural resources) for rent.


Of these three, only the rentier had no hand in the creation of what he benefits from. We often conflate capital and land - modern conservative economists like to do this, so as to allow for the private enclosure of natural resources, while modern liberal economists like to do this so as to allow for the socialization of capital. However they behave under entirely different rules.

Namely, no price level will increase the availability of natural resources, while increased capital prices will result in the creation of more capital - capital being those manmade things that are used for further production: machines, factories, networks, roads, etc.

A century ago, one of the the most popular books in America was a treatise on the cause of industrial depressions. This book was Progress and Poverty by Henry George. His theory was that speculation in Land (later to include all natural resources) was the root cause of depressions. THis is an appropriate consideration for a country that is currently experiencing a peaking of speculation in Real Estate and Energy.

Another major consideration is the nature of money.

Money is lent into existence by private banks, who make a profit from charging interest on these loans. The money to pay the interest is not yet created, but must be earned from someone else - a global game of musical chairs. This is a larger problem than merely deciding on the appropriate Socialist/Capitalist balance in a mixed economy.