The global crisis
2011-11-14 08:50
When communism went into a state of collapse roughly a quarter of a century ago and the mighty Soviet Union fragmented, a political commentator, whose name I cannot remember, said that he hoped “capitalism does not gloat because it is next...”
I was reminded of this when I watched with dismay how the world’s most powerful leaders walked away from a crucial G20 meeting having achieved very little except to cause US President Barack Obama to leave in a huff but not after he and the French Prime minister had made some highly publicised and demeaning “private” comments about the Israeli prime minister.
Then, just looking at the crisis in the Eurozone and harking back to the investment banking scandals and bailouts of banks followed by bailouts of entire countries, I have to wonder whether indeed capitalism is on the edge of a deep, dark chasm.
I have been reading a lot of warnings about the fact that the current global economic system is unsustainable. Some arguably very clever people are not saying it “might” be unsustainable, they’re saying it is absolutely unsustainable.
Yet, as the gap between rich and poor gets wider and wider, while global unemployment rises along with the prices of food, housing and basic services, politicians seem hell bent on trying to buy solutions to the world’s economic system.
It almost seems to me that they’re trying to fill a bucket that’s full of holes.
Meanwhile, big corporations continue to march along the same road hunting for profits and shareholder satisfaction ahead of everything else. They’re all getting rid of people in an effort to stay profitable without thinking for a minute that the very people they are laying off are someone’s else’s customers who will now not have any money to spend.
It is insane self-interest.
It seems to me that if indeed, the current global economic system is unsustainable, surely world leaders should start looking for alternatives instead of pouring obscene amounts of money into perpetuating something that doesn’t work.
Maybe Europe will solve the Euro crisis but for how long I wonder? Probably just until the some other country follows Greece into a debt burden it cannot hope to repay.
In my opinion, any system that allows the gap between rich and poor to widen is one that is inviting strikes, civil disobedience and anarchy.
Right now the entire global economic and political hierarchy seems to be largely ignoring the growing protest action started by the “Occupy Wall Street” movement.
Frankly, I don’t think that just sending in the police is going to make this go away and what we’re looking at right now is just the tip of an iceberg made up of billions of people who are sick and tired of being unemployed or being told to keep tightening their belts while they watch politicians, bankers and businessmen flaunting their power and wealth.
And watching politicians thinking about nothing else other than how to stay in power.
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