In English at least, “waste” as a noun means rubbish, whatever can’t or won’t be used and is only good for the waste bin. The verb “to waste” has more subtle varieties: one meaning is to be profligate, to squander or make inefficient and uneconomical use of a resource. But to “lay waste” is to devastate, for example when an army or a barbarian horde lays waste a city. In gangland slang, to... Read more
Nye Bevan, the driving force behind the creation of the NHS, gave a succinct description of the process now destroying one of the greatest achievements of the Attlee government – indeed, of any Labour government. He declared that: ‘In practice it is impossible for the modern state to maintain an independent control over the decisions of big business. When the state extends its control over big... Read more
Son muchas las pruebas que, en la actualidad, demuestran la inviabilidad del capitalismo como modo de organización de la vida económica. Uno de sus máximos apologistas, el economista austríaco-americano Joseph Schumpeter, gustaba argumentar que lo que lo caracterizaba era un continuo proceso de “destrucción creadora”: viejas formas de producción o de organización de la vida económica eran... Read more
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One of the more telling features of the present is the scarcity of analysis able to place today’s current socioeconomic crisis in geohistorical perspective. In terms of capitalism over the longue duree, no intellectual has developed a more formidable analysis of the present crisis than Giovanni Arrighi. (1) Arrighi, of course, along with Immanuel Wallerstein (1974, 1980, 1989) and the late Te... Read more
Excuse me starting with a reference to Britain. I don't mean to be parochial; it's just that in a financial crisis what the City of London does, and even what it thinks, is of much more than local significance. In a particularly acute way, the behaviour of the City demonstrates how important it is, at this time, for the left to think through the issue of public ownership of the banks and what ... Read more
In a recent editorial comment, The Economist issued a solemn call to all believers in global capitalism not to despair, not to panick, and to do nothing that could endanger the capitalist system (October 18-24, 2008). The magazine invoked the words and spirit of its founder, the Scottish businessman, James Wilson, who, about 165 years ago, gave the paper the philosophy of "economic liberty". ... Read more
Las crisis son las grandes maestras de la historia. Ponen de manifiesto la esencia de un régimen económico-social al derribar el espeso velo de fetichismos y racionalizaciones que ocultan la naturaleza inherentemente explotadora y predatoria del capitalismo. Con ellas se torna visible la gigantesca estafa del sistema: Richard Fuld, antaño todopoderoso CEO de Lehman Brothers, declara en el... Read more
