tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post6430179081795103078..comments2024-03-27T09:14:27.496+00:00Comments on All That Is Solid ...: Roots of the RecessionPhilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-29897156552262710232009-12-09T16:14:34.299+00:002009-12-09T16:14:34.299+00:00The crisis was casued by the lending of money to p...The crisis was casued by the lending of money to people who could not pay it back for reasons of government-motivated social intervention. NGOs were permitted to sue and to threaten to sue banks that would not lend more uniformly by postal code - meaning - that they weren't lendeing enough to people in neighborhoods where people with low incomes live.<br /><br />Socialistic intervention by government and pressure groups (motiveated by the class warfare model of society) who themselves bear no responsibilities for their actions is at the root of this problem.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01468112380845144830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-62617514569410731982009-10-29T11:48:41.240+00:002009-10-29T11:48:41.240+00:00Phil,
Thanks. On the pit communities, I'm no...Phil,<br /><br />Thanks. On the pit communities, I'm not sure. Most of these communities actually do not have "new" industries locating within them. They tend to be low paid, low status jobs in warehouses, Retail parks etc. but they are new, and to an extent reflect the shifting nature of the British economy a bifurcated labour market split between large numbers of such low paid jobs, and another sector of very highly skilled, highly paid workers - within which I'd include the financial sector.<br /><br />In other words what I's saying is that Capitalism does resolve its problems, but does so on its terms, and only through a series of crises. That's one reason I'm a bit dismissive of Environmentalism. Capitalism in developed coutnries has cleared up the mess of the Industrial Revolution, it has an interest in not destroying itself, and has an even greater interest in making profits out of new technologies and industries that deal with soem of those environmental problems. But, precisely because it cannot do that in a rationally planned way, and because the driving force is profit, that resolution comes about only through environemntal crises. Oil efficiency for example icnreased hugely after the Oil crises of the 1970's.<br /><br />You know my own feeling on this. The workers at Tower Colliery took matters into their hands by setting up a Co-op that kept them in jobs, and its only workres who have the incentive for using any breathing space to consider what jobs, what industries might be sustainable to provide decent employment into the future.Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-11205684081799231722009-10-27T22:02:33.779+00:002009-10-27T22:02:33.779+00:00Excellent points, Arthur. As I'm not an econom...Excellent points, Arthur. As I'm not an economist by any stretch (albeit with an amateur and very occasional interest in political economy) I welcome your input on this and other forays I make into economics. <br /><br />Re: declining industries, when I was writing about the miners' strike fives years ago for my Weekly Worker columns I remember coming across some old NUM documents. They were interesting because they accepted the decline of king coal was inevitable, instead they were about managing that decline without consigning pit-dependent communities to the scrap heap. This talked about new industries coming in as alternatives to the mines. But as we know these never saw the light of day.Philhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06298147857234479278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-24859035767931611632009-10-27T09:53:13.786+00:002009-10-27T09:53:13.786+00:00I have just one other comment which is about what ...I have just one other comment which is about what you say about class struggle. Marxists cannot exclude class struggle from any economic analysis as you say. However, I think its necessary to udnerstand that it is a dialectical interrelationship.<br /><br />During the Long Wave boom as Glynn and Sutclifffe showed workers were able to raise wages at the expense of profits. This is one factor that played into the particular degree of neglect and udnerinvestment in the British economy. Income shares ar always to some degree at least a function of class struggle. But, as Marx pointed out only within limits. Capital has the whip hand and will respond - underinvestment being one example, de-industrialisation and golobalisation being another.<br /><br />The longer term aspect of this is that the ability of workers to resist, to assert their interests is itself a function of the economic reality. It is no accident that in the boom of the 19th century workers organsiations gained size and strength, and declined in the long downturns. Nor that in the Long Boom at the edn of the 19th century beginning of the twentieth large workers organisations and parties developed.<br /><br />But, nor is it a coincidence that in the 1920's and 30's they were put seriously on the back foot, or that in the 60's and 70's workers again strode forward only to be knocked back in the 80's and 90's.<br /><br />The conjunctural turns with the Long Wave are undeniable. There is a period of around 10 years or so from the end of the Long Wave boom during which the strength of the workers built up during it exerts itself to defend the workers against the icnreasing attacks of the bosses in response to the downturn. If workers fail to produce political solutions during that period i.e. a revolution, then the material conditions impose themselves, the repeated struggles of workers during that period udner increasingly difficult conditions - closures, redundancies etc. - make themselves felt in the workers spirit and conscioussness, and defeat is inevitable.Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-31813818342699406452009-10-27T09:40:25.053+00:002009-10-27T09:40:25.053+00:00Phil,
Great post. I think it reinforces some of ...Phil,<br /><br />Great post. I think it reinforces some of the arguments I have amde over the last few years. Just some cursory comments.<br /><br />1. The financial bubble in the US was not "irrational" within its own context. It was a necessary consequecne of the monetary stimulus used to keep the US economy afloat during the Long Wave downturn, and the process of structural adjustment referred to. There was a really good programme on BBCFour the other night about Britain in the 1930's. It showed how the picture we have of mass unemployment was only half the picture. In the South-East, the new industries that were to lead the post-war boom were developing, and there was considerable affluence. It was also interesting that it was during this period - when the workingc lass was very weak - that Neville Chamberlain developed most of the basic ideas that were to become the post-war "Welfare State"!<br /><br />2. Although there was "de-industrialisation" in the US during the 80's/90's downturn, it could only go so far. Big Monopolies like Ford and GM continued production. Without them during this period its unlikely anything could have prevented a Depression. Their monopoly position and huge Balance Sheets allowed them to sustain losses over many years, and allowed workers in them to maintain living standards to some extent. The important point is that although the crisis has shown the problems of globalisation, it is a fact, and from a Marxist perspective a progresive fact.<br /><br />But, a consequecne of the fact is that ultimately the high wages in the US, UK etc. for many of these products like cars are unsustainable. Approaches based on more militancy to try to defend those wages simply cannot work in this environment. Marxists should not pretend they can. We need political solutions, and solutions based on creating new industries in the West where high wages can be sustained.Boffyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08157650969929097569noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4486641877026778105.post-15180885859024082322009-10-22T02:49:24.737+01:002009-10-22T02:49:24.737+01:00Hello. I definitely agree that "in many ways ...Hello. I definitely agree that "in many ways this is a crisis made in America". The whole country has been in debt for a long time and most of the American population is used to taking loans hoping there will be enough money to pay for them one day. The problem is that there is not enough money and probably even won't be as the unemployment rate is growing. In my opinion, the housing "bubble" which triggered the financial crisis wasn't the last one and we can expect another ones.<br />Take care,<br />ElliCondominiums in Torontohttp://ellidavis.com/toronto/condos/noreply@blogger.com