economics
Articles on economics and political economy.
Seven theses on the present crisis - João Bernardo
A survey of the financial crisis, systemic regulation problems for global capital, the economic growth of China, India and Brazil and its relation to the investment strategies of transnational capital.
"Contrary to what happened the 1930s, the economic and financial crisis which the United States is undergoing is not a world crisis but rather the strengthening of the development opportunities of huge areas of the globe."
Neo-liberals don't die, they just amortise
There has been a lot of talk on the left, and even in the mainstream media, about how neo-liberalism is dead or dying as the recession burns a hole through their theorists' tissue of lies. Not a bit of it. If anything, privatisation and the robbing of the working class is accelerating.
While calm waves lap against the shingle of Felixstowe's pretty little beachfront, giant ships tower over the horizon, headed to every corner of the world and back again. Watching them glide from one side of the sea to another seems unreal, as though they belong to another world, the vast container port they've been visiting just an alien outpost tacked onto the end of a semi-retired resort.
The grand bluff: private profits, social risks
In this 2008 feature for Freedom, published shortly after the first major bank bailout as the recession began to bite, Iain McKay explains the cost of believing big business
With the financial markets in a panic, the calls for bailouts have increased – and the bank of England has responded with a huge rates cut, while Brown has underwritten banks to the tune of billions.
Democratic Russia has little cause for optimism
In this interview originally published in Freedom in 2008, Rob Ray talks to Vadim, a Russian anarchist, about the state of the country in that year.
Rob Ray: What is the economic situation in Russia at the moment?
Banking and Credit Myths - A Socialist View
1990's pamphlet from ex-SPGB group "Socialist Studies" debunking commonly held misconceptions surrounding the banking system.
BANKING AND CREDIT MYTHS
The growth of human knowledge - And the exception
Conditions of the working classes in China
Article from Monthly Review on the effects of China's economic transformation on the working class since Mao's death.
by Robert Weil
Introduction
Regeneration, but not for miners
Funding for the coalfields has been lauded by the government as a stunning transformation of old mining communities through free-market activity allied with government nous. But buried in amongst the back-slapping are figures which show the ex-miners themselves have been left in the cold while the wealthy profit around them
Despite massive investment in mining communities damaged by Thatcher’s victory in 1984 and with winding down of coal mining in the 1990s, the money has gone not to local workers but to regeneration groups and businesses, according to a new report.
A brief history of the crisis
A concise background to the current financial crisis and recession.
However it may seem, the current crisis didn’t come out of nowhere. Following WWII, the government and employers were keen to appease a population weary from years of war and rationing.
What recession means for us
An analysis of the likely impact of the coming recession on workers' lives and a rallying call for collective action to mitigate that impact.
The recession is here. We're told to tighten our belts and brace ourselves for redundancies, wage and service cuts. Politicians and business leaders are united in saying we should pay for a crisis not of our making [see box for a brief history of the crisis]. A recession is simply when the economy shrinks for 6 months in a row.
Economics - further reading guide
Libcom's guide to further reading on economics and the critique of political economy.
*Karl Marx:
Wage-Labor and Capital
Value, Price, and Profit
Capital, Vol. 1-3
A Critique of Political Economy
The Poverty of Philosophy
Grundrisse
Capital, Vol. 4 (Theories of Surplus Value)
1844 Manuscripts
http://www.greenwich.ac.uk/~fa03/ (Alan Freeman's web site, lots of TSS conference materials)
