En Passant

We are not yet out of the woods. And if we are I suspect we are in a clearing before we go further into the heart of darkness.

This might be a W-shaped recession, with the W moving towards a w.

Socialist Worker in Britain ran this article – Explaining the toxic crisis of capitalism – in September last year. It is well worth a read for a simple understanding of the crisis of profitability slowly destroying the system.

Social democratic controlled burning won’t prevent the firestorm of the Great Recession from destroying hundreds of millions of lives across the globe. Rudd Labor will fan the flames.

Andrew Bolt is right. Rudd could be a oncer.

Could it be that low profit rates are causing the problems of the economy? Not too much Government. Not too little Government. Not over-regulation. Not under-regulation. Not over-consumption. Not under-consumption. Not too many people.  Not greed. Low profit rates.  If so the way production is organised under capitalism is the real issue.  Capitalists invest more and more in […]

Nationalise Pacific Brands. The company is sacking 1850 staff in Australia and moving production to China and other countries. It makes singlets, jocks, socks, bras and the like. What can the workers there do?  Occupy the factories. Run production themselves. Demand the Rudd ‘Labor’ Government nationalise the company without compensation to protect their jobs.   Sound ridiculous?  

Australia is not and will not be immune from the economic crisis. Canberra won’t be either. For a start Canberra is dependent on the Commonwealth Public Service for much of its employment. In the May Budget it is possible the Rudd Government will take a meat axe to the public service – either directly through […]

Australia is not immune from the economic crisis. Class struggle in response to the ferment can break out here too.

We have the same class divisions as other countries. Our bourgeoisie and Governments will attempt to shift the burden of the crisis onto workers. That of course is already happening with wage freezes, reduced hours and sackings, and stimulus packages aimed at bolstering profits, and promoting attacks on wages.

There is a dagger at the heart of capitalism. It is the tendency of the rate of profit to fall. If Marx is right about this tendency then it doesn’t really matter in the long term whether you are a stimulator or tax cutter, a Keynesian or a Friedmanite. Stimulus packages, tax cuts, letting business […]