Raúl Ilargi Meijer — Is Capitalism Dead or Merely Dying?

Maldistribution. Symptom or cause?

A market ideology that causes widespread misery has no future.

The Automatic Earth
Is Capitalism Dead or Merely Dying?

Raúl Ilargi Meijer

The transition from the age of hunting-gathering to the agricultural age wrought a drastic social, political l and economic transformation, as did the transition from the agricultural age to the industrial age. So it can be safely assumed that the transition from the industrial age to the information age will also involve a profound social, political and economic transformation, as Varoufakis foresees.

The relations of production in late-stage capitalism, that is, the owners of capital and workers, are coming into conflict with the forces of production, that is, the workers and technological innovations, are coming into conflict with the relations of production, chiefly involving the ownership of capital, e.g., of technology and finance capital.

A symptom of this is that gains in productivity resulting from technological innovation are being hoarded by the owners of technology and high-skilled management and workers, which results in turn in maldistribution, social dysfunction, and political unrest. Financialization exacerbates this by increasing private debt, which involves debt service from income, drawing on existing asset, or more debt. When incomes are insufficient, this process is unsustainable without redistribution or reform.

The old order is breaking down and the new order has not yet revealed its outline clearly enough to be visible.

Independent
Capitalism is ending because it has made itself obsolete, former Greek finance minister Yannis Varoufakis says
Tom Embury-Dennis