Saturday, December 29, 2012

Inside Story Americas - Has capitalism proven its durability?

From Al Jazeera via YouTube an interview featuring Chris Hedges and Richard D. Wolff.

Hedges and Wolff dramatically describe the horrible state of today's societies caused by the ravages of advanced capitalism. I was surprised to hear that Hedges believes it is too late to turn things around. From some of his remarks and in other writings it seems to me that he is as worried about the "fringe or extremists"--you know, like anarchists who break windows--as his apocalyptic vision of the future. Forgive my cynicism, but Hedges sometimes reminds me of a fundamentalist preacher who loves to give impassioned sermons on hell and damnation.

Wolff holds out hope for sudden dramatic changes once a critical point is reached, like what happened in the Soviet Union. In this interview Wolff briefly suggests that democratizing corporations is the answer, whereas in other media he has proposed worker cooperatives. He really doesn't say anything about worker cooperatives as suggested by the super-inscribed message on the video which reads "Worker-Owned Co-operatves Fastest Growing Business Model in the World". This and Al Jazeera's headline for the interview indicate that they intended to frame this depressing discussion in a much more positive framework than it turned out.