Click here to access article by Eric Toussaint from London Progressive Journal.
I don't see a lot of new analysis here of capitalism's latest economic collapse, but he explains the latest capitalist disaster very well. I especially like the conclusion he draws from his analysis.
It's not just the banks--although they are the key player in the system because they control the money supply and where money is invested. There is a more fundamental problem: the system itself promotes the addiction to profits for a tiny minority. The system gives the latter not only direct control where accumulated wealth is invested, but also under the ownership rules of capitalism they appropriate the new wealth that is created by workers regardless of the consequences to the rest of society. This cycle of private appropriation and investment results in a history of disasters: wars (destroying capital to provide capitalists with new profit opportunities), speculative bubbles, exploitation of workers, and environmental devastation. This history is only occasionally interrupted by capitalists who see the necessity of enacting reforms to save the system from its own destructive impulses.
There are times that one cannot help but admire the brilliance of their rule: they create all these disasters for us while operating an extensive system of indoctrination to inculcate in their citizens the belief that society functions as a "democracy". This effort has also been greatly aided by the use of secret surveillance agencies to intimidate the occasional renegade lawmaker (see this), and the periodic holding of carefully managed elections.
However, they have not assumed that these measures are sufficient to secure them and their system. They have added in fail-safe systems in case the latter systems don't do the job of keeping Americans subservient: full spectrum surveillance of all citizens, an extensive prison system, and a beefed up militarized police force under national direction (Dept. of Homeland Security).
