Capitalism hits the fan : the global economic meltdown and what to do about it / Richard D. Wolff.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wolff, Richard D.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Financial crises--United States--History--21st century.

Financial crises.

Capitalism--United States--History--21st century.

Capitalism.

History.

United States--Economic policy--2001-2009.

United States.

Economic policy.

Physical Description:

xi, 262 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Northampton, Mass. : Olive Branch Press, 2010.

Summary:

Capitalism Hits the Fan differs sharply from most other explanations offered by politicians, media commentators, and academics. Step by step, Professor Wolff shows that deep economic structures-the relationship of wages to profits, of workers to boards of directors, and of debts to income-account for the crisis. Government bailout interventions have thrown too little money too late at a problem that requires more than money to solve. As this book shows, we must now ask basic questions about capitalism as a system that has now convulsed the world economy into two great depressions in 75 years (and countless lesser crises, recessions, and cycles in between). The book's essays engage the long-overdue public discussion about basic structural changes and systemic alternatives needed not only to fix today's broken economy but to prevent future crises.

Contents:

Part I Roots of a System's Crisis

The Political Pendulum Swings, the Alienation Deepens 2

Dividing the Conservative Coalition 7

Economic Inequality and US Politics 11

Reform vs. Revolution: Settling Accounts 15

Exit-Poll Revelations 18

Real Costs of Executives' Money Grabs 22

The Decline of Public Higher Education 25

Reversing the American Dream 29

Old Distributions, New Economy (co-author Max Fraad-Wolff) 32

Today's Haunting Specter, or What Needs Doing 35

Twenty Years of Widening Inequality 40

Neoliberalism in Globalized Trouble 44

Evading Taxes, Legally 48

Consumerism: Curses and Causes 51

Nominating Palin Makes Sense 54

Part II Economics of the Crisis

1 Capitalism as a Crisis-Prone System 59

Capitalism's Three Oscillations and the US Today 60

Financial Panics, Then and Now 64

Neoliberal Globalization Is Not the Problem 68

Economic Blues 72

Capitalist Crisis, Marx's Shadow 75

Wall Street vs. Main Street: Finger Pointing vs. System Change 79

Capitalism's Crisis through a Marxian Lens 83

It's the System, Stupid 87

GM's Tragedy: The System Strikes Back 91

Crises in vs. of Capitalism 95

2 The Role of Economic Theory 99

Evangelical Economics 100

Flip-Flops of Economics 103

3 Markets and Efficiency IOJ

Oil and Efficiency Myths 108

The Rating Horrors and Capitalist "Efficiency" 111

Market Terrorism 115

4 Wages, Productivity, and Exploitation 119

US Pensions: Capitalist Disaster 120

The Fallout from Falling Wages 125

Reaping the Economic Whirlwind 129

Our Sub-Prime Economy 132

5 Housing and Debt 135

Personal Debts and US Capitalism 138

US Housing Boom Goes Bust 141

What Dream? Americans All Renters Now! 145

6 Government Intervention in the Economy 149

Bemanke Expectations: New Fed Chairman, Same Old, Same Old 150

Federal Reserve Twists and Turns 155

As Rome Burned, the Emperor Fiddled 158

Policies to "Avoid" Economic Crises 161

Lotteries: Disguised Tax Injustice 165

7 International Dimensions of the Crisis 169

Immigration and Class 170

Global Oil Market Dangers 175

China Shapes/Shakes World's Economies 179

Globalization's Risks and Costs 182

Foreign Threat to American Business? 186

US Economic Slide Threatens Mexico 190

Part III Politics of the Crisis

1 Reforms and Regulations as Crisis Solutions 19s

Economic Reforms: Been There, Done That 196

Regulations Do Not Prevent Capitalist Crises 200

2 Debates over "Socialist" Solutions 205

Economic Crisis, Ideological Debates 206

Socialism's New American Opportunity 210

Those Alternative Socialist "Stimulus" Plans 215

Wanted: Red-Green Alliance for Radically Democratic

Reorganization of Production 217

Capitalist Crisis, Socialist Renewal 220

3 Arid-Capitalist Politics 225

Europe: Capitalism and Socialism 226

The Urban Renewal Scam for New Orleans 230

France's Student-Worker Alliance 233

Lessons of a Left Victory in France 236

The Minimum Wage, Labor, and Politics 239

French Elections' Deeper Meaning 243

Mass Political Withdrawal 247

Capitalism Crashes, Politics Changes 251.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781566567848

156656784X

OCLC:

320804337