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DESCRIPTION:Lecture and Discussion\nSpeaker: Joseph Patrick of the German Marxist 
 quarterly GegenStandpunkt\n\nUnfortunately, what the overwhelming majority 
 have learned from the recent collapse of the financial sector and the 
 general breakdown of business is how much they need the success of banks 
 and business in general. The worse things get for them in this 
 crisis-stricken economy, the more they are convinced that basically 
 everything in the capitalist system is their means for making a living – 
 including bank profits, booming stock markets and even complex derivatives. 
 Faced with capital’s failure to grow and with the malfunctioning 
 enrichment of the rich, the masses and the elite demand that all of that be 
 made to function again. The public’s initial outrage at the machinations 
 of investment banks has long since turned into the hope that these greedy 
 speculators get back on their feet again and do business in a more stable 
 fashion. Meanwhile, capitalists are rescuing their property and protecting 
 their profits by passing on the damages to their employees, sacking them 
 and exposing them to greater deprivation. And the victims – they accept 
 that sacrifices will have to be made in order for “our” economy to get 
 off the ground again. \n\nFor those on the democratic left, the crisis has 
 confirmed their doubts about the beneficence of “the market” and its 
 capacity to ensure the greatest good for the greatest number. They demand 
 more state regulation, perhaps even the nationalization of certain banks 
 and key industries, so that “the economy” can function more reliably! 
 For the more radical left, capitalism’s real flaw is that it is prone to 
 crises; without them, one wonders whether they would have anything to 
 criticize about it. \n\nIn drawing these lessons from the collapse of 
 finance and the subsequent “great recession,” both these groups show 
 disregard for the lessons that the crisis itself is teaching. All the more 
 reason to raise some critical questions:\n \nWhat sort of an economy is 
 this, if failed speculation in the most remote spheres of finance brings 
 production to a halt and radically increases the poverty of the masses?  
 \n \nWhat sort of a country is this, if banks are its most crucial 
 element? What do unprecedented government bailouts of the banks reveal 
 about the wealth of modern nations?\n\nWhat sort of a world economy is 
 this, if a nation’s standing is determined by its ability to successfully 
 uphold its collapsed financial sector? Every nation knows that crises are 
 times of dramatic shifts in terms of national wealth and power and they all 
 are eager to take advantage of “the worst crisis since 1929” to revise 
 the global “balance of power.” \n \nThe answers to these questions 
 suggest that the capitalist system doesn’t deserve to get back on its 
 feet, but to be abolished. The domination of capital reveals its absurdity 
 and brutality all the more in times of economic crisis, when the expansion 
 of capital – because it doesn’t succeed – strangles the entire 
 material life-process of society. We invite you to come and find out. \n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/02/18613737.php
SUMMARY:What the World Economic Crisis Teaches Us about Capitalism
LOCATION:522 Valencia @ 16th Street\nSan Francisco, California
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/02/18613737.php
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