Economy

From time to time, governments charged with managing the crisis-ridden capitalist system like to pretend that they have something called an industrial strategy: a grand universal plan for managing and developing production in the so-called ‘national interest’. But, as Steve Jones explains, there is no way forward within the confines of capitalism.

As we approach the 10th anniversary of the start of the 2007 financial crash, all the warning signs point towards the onset of a new stage in the world crisis of capitalism. For the working class, meanwhile, the crisis never ended – it has been a decade of attacks and austerity. A socialist alternative is needed to this chaos and misery.

Over ten million people in Britain are now stuck in what is deemed to be precarious work: in the gig economy; on zero-hour contracts; and in temporary employment, under-employment, or bogus self-employment. As Steve Jones reports, a vast section of the UK workforce is now living on the poverty line.

The number of people struggling to make ends meet despite being employed is growing and growing. The Tory Party’s boasts about cutting unemployment are clearly misleading, John Russell explains, as an increasing number find themselves with falling real wages, zero-hour contracts, and in temporary employment.

A recent study on tax evasion and inequality has revealed just how much of the top 0.01%’s fortunes is hidden away in foreign bank accounts. This clearly shows how the capitalist system has reached a dead end. These injustices and inequalities can only be abolished through socialist revolution.

Buoyed by statistics showing growth in many key countries, capitalist commentators are once again optimistically predicting that “green shoots of recovery” are blossoming for the world economy. But with this empirical attitude comes an incredible hubris – for none of the fundamental contradictions have been resolved. The system remains riddled with crisis.

When Boris Johnson recently promised to “make a titanic success” of Brexit, it is unlikely that he realised at the time just how apt his choice of words was. With the Philip Hammond, the Tory Chancellor, yesterday predicting slower growth and a £122bn hole in the government’s finances as a result of Britain’s forthcoming departure from the EU, it is clear that the UK economy is heading for an iceberg.

Only a few short years ago it seemed that the tech market could do no wrong. Whatever problems the rest of world capitalism faced, the tech industries looked to be moving from success to success, with ever-larger profits each year. But, as Steve Jones (not Jobs) reports, the major technology firms – such as Apple – are now facing an increasingly uncertain future.

The spectre of Lehman Brothers is haunting Europe. Last week, on Monday 26th September, the price of shares in Deutsche bank, Germany’s largest lender, slumped to its lowest level since 1983. A slump of this magnitude in the shares of one of Europe’s biggest banks has dire implications, not only for the eurozone, but for the world economy as a whole.

Following the shock of the Brexit vote, Britain has now joined the centre of the world crisis of capitalism. Already in a fragile state, confidence in the British economy has plummeted, prompting the Bank of England to intervene. However with the world economy still in deep crisis, the Bank’s measures will be like trying to stick a plaster over a gaping wound.