capitalism

“Een kritiek op het kapitalisme vanuit het standpunt van de arbeid is een logische onmogelijkheid, omdat je het kapitalisme niet vanuit het oogpunt van zijn eigen substantie kan bekritiseren.”

In dit interview uit 2010 praat journalist/filosoof Robert Kurz over de vragen die hij in zijn werk stelt: de dynamiek van economische crisis, hoe het kapitalisme in de loop van de geschiedenis zijn eigen substantie steeds verder uitholt en de crisistheorie van Marx. Hij schetst wat de actuele inhoud zou zijn van een ecologisch houdbare maatschappij op basis van “bewuste maatschappelijke planning”, in tegenstelling tot de “planning van de waarde” die in het Oostblok als socialisme gold.

2019 finds humanity in an increasingly dangerous place. The consequences of global economic stagnation, itself the product of a much deeper crisis of profitability, can be seen in the rise of nationalism, racism and xenophobia. These in turn threaten not only to add to the increasing proliferation of unending wars around the world but to the possibility of more general conflict further down the line. Not unconnected to the current wars are the environmental disasters which the pursuit of profit has already inflicted on millions across the globe. If allowed to proceed unchecked capitalism threatens, in one way or another, the very existence of the only home humanity has.

An attempt to understand the functioning of one the world's most powerful companies using marxist categories - explaining how Amazon manages to combine the functions of productive, comercial and finance capital. The intention is, of course, to try to work out the implications for class strugle...

The world economy is in poor shape and the American economy is in even worse condition. The 2008 crisis has not been resolved and many analysts fear a new financial explosion. Capital continues to stay clear of investment in production and is trying to recover without running up more debts. Company returns are low, profit rates are decreasing. Capital is moving more and more into speculation. It is the same old situation, except that the rescue costs of the previous crisis cannot be repeated in the next crisis. The sound of war can be heard in the distance, accompanied by the rising threat of a new, catastrophic barbarism.