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Showing posts with the label crisis

UK and beyond

Nesrine Malik : The pandemic exposed our failing healthcare systems; the disparity between the  perception of immigrants as a drain  and the reality of them as pillars of our communities; the gulf between races and classes; the incompetence of our politicians; the fatal consequences of diminishing public services. There is a naivety in the hope that once ideas are discussed and made popular, they will permeate policymaking and bring about change. History shows us that, during a period of economic upheaval, this is unlikely. The 2008 financial crisis is the clearest cautionary tale. If the loss of life is at a level deemed acceptable by big business and government, the focus will shift to moving on while minimising the need for change. The old order – that some are already writing eulogies for – will surge back rather than retreating. History shows us that whatever horrors a crisis exposes, they can be covered up in the shattered aftermath."

The International Monetary Fund

Also goes by the name "the international mother fucker" It is more beautiful when it is headed by a feminist/a feminist mother.  There is no shortage of people who want to lead a criminal institution with a global reach and they are proud of it. I recommend Eric Toussaint's writings
Iran 1999, 2009, 2011-12, 2018 are episodes which have marked the long crisis of the regime. I wouldn't speculate on any external influence, but, what is evident, is that not only calls for "democracy" and "freedoms", etc led mainly by middle class Iranians have driven those protests, but the socio-economic crisis, coupled with corruption and high inequality, has deepened. 
Keynes's economic theory voted most influential academic book on British life. A public vote to decide which scholarly book has had the greatest impact on Britain has chosen The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money "Keynes knew what he was on to when he wrote The General Theory. In a letter to playwright and socialist George Bernard Shaw, he wrote: “I believe myself to be writing a book on economic theo ry, which will largely revolutionise – not, I suppose, at once but in the course of the next few years – the way the world thinks about economic problems.” WAS HE RIGHT ABOUT ITS INFLUENCE? "The book formed the basis for Keynesian economics, which has been a hugely influential economic model in the UK since the Great Depression, and, thanks to Keynesian advocate Gordon Brown, played a key role following the 2008 crash. Brown’s famous quote “no more boom and bust” was a direct reference to The General Theory’s central thesis. WELL, THAT DID NOT WORK O
This is generally a good summary, but I think the author is wrong on the class nature of Trump's supporters. The death of neoliberalism and the crisis in western politics
The Long Depression: Marxism and the Long Crisis of Capitalism by Michael Roberts (Haymarket Books, 19 July 2016)