Saturday, July 17, 2010
new post
A lot has happened in the world since my last posting. I won't waste time recalling the events but suffice to say that capitalism continues to bounce from crisis to crisis. Eventually we will reach a crisis that can not be coped with and will result in a fundamental shift in the capitalist system as we now know it. My view on the matter is that capitalism's effects on the environment; such as global climate change and the undervaluing of the natural world, will reach a point were dramatic changes to the climate and physical geography will create new areas of natural benefit to capital and cause a number of our current centers of capital to no longer be of importance. The resulting shifts of where capital can most easily and naturally be accrued will necessitate the confrontation of several if not all of the tenants of capitalism as social fabrics fray and or dissolve. With shifts in economic viability people will be inclined to search for the areas where they can at least continue to maintain their standard of living. Population shifts will necessitate the growth of new societies, this coupled with the shifting in economic standards and practices could potentially give rise to a new economic model that is distinct from the capitalist system. Historically Marx would have seen this as the end of the historical period of capitalism and the beginning of the next, which came to be called communism. However I would like to hold off on such labels as any talk of the future is suspect at best (look at your local weather person). It is possible that climate change could spell the end of capitalism but, capitalism is a very powerful system able to mobilize vast resources to overcome the obstacles in its way and it is likely that while climate change will force some alteration to the capitalist system, capitalism as a whole will not be extinguished. Historically we should look to the end of the feudal system the world over and the beginning of the development of capitalism, as that was the most recent construction of a new social-economic system. From that historical period and others we can better understand what to expect if capitalism starts to truly fail.
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