Po tem, ko smo tudi v teh krajih tako uspešno opravili z Marxovimi učenci, se, hm, nerad to izrečem, zdi, da se Marx spet vrača. In sicer v njegovi originalni formi, kot kritika razvoja kapitalizma v njegovem samem centru – v razvitih državah. Razvoj kapitalizma v obdobju globalizacije je v razvitih državah privedel do natanko tistih posledic, ki jih je Marx napovedal dobrih 160 let nazaj.Govorim o produkciji novih in novejših produktov (imaginarnih apetitov), ki jih nihče ne potrebuje. Govorim o globalizaciji kapitalizma, ki je razširila rezervno industrijsko armado delavcev na ves svet, kar je tako znižalo rast plač v razvitem svetu, da si ne morejo več privoščiti vseh teh novih produktov. Kar vodi v nujnost finančnih balonov in kriz oziroma sekularno stagnacijo, kot pravi Larry Summers. Govorim o monopolizaciji panog in o rasti dobičkov korporacij ter dohodkov njihovih lastnikov. Govorim o zgornjem 1% ali največ 5%, ki pridobivajo na račun preostalih 90 ali 95%.

Stvari so tako očitne, da se jim nista mogla izogniti niti Rolling Stone in Wall Street Journal. Spodaj je najprej nekaj poudarkov iz Rolling Stona, puščam jih v originalu.

1. The Great Recession (Capitalism’s Chaotic Nature)

The inherently chaotic, crisis-prone nature of capitalism was a key part of Marx’s writings. He argued that the relentless drive for profits would lead companies to mechanize their workplaces, producing more and more goods while squeezing workers’ wages until they could no longer purchase the products they created.
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2. The iPhone 5S (Imaginary Appetites)

Marx warned that capitalism’s tendency to concentrate high value on essentially arbitrary products would, over time, lead to what he called “a contriving and ever-calculating subservience to inhuman, sophisticated, unnatural and imaginary appetites.” It’s a harsh but accurate way of describing contemporary America, where we enjoy incredible luxury and yet are driven by a constant need for more and more stuff to buy.

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3. The IMF (The Globalization of Capitalism)

Marx’s ideas about overproduction led him to predict what is now called globalization – the spread of capitalism across the planet in search of new markets. “The need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the entire surface of the globe,” he wrote.

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4. Walmart (Monopoly)

The classical theory of economics assumed that competition was natural and therefore self-sustaining. Marx, however, argued that market power would actually be centralized in large monopoly firms as businesses increasingly preyed upon each other. […] Today, mom-and-pop shops have been replaced by monolithic big-box stores like Walmart, small community banks have been replaced by global banks like J.P. Morgan Chase …

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5. Low Wages, Big Profits (The Reserve Army of Industrial Labor)

Marx believed that wages would be held down by a “reserve army of labor,” which he explained simply using classical economic techniques: Capitalists wish to pay as little as possible for labor, and this is easiest to do when there are too many workers floating around.

Priporočam, da preberete celoten tekst v Rolling Stonu

In še Mark Whitehouse v Wall Street Journalu:

In Das Kapital, Marx described a problem he saw in the way capitalist societies function. As companies became more productive, learning to get more from their workers, they would need fewer and fewer of those workers. This would create an “industrial reserve army” of unemployed people, whose desperation to work would keep the fire at the heels of those who had jobs and keep wages in check. As a result, all the added value created by workers would accrue to the owners of the companies.

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Lately, the U.S. recovery has been displaying some Marxian traits. Corporate profits are on a tear, and rising productivity has allowed companies to grow without doing much to reduce the vast ranks of the unemployed. Not counting temporary U.S. Census jobs, nonfarm employers have added an average of about 143,000 jobs in each of the past three months. That’s just about enough to compensate for the natural growth in the labor force.

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High unemployment has been good for shareholders, as companies reap the benefits of productivity gains in the form of profits, rather than paying higher wages. Among S&P 500 companies that have reported first-quarter earnings, profits are up 61% from the same period last year. By contrast, the average hourly wage was up only 1.6% in April from a year earlier, not adjusted for inflation.

Update:

Aja, po svoji avtonomni presoji komentarjev k temu postu ne objavljam, ker mi ta debata med skrajnimi navdušenci ene ali druge ideologije gre na jetra. Pojdite se prepirat in/ali prepričevat na kak drug blog. Jaz sem zgornji post objavil zgolj z namenom odstiranja pogledov.