The Endless Crisis

by Foster, John Bellamy; McChesney , Robert W.

• ISBN13: 9781583673133
• ISBN10: 158367313X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-09-01
• Publisher: Monthly Review Pr

Summary

The days of boom and bubble are over, and the time has come to understand the long-term economic reality. Although the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009, hopes for a new phase of rapid economic expansion were quickly dashed. Instead, growth has been slow, unemployment has remained high, wages and benefits have seen little improvement, poverty has increased, and the trend toward more inequality of incomes and wealth has continued. It appears that the Great Recession has given way to a period of long-term anemic growth, which Foster and McChesney aptly term the Great Stagnation. This incisive and timely book traces the origins of economic stagnation and explains what it means for a clear understanding of our current situation. The authors point out that increasing monopolization of the economywhen a handful of large firms dominate one or several industriesleads to an over-abundance of capital and too few profitable investment opportunities, with economic stagnation as the result. Absent powerful stimuli to investment, such as historic innovations like the automobile or major government spending, modern capitalist economies have become increasingly dependent on the financial sector to realize profits. And while financialization may have provided a temporary respite from stagnation, it is a solution that cannot last indefinitely, as instability in financial markets over the last half-decade has made clear.

Table of Contents

Charts and Tables	p. vi
Preface	p. vii
Introduction	p. 41
Monopoly-Finance Capital and the Crisis	p. 29
The Financialization of Accumulation	p. 49
Monopoly and Competition in Twenty-First-Century Capitalism	p. 65
The Internationalization of Monopoly Capital	p. 103
The Global Reserve Army of Labor and the New Imperialism	p. 125
The Great Stagnation and China	p. 155
Notes	p. 185
Index	p. 220
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