Taking Crisis Seriously: Capitalism on Its Way Out

Advanced capitalism has been in a critical condition since the 1970sbut this was not taken seriously enough by the reformist Left. Looking back at the successive crises of inflation, public debt and financialization, and pointing to the related long-term trends of declining growth, rising inequality and growing overallindebtedness, it is suggested that now, finally, capitalism is beyond repair. Among other things, there is no political capacity in a global economy to protect the three "fictitious commodities" - labor, nature and money - from all-out commodification and, ultimately, destruction. Moreover, five disorders of contemporary capitalism are reviewed for which no remedy is in sight: stagnation, oligarchic redistribution, the plundering of the public domain, corruption, and international anarchy.