the collapse of capitalism soon..or not?

[danyboy27]

i seriously dont know if i am overly paranoid, or if that feeling is justified, but i got the strange feeling that the market economy is gonna collapse in the coming year.

just look at the guy, he is fucking terrified, either he know we are gonna collapse, or he is just clueless about the future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVqBOBxJ1lM

if we totally slide into recession again, i got the feeling that there is no going back, the whole scheme gonna collapse.

am i just paranoid, delusional, or is it just rationality?

i dont know, what do you think? i got the feeling that in a year or two, its game over.

[Lenina Rosenweg]

You may be right. Liberal economists like Paul Krugman are saying that the austerity being sold us could tip the world into a depression.

Capitalism by definition is always in crisis but this one looks more or less "terminal". Unfortunately there isn't a movement in place to provide alternatives.This topic is worthy of a discussion by those on revleft who are well versed in economics.

Are we in for a "shitstorm" soon, or will things "just" gradually get worse?

[danyboy27]

hey maybe i am just paranoid, i could accept that.

but there are just so much sign in my workplace that something wrong is going on. we make less and less profilts every month, and most of the buyer are bourgeois on their pension, just this month,we will have generated 50% less wealth compared to the same period last year.

we been hiring special firm to increase profits, but its just seem that dosnt do shit at all.

[Enragé]

my friend who predicted the crash of the dutch stockmarkets down to 300 points a year before it happened called me up in the middle of the night like 2 weeks ago

"DUDE! ?? [cant remember cuz i was drunk-ish] BILLION JUST DISAPPEARED OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET!" or something like that. He was referring to the amping up of the necessary reserves banks need to have for loans given from 10% to 25% (i.e instead of for every 10 cent they can loan 100 its now 25 for every hundred).

Aside from that, ofcourse shit's gonna crash. The only reason the economy is still doing halfway decent is because of the world's biggest stimulus package ever being put in by the states of the world. Now, those states are seeking to 'balance their checkbooks' and trying to get us to accept the austerity measures worldwide, which will lead to a collapse in demand.

However, dont fool yourself into thinking this crisis is 'terminal'. I've been tempted in this direction myself, seeing as the only solution out of a collapse in demand would be forcing people to loan/borrow even more, the bubble caused by this on the housing market bursting being one of the first indicators of the crisis we're in now this would mean repeating it all again (just with a higher percentage of loans). But, capitalism can always survive, as long as it makes workers work harder for less.

I do think 'socialism or barbarism' stands more true now than ever, tho i fear we're off to fascism and a new round of rather straightforward capital destruction (i.e war). Come to think of it, i bet to revolutionaries in the 30's the crisis back then must've looked quite 'terminal' as well.

[RadioRaheem84]

I've even heard the mainstream media talk about a double dip recession and heard the d word from paul krugman. I just don't think it would be good for this country considering the right wing hysteria. It would be blamed on socialism for some odd reason.

[danyboy27]

just seen a video from Marc Faber, he say that the us governement gonna get bankrupt in a fews year.

its so weird and funny, i seen many video of austrian economic blaming obama, even tho its pretty obvious that the system itself is faulty.

[Lyev]

Alan Greenspan, the almighty god of capitalists, and head of the US Federal Reserve I think (perhaps ex-head) came out with this recently: "Unless there is a societal choice to abandon dynamic markets and leverage for some sort of central planning, I fear that preventing bubbles will in the end turn out to be unfeasible. Assuaging their aftermath seems to be the best we can hope for". Even capitalists know their system has gone to shit.

[Taikand]

The future.
<Capitalism collapses. > Yay!
<Nationalism rises> Damn!
<gets conscripted in national army because of fitting age> Screw this world!

[RadioRaheem84]

alan greenspan, the almighty god of capitalists, and head of the us federal reserve i think (perhaps ex-head) came out with this recently: "unless there is a societal choice to abandon dynamic markets and leverage for some sort of central planning, i fear that preventing bubbles will in the end turn out to be unfeasible. Assuaging their aftermath seems to be the best we can hope for". even capitalists know their system has gone to shit.

d a m n

[Nolan]

Alan Greenspan, the almighty god of capitalists, and head of the US Federal Reserve I think (perhaps ex-head) came out with this recently: "Unless there is a societal choice to abandon dynamic markets and leverage for some sort of central planning, I fear that preventing bubbles will in the end turn out to be unfeasible. Assuaging their aftermath seems to be the best we can hope for". Even capitalists know their system has gone to shit.


Alan Greenspan advocating central planning? That's like Hitler advocating LGBT rights.

edit:


d a m n exactly :lol:

[danyboy27]

i wonder, can governement just decide to abolish money out of practicality, without any ideological reasons?

[MarxSchmarx]

i wonder, can governement just decide to abolish money out of practicality, without any ideological reasons?

I rather doubt it. People will still need a means of exchange, if the government's gaurantees are no longer meaningful they would use other things like sea shells, bottle caps, or cigarettes.

[danyboy27]

I rather doubt it. People will still need a means of exchange, if the government's gaurantees are no longer meaningful they would use other things like sea shells, bottle caps, or cigarettes.

humm, what meant was more like, the current financial system than money itself. you know, forbidding people to lend money, closing wall street, that kind of thing.

[ckaihatsu]

humm, what meant was more like, the current financial system than money itself. you know, forbidding people to lend money, closing wall street, that kind of thing.





The future.
<Capitalism collapses. > Yay!
<Nationalism rises> Damn!
<gets conscripted in national army because of fitting age> Screw this world!


Since the system of international finance that's been built up and leaned on since the '70s is now faltering -- has been for a decade -- the question for the capitalist class becomes one of how to re-establish social control and order *without* a reliable "translation dictionary" for complex international commerce relationships.

We've seen the militarization of society in the post-dotcom period, but the 9/11-fueled hype wore thin once the U.S. proved to be negligent at home when Hurricane Katrina struck. And the public is getting tired of the inherited foreign policy of unending, unjustifiable war on Afghanistan, with comparisons to Vietnam now being openly made.

Economically the question is where the real growth (GDP) is supposed to come from, given a protracted global slowdown with no prospects in sight, and a recent history of bubbles, government finance supports, and militarization.

The Hollywoodization of the White House feels like a thin gloss over Hooverian times -- the immediate and coming period will be about the social-economic basis of value itself, in the wake of the country's existential crisis.

[durhamleft]

A someone who studies capitalist economics in pretty good detail, I would suggest that there will be growing resistance to 'austerity' measures that will crucify the people, and the scene will be set for the start of potential revolutionary activities, HOWEVER, I think right now (certainly in the UK) the far right has a much bigger base than the far left and until we start to grow we don't have a hope in hell of taking on the system. General strikes are what we need to bring these governments to a standstill.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Though this thread feels like its just alarmism, its something that is indeed very possible.
and interestign thing about Alan Greenspan's quote is if you juxtapose it with china. a society with a central system that is not wholly capitalist or bourgeois. it still has the ability to swing back to socialist construction. it already has the institution in place.

as for the US, chomsky was right in comparing it to late weimar germany. you know, before hitler was elected. Im not worried about "the republic" as beckites are, im worried about fascism exploding onto the scene.


the left is currently growing, but not fast enough. the summer is a slow season it seems.

im not very well versed in economics though. i should probably take some bourgie econ classes at my college.

[Rusty Shackleford]

sorry for double post but ill claim this to be a bump because this is an interestign discussion.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66Q40Y20100727


(Reuters) - The state of the economy is worrisome and there is a high possibility of a double-dip recession, one of the property market's most well-known economists said on Tuesday.
Robert Shiller, professor of economics at Yale University and co-developer of Standard and Poor's S&P/Case-Shiller home price indexes, told Reuters Insider he does not know where home prices may be headed, but believes the economy may be on a precarious path.
"For me a double-dip is another recession before we've healed from this recession ... The probability of that kind of double-dip is more than 50 percent," Shiller said.
"I actually expect it."
Shiller said he is unclear where home prices are headed.
"I don't know," he said. "I am taking a "wait-and-see" attitude," he said.
U.S. single-family home prices rose more than expected in May, reflecting robust spring sales spurred by homebuyer tax credits, the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller home price indexes showed on Tuesday.

[A.R.Amistad]

Capitalism is not something that will collapse over night, whether by a socialist revolution or a collapse into barbarism. If capitalism where to fall in the United States next year, the center of capitalism would shift to somewhere like China, the UK, or maybe even India or some other rising superpower. (I'm not calling India a superpower) But there is really no reason to believe that capitalism will last forever at all, or to believe that it wont or can't collapse. Some comrade on this site, answering a similar question I posed, said something like "Capitalism has been a dominant form of production for only around 150-200 years. Given that other social systems like slave societies and feudal societies have lasted longer than that, even for almost a thousand years at times, doesn't say much for capitalist exceptionalism. Capitalism is still very young, so its "survival" isn't all that shocking or exceptional. While I believe capitalism will collapse at some point or another, I highly doubt it will be within the decade, or even next couple of decades. Even if an international socialist revolution where to succeed, it would still have decades of work ahead of it to wipe capitalism off of the face of the Earth.

[RadioRaheem84]

If there were to be this major catastrophic apocalyptic collapse as suggest by the gold peddlers, you can bet your ass that the US will not go down without a fight. At the point I would most assuredly put all my money on the US falling into military rule and attempting to reclaim its losses through brute force.

Oh and I would buy more gold. :lol:

[the last donut of the night]

Some comrade on this site, answering a similar question I posed, said something like "Capitalism has been a dominant form of production for only around 150-200 years. Given that other social systems like slave societies and feudal societies have lasted longer than that, even for almost a thousand years at times, doesn't say much for capitalist exceptionalism. Capitalism is still very young, so its "survival" isn't all that shocking or exceptional.

While you do make a point, there is a major difference between capitalism and previous economic/social systems. Capitalism, by its own nature -- and contradictions, may I add --, is a system which in an exceptionally short amount of time has exploded from its base in Europe to the entire world. This is due to the dynamic nature of the system and its need for "outer spheres" and markets to supplement its financial wing (ie. imperialism, expanding the rule of capital until every last vestige of previous societies, including hunter-gatherer ones, are wiped out). Another pressing contradiction in capitalism, which in my opinion is its driving "rotting" feature, is the need for companies to create profit by lowering wages and prices after crises. It is harder and harder for real profit (and not just fictitious financial gain which again leads to numerous crises) to be made as monopolization grows within this system. Thus the lowering of wages in order to create more profit is ever more difficult, even though capitalism is relatively young. As these contradictions pronounce themselves ever more as well, wars become more and more constant and bloodier as the monopolies seek to do all they can do: grow and destroy competition. So although capitalism is relatively young, its contradictions are so severe it is basically a self-destructing system, more dynamic than previous systems, and thus it is a greater danger to humanity than feudalism or slave societies ever were.

[A.R.Amistad]

I agree that the collapse of capitalism into barbarism is a bigger threat than the threat of the collapse of feudalism or slave society into barbarism. My main point was that just because capitalism has lasted as a dominant force for a little over two centuries doesn't really say anything about capitalism lasting forever.

[RadioRaheem84]

I guess that explains why Ive noticed things to be really losing it's luster. Nothing seems legit anymore, if it ever really was. Movies are extremely unoriginal, music reused, grammatical errors in big newspapers, incompetant stupid bosses, lack of education rampant, etc. It seems like the capital accumulation process has really stripped everything of it's reverent awe and left naked self interest more apparent. I see too many things I used to see in the third world now becomming a staple of the first world.

[Klaatu]

Bear in mind that countries like China are doing well. Why? They are grabbing all the work, so to speak, from "the west." Call this world competition if you will (as conservatives do) but I don't think there is the proverbial "level playing field" here.

What is the solution to this? Insure that China, as well as other Asian and Latin American countries are made to allow strong unions to flourish, as they have in 20th-century USA and Europe. Let's stop fighting in the Middle East, and start "fighting" in these developing manufacturing countries for better wages and living standards. Domestic industry protectionism is not going to save the economy (didn't work in 1930 either) but at least equalizing pay scales in Third-World economies will offset the rich man's fortunes.

Say NO to $150 Nike shoes made by child labor making starvation wages!!!

[Pretty Flaco]

Another recession would just aid the American conservatives and fascists in gaining ground.

[redSHARP]

i hate to be paranoid, but i have started to think of a "getting out of dodge" bag. the economy wont collapse just yet. maybe 2-10 years major depression will happen, and capitalism goes on life support.

[ckaihatsu]

If there were to be this major catastrophic apocalyptic collapse as suggest by the gold peddlers, you can bet your ass that the US will not go down without a fight. At the point I would most assuredly put all my money on the US falling into military rule and attempting to reclaim its losses through brute force.

Oh and I would buy more gold. :lol:


The interesting thing here is that you're advancing an illustration -- derived from the goldbugs' mentality or propaganda (-whatever-) -- that the crisis would be one of a *separation* of the economics (gold- and cash-based) from the political (national defensiveness, martial law, military rule, whatever).

I hope that a second look at this line of thinking will reveal it to be *fanciful*, to put it kindly. In the best of all possible imaginable worlds for the bourgeoisie this would be the case, because it's nothing but a hot-n-sexy fantasy.

What's more in the offing is the situation that got the major world powers into world war, twice -- a *balkanization* of political-economic power across the board that resembles the disintegration of a piece of fabric on top of a pool of acid (in slow-motion). Where frayed threads still attach piece to piece alliances are formed, as with the Allies vs. Axis, but the momentum of fragmentation continues nonetheless.

Its theoretical end -- if you'll excuse me -- would be the finality of every single individual standing in place and starving to death as they watched the same thing happening to every other individual on the face of the earth, or wholesale, complete paranoia resulting from the lack of any remaining basis of social cohesion.

[Coggeh]

Another recession would just aid the American conservatives and fascists in gaining ground.
Fascism throughout history has not been the result of the collapse of capitalism but the failure of revolution. If the Russian Revolution had have failed then no doubt it would have given rise to a new force of the far right. The revolutions following after: Italy, Germany, Spain etc all failed and in the end resulted in fascism. The failure of the workers movement is the key not the collapse of capitalism.

[RadioRaheem84]

Fascism throughout history has not been the result of the collapse of capitalism but the failure of revolution. If the Russian Revolution had have failed then no doubt it would have given rise to a new force of the far right. The revolutions following after: Italy, Germany, Spain etc all failed and in the end resulted in fascism. The failure of the workers movement is the key not the collapse of capitalism.

But would you say that the horrible marginalization of the left and the whole creation of new meaning to the political spectrum has obscured socialism to mean something so undesirable to the US public? That seems a like a defeat. If we were to rise at any point in a breakdown of society, we would probably be crushed by a Freikorps type movement.

[Zapatas Guns]

Alan Greenspan, the almighty god of capitalists, and head of the US Federal Reserve I think (perhaps ex-head) came out with this recently: "Unless there is a societal choice to abandon dynamic markets and leverage for some sort of central planning, I fear that preventing bubbles will in the end turn out to be unfeasible. Assuaging their aftermath seems to be the best we can hope for". Even capitalists know their system has gone to shit.

rofl

If I said that I would be labeled a commie and dismissed.

I don't really believe Greenspan or any other capitalist wants what we want. It will most likely turn into some sort of fascism. This is America we are talking about.

[palotin]

Modern states tend, on the whole, to claim legitimacy based on their ability to manage crises, whether economic, ecological, weather or war related, etc. Obviously, the vast majority of these crises are products of the capitalist system. Far from being a threat to capitalism, many of these crises are its life's blood. An intrinsically rapacious system, capitalism must continuously find or create new markets if it is to survive. Look at the current oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. A self-evident 'crisis' resultant from greed and environmental indifference. BP's lost a lot of money as have countless businesses that depend on the Gulf, eg. fishing and tourism. It may well have destroyed the way of life of parts of that region, but it's questionable how much damage has been done to capitalism as such. The devastation has created a lush new market for those industries involved in oil clean up.

The worldwide financial crisis is of a different order that strikes a bit more clearly at the heart of the present global economic system. But what social movements have we seen come out of it? The large protest movements against austerity programs in places like Greece are reassuring, but here in the States the most visible has been right-wing extremists who are inspired in large part by xenophobia (i.e. Arizona), racialized status anxieties and animus.

The blame for the lack of solid organizing on the left obviously rests with us alone. Yet when talking about the coming collapse of capitalism as indicated by the proliferation and intensification of crisis, it is imperative to bear in mind the true lesson of the 1930s and the contemporary role of the State as crisis manager. Rather than producing world socialist revolution, the Great Depression, capitalism's greatest indictment, led to the rapid growth of fascist and ultra-rightist movements. I'm not just talking about Germany. There was Spain, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Hungary, Romania, pre-Anschluss Austria, the Dominican Republic, etc. Things become scarier when you start thinking about what the role of the State has become. Rather than legitimating itself as a means for collective liberation or through its democratic representational function, the State claims authority and obedience based on its ability to manage crises. To a significant extent, it also claims the authority to identify these crises.

I take as kind of an open question the extent to which fascism was fully capitalist. Certainly versions of it were quite comfortable with a constrained form. For the purposes of the argument I'm presenting here it's enough to say that generic fascism combined a bellicose ultra-nationalism with some form of a managerial state.

Without organizing on the part of the left, capitalism's crises will either serve its own interests or those of an increasing authoritarianism, if not both. That's not meant as pessimism, but it should be a sobering thought. Without us and more of us we'll all get either more of the same or something worse. But, hey, it's nice to be needed.

[robbo203]

Capitalism is not going to "collapse". Predictions of its imminent collapse have surfaced periodically ever since the the early 19th century. Frederich Engels got it spectacularly wrong when he argued in the Preface to Capital vol.1(English edition) that While the productive power increases in a geometric ratio , the extension of markets proceeds at best in an arithmetic fashion leading him to rashly conclude that the traditional ten year trade cycle had run its course "(landing) us in the slough of despond of a pemament and chronic depression". We have had several economic booms since Engels penned these words. The present recession will in due course give way to a boom followed late by yet another recession. This is the nature of the capitalist trade cycle.

To talk about capitalism collapsing implies there is some inbuilt mechanism or tendency like the falling rate of profit that drives it relentlessly towards the point of collapse. But capitalism is nothing if not uncannily self adjusting. For every tendency there is a counter tendency.

Might I recommend a classic pampglet which was published by the Socialist party of Great Britain in 1932 called Why Capitalism will not Collapse: http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/pdf/wcwnc.pdf
The arguments are as relevant today as they were then

Capitalism will not collapse; it has to be consciousnly and democratically abolished

[S.Artesian]

hey maybe i am just paranoid, i could accept that.

but there are just so much sign in my workplace that something wrong is going on. we make less and less profilts every month, and most of the buyer are bourgeois on their pension, just this month,we will have generated 50% less wealth compared to the same period last year.

we been hiring special firm to increase profits, but its just seem that dosnt do shit at all.


Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean the world isn't out to get you. Paranoids have real enemies, too.

As for capitalism, the second wave of the contraction should start early in 2011 as overproduction in 2010, including accelerated capital investment will take its usual toll, and more of the 2007 debt, refinanced debt, commercial mortgage based security debt, guaranteed European bank debt comes due. 2012 though, that ought to be a real tough one for the bourgeoisie, and as a consequence, for all of us.

They, that bourgeoisie, need to incinerate accumulated assets on a big, big scale. Somewhere along the line the need a war, and not just a "conflict" like Afghanistan-- something equivalent in military terms to what was done to the economy of Russia in the 1994-2001 period.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean the world isn't out to get you. Paranoids have real enemies, too.

As for capitalism, the second wave of the contraction should start early in 2011 as overproduction in 2010, including accelerated capital investment will take its usual toll, and more of the 2007 debt, refinanced debt, commercial mortgage based security debt, guaranteed European bank debt comes due. 2012 though, that ought to be a real tough one for the bourgeoisie, and as a consequence, for all of us.

They, that bourgeoisie, need to incinerate accumulated assets on a big, big scale. Somewhere along the line the need a war, and not just a "conflict" like Afghanistan-- something equivalent in military terms to what was done to the economy of Russia in the 1994-2001 period.


i think the second "dip" may very well happen this year. i read a few days ago about alarm over the failure of the second financial quarter this year. that and the way things are rapidly blowing up in america's face will have a huge impact on the political side of american finance capitalists.

[Dimentio]

2070 at the latest. But if it collapses at that point, the following system will most likely be some kind of mafia-governed neo-feudalism.

[bailey_187]

Alan Greenspan, the almighty god of capitalists, and head of the US Federal Reserve I think (perhaps ex-head) came out with this recently: "Unless there is a societal choice to abandon dynamic markets and leverage for some sort of central planning, I fear that preventing bubbles will in the end turn out to be unfeasible. Assuaging their aftermath seems to be the best we can hope for". Even capitalists know their system has gone to shit.

wow

you got a source for where he said that?

btw, he is ex head of the Fed, Ben Bernanke the guy in the video the OP posted in the current head

[Peace on Earth]

You would have to define what you mean by capitalism, as odd as that sounds. Even if most financial institutions collapse and the economy as we know it goes into a tailspin, resulting in depression, I'm not sure the result of the crash would be a positive alternative to the previous system.

Some envision the fall of capitalism resulting in Marxists and the left in general rising triumphantly and setting up a new system. However, even if financial institutions collapse, power still rests in the hands of the small minority. Resources, armies, land, all these things still hold value and power. Which means the powerful will remain so, even if a collapse is to occur.

[Magón]

2070 at the latest. But if it collapses at that point, the following system will most likely be some kind of mafia-governed neo-feudalism.

Damn, that's a pretty big gap from now to then. I'm sure that if there were some kind of Leftist spark, that really got all Communists, Anarchists, Socialists, Marxists, etc. to finally ban together and figure a way together to bring down their Capitalist/Imperialist/Totalitarian/etc. governments, it wouldn't take too much time. All we need, is a real spark, something that gets us out of this mode of theorizing and contemplating, and into true world action. Who or what that is, I don't know yet. But I do know one thing!

"It is we the workers who built these palaces and cities here in Spain and in America and everywhere. We, the workers, can build others to take their place. And better ones! We are not in the least afraid of ruins."- Buenaventura Durruti (RIP) :thumbup:

[ckaihatsu]

I'd like to juxtapose this...





even if financial institutions collapse, power still rests in the hands of the small minority. Resources, armies, land, all these things still hold value and power. Which means the powerful will remain so, even if a collapse is to occur.


...with this:





Modern states tend, on the whole, to claim legitimacy based on their ability to manage crises, whether economic, ecological, weather or war related, etc. Obviously, the vast majority of these crises are products of the capitalist system. Far from being a threat to capitalism, many of these crises are its life's blood. An intrinsically rapacious system, capitalism must continuously find or create new markets if it is to survive.


So which is it? -- Does capitalism depend for its survival on being able to manage crises, or would it continue to derive existence and legitimacy from tangible things like resources, armies, and land -- ?

I'll have to side with the former, because things like resources, armies, and land are not merely *tangible objects* -- they are undergirded by dynamic *social relations*. We can test this by inquiring as to their *social function* at any given point in time: 'Resources', *for what*? 'Armies', *for what*? 'Land', *for what?*

If the bourgeoisie is unable to provide a satisfying pretext for the given social order -- as with "The American Dream", or "a self-made man", or "chosen by God" -- then the world will quickly see that politics abhors a vacuum -- the lack of a set of socially accepted ruling ideas of a time will bring down its ruling class and enable *alternatives* to fill in the gap.

[ckaihatsu]

The future.
<Capitalism collapses. > Yay!
<Nationalism rises> Damn!
<gets conscripted in national army because of fitting age> Screw this world!


I think, based on the following news report, that we can talk about a current bourgeois-nationalization of finance -- this happens when the full force of a nation's public receipts are used to provide zero-interest loans to what are ostensibly "free markets" on an "independently global" basis.





Markets, profits soar amid signs of deepening slump (WSWS)

3 August 2010





The banks and big investors were further encouraged by remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who in a Monday speech confirmed that the Fed would keep extending virtually free credit to Wall Street by holding interest rates to near-zero. At the same time, he made clear that unemployment would remain extremely high for an indefinite period, and indicated the Fed had no plans to take measures to bring the jobless rate down.

The same day, President Obama gave a television interview in which he touted the supposed success of his economic policies and declared that the US was “half-way” back to full recovery. This as more than one in five Americans suffered an income loss of 25 percent or more in 2009, over a million families a year are losing their homes in foreclosures, and 1.4 million people unemployed for 99 weeks or more have exhausted all benefits and are without cash income.

The financial markets were also, no doubt, buoyed by the Greek social democratic government’s successful use of the military to break a strike by truck drivers over the weekend.


http://wsws.org/articles/2010/aug2010/pers-a03.shtml