Die Neue Zeit

Yup, structural engineer by training and by choice.

I'm creating and analysing the designs of new structural steel joints so as to reduce the effects of thermal bridging in steel structures.

Oh, that was more for the benefit of our local bordigites; or has that fad run its course?

What was your impression to this article?

http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-w...we-need-phipps

It struck a negative chord with me. While it refrains from explicitly endorsing Bernsteinism, Mr. Phipps seems to echo some of its internal logic very closely. Maybe I should try to reboot some discussion in the Weekly Worker discussion group on here.

There might not be a "Final Crisis", but there is certainly a historical entrenchment of and push against the freedom of Capital.

"not-so-worker-friendly-protectionism" ala apartheid South Africa i presume. Well, that is what i meant with "grinding down on already capitalised markets", which austerity basically is, only within the neo-liberal frame work of course. Of course neo-liberalism is a lot more vulnerable to crises (deregulation+large debts+capital-hegemony), but even private capitalist companies under protectionism (given that a market system exists) will have serious problems finding private investment with a low rate of profit, even if there is no financial sector/private banks. The first place a capitalist company would look to cut if it was struggling, would be its workers "productivity" i.e. workers wages > within a protectionist system not a good thing. Sure there could be a lot worse capitalism than this, imagine a public banking system with private capital with heavy state subsidisation; but even that could not undermine the problems that come with increasing productivity.

Now if there were economies around the world that would not yet be capitalised upon, capital could have a few years more of fun, but seeing as Chinese labor has been concretely capitalised upon now, the only option to continuing things a bit further is to grind down on existing markets. This global capital has been doing the last ten years with their forced expulsion of third world, especially African, peasants and Brazil, very brutal process that has been going on in the Philippians, Africa, and South American countries. I am not pushing "economistic" ideas here, it's just that the statistics support Luxemburg's theory.

Hm. I haven't gotten around to read his "Limits of Capital", so i can't really comment on what he says about the subject. But many people fail to see Luxemburg's precise distinction between the Rate of Profit of the economy at large and of the production process. I won't say that there is an all determining "Final Crisis" because theoretically the Capitalist state could go bankrupt, take on more debt and increase its corporate welfare measures etc., maybe even nationalise banks even more, lower interests rates even more etc. and it could continue for quite a while. But one thing that is inevitable, is that the system of markets will necessarily be nonfunctional at a certain proportion of the ratio of organic versus variable capital. But a global crash now of debt/neo-liberalism is inevitable, there is no thing that can be done to stop it.
Care to elaborate on Harvey's position?

Like i've said repeatedly, the last ten years have been a complete fraud. The US government (and in large the west) just made it through the last years by the housing bubble, tax cuts for corporations, increasing subsidies etc. Now it looks like like neo-liberalism is running out of debt to finance its scheme with the business press hailed 0.5% US industrial production for the month of July. The rate of profit for the production process has been below the financial interest rate since roughly 2000, hence the radical financialisation, bubbles - debt, and aforementioned.