Capitalism at a Dead End

Capitalism at a Dead End explains that the economic crisis, which began in August 2007, marked a turning point in the history of capitalism.

This is more than just another severe capitalist crisis. The author contends that the system will not bounce back; it will not return to the normal capitalist boom-and-bust cycle.

For decades the capitalist class has used the revolution in digital technology to increase productivity of labor at record rates. Fewer workers are needed to produce more goods and services in less time at lower wages. This has led to a series of “jobless recoveries” which keep getting worse.

Goldstein uses Marx’s laws of capitalist accumulation and the declining rate of profit to show why global capitalism has finally reached a tipping point. Employers have increased the productivity of labor to such an extent that as soon as the system starts up in a growth curve, production rapidly outstrips demand in the market and overproduction kicks in to block further growth. Then come stagnation, economic contraction, and mass unemployment.