![]() ![]() Marx, however, argued that market power would actually be centralized in large monopoly firms as businesses increasingly preyed upon each other. The classical theory of economics assumed that competition was natural and therefore self-sustaining. ![]() When there were no subprime borrows left to scheme, the whole façade fell apart, just as Marx knew it would. Decades of deepening inequality reduced incomes, which led more and more Americans to take on debt. The cycle is still playing out before our eyes: Broadly speaking, it’s what made the housing market crash in 2008. We produce and produce until there is simply no one left to purchase our goods, no new markets, no new debts. Sure enough, modern historical events from the Great Depression to the dot-com bubble can be traced back to what Marx termed “fictitious capital” – financial instruments like stocks and credit-default swaps. He argued that the relentless drive for profits would lead companies to mechanize their workplaces, producing more and more goods while squeezing workers’ wages until they could no longer purchase the products they created. The inherently chaotic, crisis-prone nature of capitalism was a key part of Marx’s writings. The Great Recession (Capitalism’s Chaotic Nature) Here are five facts of life in 2014 that Marx’s analysis of capitalism correctly predicted more than a century ago:ġ. And while Marx was wrong about some things, his writings (many of which pre-date the American Civil War) accurately predicted several aspects of contemporary capitalism, from the Great Recession to the iPhone 5S in your pocket. Most people are vaguely aware of the radical economist’s prediction that capitalism would inevitably be replaced by communism, but they often misunderstand why he believed this to be true. There’s a lot of talk of Karl Marx in the air these days – from Rush Limbaugh accusing Pope Francis of promoting “pure Marxism” to a Washington Times writer claiming that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is an “unrepentant Marxist.” But few people actually understand Marx’s trenchant critique of capitalism. ![]()
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