RE: [OPE] Samir Amin, "Financial collapse, systemic crisis? Illusory answers and necessary questions"

> > The production and consumption-waste system at the moment forbids the> > access to the world natural resources for the majority of the planet,> > i.e. the peoples of the South. Previously, an emergent country could> > take its share of these resources without questioning the privileges of> > the affluent countries. But today, it is no more the case. The> > population of opulent countries -15% of the planet’s population- has to> > monopolize for its own consumption and waste 85% of the world resources,> > and cannot tolerate that newcomers may reach these resources, since they> > would provoke shortages for rich people’s standard of living.> My understanding is that Southern capitalism is consuming more of the > world's raw materials than ever before, to the extent of building up > monopolistic positions in some markets and/or regions.
Hi Paula:
 
Yes, and this is a recipe for increasing international 'North-South' rivalry
and conflict. Take the case of oil: advanced capitalist economies require
(at least for the short- and medium-term, because of the currently used
technologies) vast quantities of oil and countries like China and India also
require increasing quantities. This would tend to ratchet up costs of production
and threaten firm profitability in both the North and the South. It would also
make the advanced capitalist nations increasingly desperate for sources of oil
and that has political, economic, and possible covert action and military
implications. Of course, it's true that the current crisis is causing a temporary
decrease in the price of raw materials, including oil, due to the short-term
decrease in international demand. So, we may see continued falling prices for most
raw materials (and deflation) followed by price increases as the world capitalist
economy recovers - as surely it eventually will do (since the international
working class isn't organized and militant enough to prevent a resolution of the
crisis on the terms of capital).
 
In solidarity, Jerry

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Received on Tue Nov 25 09:05:31 2008