Status Updates From Capitalism, Coronavirus and...

Desai predicts either a pseudocivic neoliberalism or authoritarian neoliberalism to preserve the dominance of capital in the West. Both neoliberalisms present a lifeline for its austere form (post-2008 fin crisis) as it tries to manage with COVID & War in Ukraine. These diff forms represent factions of the ruling class within the USA too.

Beyond scope of book: form of auth neoliberalism within context of US History

Push to depress wages (via destruction of unions and labor's power) created a demand deficit. What was the neoliberal solution? Subsidize demand to artificially increase purchasing power by allowing easy access to credit/loans. Debt now a significant feature of this system.

Some conspiracy theorists like to believe in the idea of a "One-World Govt" but under the global system that is capitalism, that is impossible, according to Rhadika Desai, because of capitalism's inherit uneven development among nations and within nations. I used to think that was an interesting idea for fiction growing up but found it hard to believe to ever come true.

Capitalist states, above all, prioritize the preservation of capitalism. Because of this drive to preserve, capitalist states are unable to adequately handle the contradictions of capitalism. Now I wonder what this means for the US-led West as they preserve the dominance of finance capital in the face of a rising industrial socialist power (China). There will be more crises to come.

I'm enjoying Desai's criticisms of neoclassical economics and 'Marxist economics', specifically how both assume capitalism is its own separate sphere distinct from 'political science' or 'international relations' when in reality they both work and reinforce one another! Example: capitalism CANNOT function w/o a state to manage the contradictions that arise from vertical exploitation and horizontal competition.