Thursday January 01 1970
Global Financial Meltdown, Is this the end of Capitalism?
cork |
anti-capitalism |
event notice 
Sunday September 21, 2008 20:21
by Joe Moore - Socialist Workers Party
mapuche at eircom dot net
087-2994796
Public Meeing Cork.
As major banks and insurance companies in the US are collapsing, we ask "Is This the end of Capitalism?"
A public meeting to discuss this question will be held in the Victoria Hotel, Patrick St., Cork on Thursday 2nd October 2008 at 8.00pm.
Speaker, Donal McFhearraigh, editor Socialist Worker.
The bankruptcy of the fourth largest investment bank in the US, Lehman Brothers, has triggered fears of a wider banking collapse. On the same day another giant investment bank, Merril Lynch was sold off to Bank of America after writing off assets worth more than$40 billion in the last year. Then came the government buy out of insurance giant, AIG.
Earlier the US treasury nationalised the two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at the cost of $5,400 billion.
All this raises fears of a repeat of the 1929 Wall Street Crash when share prices slumped following a speculative boom. Across the globe governments acted to protect their economies, by raising import controls. World trade collapsed. Trade wars were quickly followed by real wars as leading states tried to secure raw materials and markets by direct conquest.
The crisis was only overcome with the rearmament boom immediately prior and during the Second World War.
History never repeats itself but no one on Wall Street or in the City of London knows where this crisis is heading. What can be guaranteed is that it will spawn economic and political instability.
Donal McFhearraigh will address these issues at the meeting to which all are invited.
Comments (5 of 5)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5It is not acceptable that any bale-out with our money should go to shareholders and CEOs of corporations.
Ordinary working-class people should not have to pay for an economic crisis that is not of our making. Families should not be thrown out of their homes while our money is being used to prop up banks and insurance companies.
Come along to the meeting, and have your say.
In the context of the crash it is also important, in my view, to campaign vigorously against the proposed wage freeze and wage cut so-called partnership deal.
Recent figures show €48,500 produced for Irish bosses each year and a rate of exploitation of 60%, http://ballymunsocialist.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/avera...eeze/
BTW the same meeting is taking place in Finglas on Thursday 25 at 8pm in the Shamrock Pub at 8pm. Come along to any of these meetings and join in the discussion.
SWP stated; History never repeats itself. In fact it does, first as tragedy then as farce.
From the linked Time article (not bad, if fairly basic).
"...As [US] Treasury Secretary (and former Goldman Sachs chief executive) [Henry] Paulson recently said, "Raw capitalism is dead."..."
Regulationism, not Capitalism or Socialism, is the new System -
It kicked in with The Granny State,
It is inspired by yuppies, conceived by academics,
planned by bureaucrats,
executed by inspectors and police,
and directed by government. -
Kiss Goodbye to Freedom !
Regulationism has its popular expression among the people in uniform-like clothes,
such as the ubiquitous jeans
Regulationism is always dull and boring,
nothing unexpected is supposed to occur,
when it does eyebrows are raised,
especially at non-conformity -
Pin-stripe dark suits, please !
(Your politics are regulated too ).
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