In the USA, in Britain, even in Japan all the talk is now of
economic recovery and boom. But scratch just a little below the surface and
a completely different picture emerges - one of longer hours, later
retirement, huge personal debt and a growing polarisation between rich and
poor. The main European powers have all this and hardly any economic growth
to talk of. Michael Roberts looks at the real state of the economy in the
advanced capitalist world.
The US and British capitalists are gloating about how their economies are
currently growing at 3-4% a year while Europe's big capitalist economies and
Japan are hardly managing 2%. However, there is another side to this. Two recent
reports show that the US and Britain also hold the record for the highest levels
of poverty and social inequality. Capitalism only works for some.
Over the summer, world stock markets trod water. Indeed, the movement
up or down in share prices was the smallest since 1979. That tells us
that investors in capitalism are really unsure whether the world
economy is set for sustained growth (as their political leaders tell
them it is) or not.