International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

The economics of Ernest Mandel, yesterday and today

Michel Husson — 2020-07-20T07:44:54Z

A quarter of a century after the death of Ernest Mandel, this article is not intended as a tribute. In the spirit of living Marxism that he embodied, we will limit ourselves rather to showing how his economic writings are still relevant, while sketching the questions, old or new, that they suggest.

- Ernest Mandel Archive / Marxism, Economy, Ernest Mandel

Economic crisis and global disorder

Michel Husson — 2018-12-23T06:55:54Z

Ten years after the bankruptcy of Lehmann Brothers, more and more analyses are being produced centring on two questions: how did it happen? Can it happen again? But they are almost all centred on the workings of finance, past or future. The point of view adopted here is a little different, since it seeks to identify the economic roots of global disorder. Its guiding principle is as follows: the exhaustion of the dynamism of capitalism and the crisis that opened ten years ago are leading to an increasingly chaotic globalization, bringing new crises, economic and social.

- IV527 - December 2018 / Economy

What is to be Done with the Banks? Radical Proposals for Radical Changes

2016-04-14T07:55:54Z

Nine years after the outbreak of the financial crisis that continues to produce damaging social effects through the austerity policies imposed on victim populations, it's time to take another look at the commitments that were made at that time by bankers, financiers, politicians and regulatory bodies. Those four players have failed fundamentally in the promises they made in the wake of the crisis – to moralise the banking system, separate commercial banks from investment banks, end exorbitant salaries and bonuses, and finally finance the real economy. We didn't believe those promises at the time, and for good reason. Instead of a moralising of the banking system, all we've had is a long list of misappropriations that have been brought to light by a series of bank failures, beginning with that of Lehman Brothers in 15 September, 2008.

- IV495 - April 2016 / Economy, Debt

The good drachma? A modest contribution to the debate

Michel Husson — 2015-08-27T07:04:36Z

The Tsipras government's surrender to the diktats of the troika is a painful defeat for all supporters of an alternative to neoliberal austerity in Europe. The reasons for this defeat can be summarized roughly: under-estimation of the violence of the “institutions”, this mixture of economic fanaticism and political will to smash any alternative; lack of preparation of the material components of a rupture particularly by a unilateral suspension of debt payments; non-construction of the internal relationship of ideological forces necessary for this break; inability to take forward the referendum “no” vote, instead passing the measures that the government had asked the citizens to reject within a logic of national unity; absence of political relays from other governments and weak support from the social movement.

- Perspectives in Greece / Greece, Economy, European Union, Greek discussion

Liberation Through Vacation

Michel Husson, Stephanie Treillet — 2015-06-17T06:22:16Z

Reducing working hours is more than a path to full employment. It could help millions live more fulfilling lives. Since its introduction at the end of the 1990s, France's statutory thirty-five-hour workweek has been a source of ongoing controversy. Originally developed as a job creation measure by the then newly elected “plural left” government of Lionel Jospin, the proposal for a mandatory cut in working time for private-sector employees generated such a furious backlash from business that its implementation (via the two Aubry Laws, named after Labor Minister Martine Aubry) led to the wholesale reorganization of France's main employers' lobby.

- IV485 - June 2015 / France

The political economy of the “Euro-system”

Michel Husson — 2012-08-23T17:10:45Z

This article seeks to show how the current crisis of the Euro zone stems from the original design faults of the “Euro-system”, whose contradictions, revealed by the financial crisis, are of a structural nature. This demonstration is carried out through a statistical and analytical methodology which gives this study a “technical” nature. But it is a necessary stage for the development of a more solid diagnosis of possible exits from the current crisis, or rather from its specifically European dimension. This crisis has deeper roots than the symptom through which it has been expressed, namely a sovereign debt crisis. Thus, there are only two responses adapted to the structural nature of the European crisis: either the breakup of the Euro-system, or its radical refoundation. The others confine themselves to staggering the contradictions over time or programming a socially unacceptable regression.

- IV451 - August 2012 / Europe, Economy, European Union

A crisis without end

Michel Husson — 2011-08-08T23:15:08Z

As this article was being completed, two major crises shook capitalism and made the stock markets plunge: the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, together with the debt ceiling cliff-hanger in the United States. It is probable that the governments concerned will resolve these crises, on the brink of disaster. However, three years after the crisis broke out, these serious tensions show that it is far from being resolved and its bill, after having been issued to the public budgets, is now being presented to the people. The aim of this article is to survey the recent trajectory of capitalism and examine its implications for the period opened by the crisis.

- IV439 - August 2011 / Economy

The Euro: to leave or not to leave?

Michel Husson — 2011-07-29T07:22:00Z

The unfolding of the crisis can be summarized in a simple way: capitalism reproduced itself during the two decades preceding the crisis by accumulating a mountain of debts. To avoid the collapse of the system, governments took responsibility for the bulk of these debts which, from being private, became public. Their project is now to present the bill to their citizens in the form of budgetary cuts, increases in the most unjust taxes and freezing of wages. In short the majority of the population (workers and pensioners) must ensure the realization of fictitious profits accumulated over long years.

- IV438 - July 2011

A European strategy for the left?

Michel Husson — 2011-01-28T13:17:26Z

Michel Husson offers a contribution to the debate on how the European left should respond to the economic crisis and argues that leaving the euro is not currently an option for countries which use it.

- IV432 - January 2011 / Europe, Economy, Anti-capitalist left, European Union

The debate on the rate of profit

Michel Husson — 2010-07-13T17:43:11Z

A polemic on the rate of profit has developed over the last few months. This article seeks to review this debate which turns around four essential questions.

- IV426 - July 2010 / Economy