The Empire: The Eye of the Storm

It is important to be clear that capitalism is in a deeper crisis today than it was in September 2008.

The extreme financial maneuver of rescuing the banking system now brings with it an unprecedented fiscal crisis. This demonstrates that it is effectively impossible for the State to come to the rescue of the global economy. We are also faced with another problem in that the money we print only serves to generate endless speculation. The State was under strong pressure to come to the rescue, by way of the so-called “stimulus,” which I reiterate was highly speculative. To get a sense of the problem, in the United States, for example, the public debt went from 40 percent of the GDP to 100 percent of the GDP, and in Spain it went from 30 percent to 80 percent. The idea of fiscal adjustment only goes to show the total bankruptcy of capitalism. But that adjustment falls inexorably on the shoulders of the workers of all the countries in the world, because nobody will touch expenditures of “national interest” — meaning military spending.

Although one might think that the center of the storm is located in Europe, in reality the bigger problem is in the interior of the United States. While the sovereign debt crises have made Europe appear to be the center of the world crisis, that center remains in the U.S.

The U.S. debt — national and international, public and private — is not only growing: it is insurmountable. In recent months, the failure of its “stimulus” and bank bail-out programs became apparent, and there is now talk of a “double-dip recession” on top of the one that lasted from late 2007 to mid-2009. The official unemployment rate, 9.5 percent, is grossly underestimated since it does not take into account those who have stopped looking for work, such as people who have no choice but to work part-time. The most convincing statistic on the impasse in the United States is the ongoing slump in the real estate market, which was the start the crisis and the object of the largest rescue operations. The mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, guarantors of approximately $5 trillion in mortgages, were first nationalized, and recently de-listed when the value of their shares fell below $1. In other words, these agencies are bankrupt for sums greater than the total debt of all the states in the European Union. But the majority of the reserves of the United States’ creditor countries are invested in them. This data, taken from sources and analysts from within the empire itself, only serves to corroborate what we have been saying since the first “bubble” appeared; this is not over, and our concern should be with a fundamental analysis of the problem. The capitalist system would not hesitate to generate another world war if it were needed to resolve its crisis. This theme is currently the subject of much study.

On our continent the economy will be affected. The idea that we can somehow be shielded is totally unrealistic and shows a lack of scientific analysis of the problem.

The working masses are now taking action in Europe, where there are daily demonstrations in the face of the reversal of workers’ previous gains. The issues of the unemployed and immigrants are generating mobilizations in the United States. In China, the other pillar of capitalist restoration, strikes are reappearing after being absent for years.

The workers on our continent are resisting, but in our analysis we must keep in mind that any way out that is not international is no way out; at this stage, it is crucial to unite, debate and widen our horizons. The thousand so-called “rebirths of capitalism” which have occurred throughout history are no more than an illusion today.d