Zombie Housing, Zombie Banks, Zombie Governments: Economy Cassandra Says Marx was Right

international | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis

Sunday August 21, 2011 17:18

by Roy Batty

"Karl Marx had it right. At some point capitalism can destroy itself because you cannot keep on shifting income from labor to capital without not having excess capacity and a lack of aggregate demand, and that's what's happening." --Nouriel Roubini

Karl Marx

Economist Nouriel Roubini says the risk of a global recession is greater than 50 percent, and the next two to three months will reveal the economy's direction. The economist who predicted the financial meltdown in 2005 says Marx was correct that capitalism can collapse. Fortune Magazine: "In 2005 Roubini said home prices were riding a speculative wave that would soon sink the economy. Back then the professor was called a Cassandra. Now he's a sage." Paul Krugman (2009): "Nouriel Roubini was right. At a time when the likes of Alan Greenspan were dismissing concerns about excessive home prices and declaring that banks were stronger than ever, Roubini warned that there was a monstrous bubble in the housing market and that the bursting of that bubble would cause much of the financial system to collapse. And so it has turned out, with even the most seemingly outlandish of Roubini's predictions matched or even exceeded by reality." In a fascinating interview with The Wall Street Journal's Simon Constable, Dr. Roubini doesn't have much good to say about the future. In fact, his answer to Mr. Constable's first question, "What can we do to get the economy going?" is "Probably very little." See full article and video at http://wheresmyfuckingmoney.com/2011/08/zombie-housing-...ight/