“The society which has abolished every kind of adventure makes its own abolition the only possible adventure.” Paris, May 1968


Monday 19 March 2012

Is this capitals last stand?

You would have thought that in the closing months of the second world war, when it must have been obvious to even the dimmest Nazi that the game was up, you wold have thought that Germans would have moved to make the inevitable defeat as bearable as possible. But no, even in the closing stages of this nightmare huge resources and energy were devoted to the continued killing of Jews. The German people, with their backs against the wall, were not best aligned to see the writing on it. Are we witnessing the same kind of historical moment today? As market capitalism goes into it's death throes the political elite are incapable of seeing beyond the commodification of more aspects of life and the further inroad of the market into everything. The trouble is that political elites, like old dogs, struggle with new tricks. Perhaps it is in this light that we should see Cameron's plan to privatise the road network and perhaps we should expect more last ditch attempts to calm the storm by pouring oil on burning water.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good perspective. As I understand it these buffoons really do believe "The Market" is a force of nature and will right itself. At the same time they believe that they are natural rulers by right of birth and yearn for a time when everyone knew their place in society. Thank'ee kindly squire and all that. This is not just about capitalism anymore but about a return to feudalism.

henry said...

"Road sell-off to be accomplished using the same model as the successful privatisation of the railway system..."

<<<Fills me with such confidence.