Paul Krugman: Mad as Hellas

Mark Thoma posts an edited version of Paul Krugman: Mad as Hellas.

The important point here is that it’s not just the Greeks who are mad as Hellas (their own name for their country) and aren’t going to take it anymore. Look at France, where Marine Le Pen, the leader of the anti-immigrant National Front, outpolls mainstream candidates of both right and left. Look at Italy, where about half of voters support radical parties like the Northern League and the Five-Star Movement. Look at Britain, where both anti-immigrant politicians and Scottish separatists are threatening the political order.

It would be a terrible thing if any of these groups — with the exception, surprisingly, of Syriza, which seems relatively benign — were to come to power. But there’s a reason they’re on the rise. This is what happens when an elite claims the right to rule based on its supposed expertise,… then demonstrates both that it does not, in fact, know what it is doing, and that it is too ideologically rigid to learn from its mistakes.

Emphasis Mine

Krugman presents an example of the argument that the system is sound, it is only failing because there are idiotic/moronic/corrupt/greedy/evil people in charge. Change the rulers and the system will become good again.

People, like Krugman, seem to have argued that it is our fault that these people are in charge. But they ignore the whole ideological superstructure that includes the media, that works to ensure that these people stay in charge.

The system is working! But you have to ask: for whom the system is working? My answer is those same idiotic/moronic/corrupt/greedy/evil people who are in charge! They love the system because they are doing so well out of it.

As Karl Marx wrote over 160 years ago, the laws of motion for Capitalism ensure the increasing accumulation of capital in a decreasing number of Capitalists. This is a consequence of how the system works. The system is not failing when the rich get richer; it is working as intended.

It is only when Capitalism is under attack from alternatives, that this behaviour is modified. The Capitalists have found that the workers can be brought off for a period. But, then they want their money back, so a period of austerity ensues.

Unfortunately, one of the alternatives to Capitalism is seen to be some form of Fascism. Fascism arises when the petite bourgeoise (aka the middle class) sees their position in society eroding, and fight back by returning Capitalism to a purer form.

However, the Fascists see the workers as their natural enemy, and so continue the class war between the Capitalists and the workers more intensely. And in the end, the Capitalist system is strengthened through Fascism by weakening the workers.