[americandream]

sparky

I am not sure I agree. I have found that my analysis has tended to be a lot more accurate than the blood and guts predictions of others for this one simple reason....capitalists are finding that cooperation is harvesting them vast wealth. Look at the Suadis and their usury instruments....I forecasted that and it is dead on.

Unlike many on here, many of whom border on the downright xenophobic, the capitalist fraternity is a lot more global in its perspective, and they are profiting from these alliances. Paradoxically, the progressive forces in history have never been the Luddites who invariably collaborate with the status quo, but the individuals who went out beyond their comfort zone, usually for economic reasons. That is what made capitalism such a positive force in Marxs eyes.

Having said that, capitalism is riddled with contradictions one of which is the climate and it is why we should be thinking of how best to secure the gains thus far, NOW, before the system hits planet tipping point which it will.

But as far as these anti migrant rumblings go; they are mild and are nothing like they were when I was a student in England and the National Front roamed the streets terrorising non whites. The parochialists on here latch onto anything that promises the good old days and alternately swing between love and blood and guts but that I suspect has more to do with their confusion than the realities of the new culture that is emerging.

[SeaGypsy]

You will see blood & guts when your stupid alcoholic rouge faces my mushroom munching hash crew lol!

(For those unaware, AD wants extremely severe cannabis law & a home brew in every basement. Just one example of his hypocritical cultural xenophobia.)

Sparky is right. Interesting how it will all play out with so much multicultural life these days, as certain borders close tight while others open wide. Disparity increasing exponentially with the bottom 3rd yet to get running water or electricity, while we real workers in the west whine about only earning 2 days pay an hour.

[ralfy]

The catch, as I explained in other threads, is that the global economy is controlled by a few who can only maintain their position if that economy continues to grow. The same applies to the middle class that can only see their wages grow if they sell to a growing market, and that means more people worldwide receiving not only basic needs but even middle class conveniences. Most imagine that the system will continue indefinitely.

Also, what is new is that unlike the nineteenth century we now have a much larger population, environmental damage and other crises (peak oil, global warming) on a significant scale, higher levels of armaments production and deployment, and a lot higher energy and resource demands per capita.

As these crises amplify each other, then what has been semi-permanent warfare may escalate, leading to both global and even internal conflict.

All of these points could have been added to the narrative.

[americandream]

[quote="ralfy"]The catch, as I explained in other threads, is that the global economy is controlled by a few who can only maintain their position if that economy continues to grow. The same applies to the middle class that can only see their wages grow if they sell to a growing market, and that means more people worldwide receiving not only basic needs but even middle class conveniences. Most imagine that the system will continue indefinitely.

Also, what is new is that unlike the nineteenth century we now have a much larger population, environmental damage and other crises (peak oil, global warming) on a significant scale, higher levels of armaments production and deployment, and a lot higher energy and resource demands per capita.

As these crises amplify each other, then what has been semi-permanent warfare may escalate, leading to both global and even internal conflict.

All of these points could have been added to the narrative.[/quote]




AD
[i]At a fundamental level, the system and its tendencies tend to corral social relations with the result that outcomes are inevitable....outcomes such as consolidation and its contradiction, merit, globalisation and its contradiction parochialism, infinite growth and its contradiction resource buffers such as peak resources and the climate and of course, modernity and its contradiction, ignorance. The periodic cycles are another facet of this dynamic, interspersed as they are with boom and bust, war and reconstruction.

However the forces for global social relations are relentless and we co no more go back to some golden age that never existed as can we uninvent the wheel. The trick for a competent dialectician is how precisely can we slide circularity into this dynamic, circularity at a global level. If we can [/i]succeed at that, modernity will truly be at our service as a global culture on the brink of the next phase.