Pre-2008 capitalism cannot be restored because debt fueled its demand
Evidence
In fact it is even worse than that, because the previous form of the system to which we are told there is no alternative is now impossible. There is no returning to pre-2008 capital. Capital has no idea of any solution to the crises which led up to 2008. There is no guarantee that the current crisis can be ended, because capital’s means of keeping wages low and demand up was debt itself. If you make debt harder to come by, then what is going to take its place? There is no answer to that, and plainly capital’s apologists are just flailing about. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1674
Categorization
- DEEPTHINKING: A genuinely paradigm-shifting economic insight: the post-2008 system confronting even its defenders is that the old growth machine was literally debt-driven, and tightening debt removes the only demand engine. Dense causal argument worth sitting with.
- QUESTION: Follow-up worth chasing: what mechanisms have actually replaced household-debt-driven demand since 2008 — quantitative easing’s asset inflation is one candidate.
- XREF: connects to: The 2008 crash was rooted in decades of industrial decline papered over by debt — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media: How Wall Street…, 79; Household debt now sustains demand, survival, and economic governance in capitalism. — Paul Langley, Assets and Assetization in…, 30; Industrial overcapacity caused a long-term economic downturn that debt only papered over — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media: How Wall Street…, 79
Broader Connections
- The 2008 crash was rooted in decades of industrial decline papered over by debt
#qualifies(0.82) — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 79 - Household debt now sustains demand, survival, and economic governance in capitalism.
#corroborates(0.80) — Paul Langley, Assets and Assetization in…, 30 - Industrial overcapacity caused a long-term economic downturn that debt only papered over
#qualifies(0.80) — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 79