Slouching towards disintegration

Holding the centrists in chains

Professor Richard D. Wolff is an academic economist with a deep understanding of Marxist analysis of economics and applies that to what he sees within the current economic climate. You don’t get to be a professor of economics at multiple universities in the US if you don’t know what you're talking about.

I used to watch his "Economic Update" program fairly regularly, and even spent time learning about Marxist theory. Having become more interested in other topics, its been a while since his analysis has entered my thoughts. But, I have revisited.

His erudition in the most recent "Update" is commendable. I enjoy an analyst that can use an analogy and a quote from literature to emphasize their points. During a recent event of Julian Assange's father and brother touring the US, in a discussion, Ray McGovern was quoting the Aenid in greek (with translation, see sources). In the Wolff video (again, see sources) he uses a key line from William Butler Yeats' "The Second Coming" poem, "the center cannot hold" as a reference to the struggle of the existing political institutions of the US to respond to the decline of their empire's global influence.

The key point which Wolff highlights is a schism between the US Republican Party and its funders (US businesses, who also fund the democrats). His call is that there is a growing threat to social stability and that threatens the reliability of business workforces and the availability of local markets. Whilst having no idea of how widespread this threat is, and being aware that this idea also fits within the political-economic analysis of Prof. Wolff, it seems credible and a sign of internal weakening within the US political system.

I am sure that the US political system will respond. I am not so sure that they have the flexibility of thought/analysis to respond effectively in a timely manner. Another sign of the decline that Alfred McCoy spoke of years ago.

Sources

Economic Update: The Center Cannot Hold

Julian Assange: Separating Fact from Fiction

McGovern [01:04:48]

“The Second Coming”, William Butler Yeats

The Geopolitics of American Global Decline, Prof. Alfred McCoy