- Record: found
- Abstract: found
- Article: found
CRISIS IN THE EURO ZONE AND ITS INTERNATIONAL CONSEQUENCES
Abstract
To solve the current economic crisis, the United States for one would have to consume less and other countries more. Among the others, only Europe represents an economic weight comparable to the United States. Can the EU fit the bill? The answer is no. Driven by the German bourgeoisie, the most important of the continent, the European Union has drawn up plans to be more competitive, to increase exports and, ultimately, to take market shares at the expense of others. In capitalist countries, of course, the will to be in a strong position at world level thanks to economic performances overrides the possibility of solving problems collectively for the benefit of the majority. This policy results in dramatic social situations which we can already observe in Greece, Portugal, Ireland and Spain, where wage-earners are made to pay for a crisis they had no part in creating. This will cause tensions and greater crashes at world level, because instead of stimulating demand, which has been weakening, the European Union is trying to capture a larger part of the production, by relying on ever lower wages.
Content
Author and article information
Notes
(WAPE) Conference, "The Crisis of Capitalism and Its Solution: Socialism of the 21st Century," Suzhou, May 29-30, 2010.
Michel Aglietta and Laurent Berrebi, Désordres dans le capitalisme mondial (Paris: Editions Odile Jacob, 2007), p. 322.
The IMF estimates that world GDP will lose $4,000 billion for the end of 2010.
Figures from IMF, World Economic Outlook, October 2009.
European Commission, Employment in Europe 2008, p. 232, http://ec.europa.eu/social/ BlobServlet?docId=681&langld=en
OCDE, Growing Unequal? Income Distribution and Poverty in OECD Countries, October 2008, www.oecd.org/dataoecd/45/25/41525346.pdf
Ibid., p. 18.
Ministry of Economy and Finance of Spain, Stability Program Update 2009-10, January 2010, p. 14, http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/sgp/pdf/20_scps/2009-10/01_programme/es_2010-02-01_ sp_en.pdf
Council Opinion on the updated stability program of Ireland 2009-14, March 17, 2010, p. 7, http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/sgp/pdf/20_scps/2009-10/03_commission/2010-03-17_ie_ recommendation_for_co_en.pdf
Le Monde, March 5, 2010.
John Maynard Keynes, "The Great Slump of 1930," The Nation and Athenaeum, December 20, 1930.
Patrick Artus and Marie-Paule Virard, Est-il trop tard pour sauver l'Amérique? (Paris: Éditions La Découverte, 2009), p. 107.