i might have to read this piece ten times to make sense of it, it is all over the place.

I suppose the theme is that austerity is not the answer, although few reasons are given to solving the complexity of the problems that is evident from ongoing limtations in regard to the international economy.

Regardless of the good points that some make, inluding Robert reich, the answers are much more complex and not the stuff of waving a magic wand as if financial institutions alone are the cuplrit. The reality is that we are all part of the problem, govts, societies, banks and others.

The system can work and the world will make approapriate changes, but some nations will have to step up and some will play a less important role. Then the world will roll on in in its own imperfect, but hopefully still progressive, way, although some people and countires are likley to experience decline.

Win-Win situations for everyone are the stuff of fiction, and the soft left

I think you should always look around for all of the evidence when makng a point, within reason that one can never know or learn everything.

I don't claim to be a perfect student, but i do start my articles with many thousands of words of info from many sources in regard to an issue. I try to get all sides.

Take the claim that Greeks work long hours. I found this on the BBC to show how such a point, in terms of its wording, can be misleading.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17155304

Kellie, as I wrote in a previous post today:

My favourite quote is: “Politics is not the oldest profession, but the results are the same.”

The Global financial system no longer serves a useful social purpose.

The cost to society of the private financial system is very high with the financial crisis, now four years old, going to cost the world economy between $60 trillion and $200 trillion in lost GDP. If you understand US GDP is about 15 trillion, this is telling us the crisis will end up costing real income loss of between 4-13 times the current US GDP. This could turn out to be an optimistic forecast.

The large economic loss from the financial crisis is still unprecedented; the enormous cost of the financial crisis has one single source, financial deregulation.

Deregulation is likely to prove to be the mistake that destroys our Global economy; it is financial deregulation that is destroying us, with help from jobs off-shoring and this has dangerous and adverse consequences.

It ensures the public absorb the costs of the banks’ mistakes and reckless gambling and permits banks to leverage a small amount of capital with enormous debt to maximise return on equity, thereby maximising the instability of the financial system and the cost to society of the banks’ bad bets.

It has allowed financial institutions to sweep aside the position limits on speculators and to dominate commodity markets, turning them into a casino and driving up the prices of energy and food.

What happens if Greece exits the EU on its own or by the German boot? What happens if the other EU members reject Chancellor Merkel’s austerity, as the new president of France has promised to do? What is the policy steps needed to deal with a cooling China?

The problem is correct economic policy is blocked by the enormous influence made to political campaigns.

A few people, particularly in and around the financial system, have become too powerful. They were allowed to take a lot of risk, and they continue to do damage to the Global economy.

<Deregulation is likely to prove to be the mistake that destroys our Global economy; it is financial deregulation that is destroying us, with help from jobs off-shoring and this has dangerous and adverse consequences..

I agree, GOP, except we must put the horse before the cart.
Deregulation comes in the train of regulation and the free market is now lost forever. I doubt capitalism would have lasted this long had free market ideology held sway. Regulation was the concession made to social unrest, but proved to be a shot in the arm for capitalism, which is now dedicated to domestic consumption/cultivation.

"Late degenerate capitalism" is apt indeed, but it's not only about abstract economics, it's also about concrete social reality, at least in the decadent heartland of the lucky country. The only thing that's going to affect Australian complacency is austerity, and gawd knows we've got the karma!
Apropos professor Mitchell's report on Australia, what he doesn't say about Australia's glowing prospects (apart from that they're being squandered) is that they're only possible in any case thanks to the idiot, fortune, and that Australia's temporary prosperity could only be realised in any case via its pull-the-ladder up mentality, which is of course the degenerate way.

"More than ever, economic power seems today to have become political power, while citizens appear to be almost entirely stripped of their democratic defences and their capacity to impress upon the political economy interests and demands that are incommensurable with those of capital owners. In fact, looking back at the democratic-capitalist crisis sequence since the 1970s, there seems a real possibility of a new, if temporary, settlement of social conflict in advanced capitalism, this time entirely in favour of the propertied classes now firmly entrenched in their politically unassailable stronghold, the international financial industry" (Streek).

The argument should not about the tool that is Capitalism as opposed to Statism in various forms (including "Degenerate Capitalism") an organising principal; they operate at different levels. What is the best tool that prevents the re-emergence of the inevitable bastard children of Statism being Stasi, Gulags, Education Camps, and forced labor camps, whatever? Much play is made of the formal Separation of Powers into the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary, the informal (Fourth Estate) of the Media but just as essential is the Fifth Estate, the engine room of Society, separating the Productive Classes from the would be rulers above, which is well achieved by disaggregated ownership (Capitalism).
Having all resources or too much (as in Europe) in thrall of the various arms of the Political establishment is inevitably a runaway train to failure, just look at the current Warming Hysteria, without the independent resources to oppose it, there would have been even more damage to the prospects of the truly poor. It is not Governments / Aid Agencies / Community Organisers that improved the lot of millions of Asian poor but independent economic activity. Similarly even Africa, that perennial basket case, is showing signs of some lift. Not Aid or Government but more the humble Nokia mobile phone overcoming poor transport so that many more can be in the market (communications means travel is targeted, trust networks can emerge, credit exchange and etc.).

A worthy but somewhat convoluted effort to analyse and explain the latest machinations of the anti-social, anti-democratic, crisis-riddled Capitalist system.

Explication of this latest threat to world peace and prosperity for all can only be found via the study of Political Economy, a subject available at the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences - Department of Political Economy.

"Political Economy at the University of Sydney is taught by the largest grouping of political economists at any Australian university. It offers the most developed and integrated undergraduate and graduate courses and is recognised as a leading centre of economic analysis and research.

The study of political economy rests on the central proposition that economic processes do not take place in isolation from social and political processes. It contends that, beyond technical economic debates, the critical issues for understanding economic processes are the broader questions - such as the dynamics of globalisation and the implications for national economic policy settings; the concentration of economic activity, wealth and opportunities; the trade-offs between the free market perspective and broader social concerns; economic growth and environmental sustainability."

Both the Journal of Australian Political Economy
http://www.highbeam.com/publications/journal-of-australian-political-economy-p408882

and Australian Options provide those interested with excellent, thought-provoking analyses and precriptions for Australian and world economic relations.

"Australian Options is a quarterly journal featuring the analysis and views of Australia's foremost activists and progressive thinkers.

Issues of current attention include responding to the global economic crises, strategies to combat climate change, public transport, problems of Australian cities, educational ‘revolutions’, creating a job guarantee, the Brennan committee report on human rights and the situation in West Papua.

The Summer issue will feature a review of the Stilwell, Butler and Jones book Political Economy Now! The Struggle for Alternative Economics at the University of Sydney.

Subscriptions are as follows: $20 for one year (4 issues); $15 concession $10 for students"

website http://www.australian-options.org.au

or email donjarrett@internode.on.net