Aftermath of bitcoin discussion

Hi

Ok, I like this idea, hope to contribute anything that comes to mind, may be useful.  
At the last meeting in Sheff, a few ideas of great interest were briefly aired and I would like to elaborate.

Capitalism as a revolutionary force.
The lack of a revolutionary response to the 2008 crash.
The coming crash.

Obviously talking about capitalism as an agent of revolution is not the same as it was during its early inception.  The capitalist revolution is done, any small outposts of stone age culture and the like make little difference.  
Nor am I saying that revolution was not possible previously (though that may have been the case, I am unsure as there is any way to prove that point, 1917 could have escalated, 1968 could have escalated 1984 could have escalated...).

What I am saying is that there is a feature of the capitalist process that again and again sharply poses the question of an alternative, a non capitalist society.  This is not necessarily only posed by crisis, not only posed by misery, but also by all manner of sharp turns that provoke  consideration of the system itself.  For some, cryptocurrency could have kicked off a critique going beyond the limited critique which bitcoin enthusiasts are popularising.

Also, capitalist development generally facilitates the setting up of a socialist society.  Its technological advance does not stop producing veritable leaps, for example the internet, massive computational power, energy sources, agricultural technique and the like,  however grotesque the application for profit chasing.

This is not to deny the repressive, suppressive ideological control which also advances along with the technological means to do so, and nobody is saying capitalism will simply transform into socialism in a seamless flurry of modernisation.  

As previously stated, there is no rule stating only crisis and misery provides the condition for generalised revolutionary consciousness, but equally there is no rule to say it does not.  The previous revolutionary wave of 1917 occurred in dire circumstance, the 1930s events were also against a background of extreme economic dysfunction, but the causation of the 1968 wave is not so easily described.

But capitalism is constantly breaking the mould and ejecting people from comfortable routines.  It is dynamic, precarious, frightening and unstable.  

This dynamic is not the sole element in provoking revolutionary responses, but it remains an element.  It is in this sense that I think capitalism plays a revolutionary role.

And one that could be very dramatically illustrated very soon.

In the latest RP (CWO publication) we are informed that a stock market crash today would wipe off trillions and catalyse a deep depression.  The working class could very well respond robustly.  It would seem highly likely in fact, given the  current rise in poverty and lack of leeway.  That scenario is no fantasy.




"...it is only a matter of time before stocks notice the same things that are spooking bonds, and credit in general, and get reacquainted with gravity.
What happens next? Well, if the Citi correlation extrapolation is accurate, and historically it has been, it would imply that by mid-2019, equities are facing a nearly 50% drop to keep up with central bank asset shrinkage. "

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-28/bonds-finally-noticed-what-going-stocks-are-next

The leverage in the economic system has become so extreme; investors have no idea of the disaster that is going to take place during the next stock market crash. The collapse of the U.S. Housing and Investment Banking Industry in 2008 and ensuing economic turmoil was a mere WARM-UP for STAGE 2 of the continued disintegration of the global financial and economic system.

While the U.S. and the global economy have seemingly continued business as usual since the Fed and Central Banks stepped in and propped up the collapsing markets in 2008, this was only a one-time GET OUT OF JAIL free card that can't be used again. What the Fed and Central Banks did to keep the system from falling off the cliff in 2008 was quite similar to a scene in a science fiction movie where the commander of the spaceship uses the last bit of rocket-fuel propulsion in just the nick of time to get them back to earth on the correct orbit.

Thus, the only way forward, according to the Central banks, was to increase the amount of money printing, leverage, asset values, and debt. While this policy can work for a while, it doesn't last forever. And unfortunately, forever is now, here....or soon to be here.  So, it might be a good time to look around and see how good things are now because the future won't be pretty.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-27/coming-market-crash-will-set-biggest-gold-panic-buying-history