Capitalism Hits the Fan · the Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It

A breathtakingly clear introduction designed to help ordinary citizens understand and react to the unraveling economic crisis. Capitalism Hits the Fan chronicles one economists growing alarm and insights as he watched, from 2005 onwards, the economic crisis build, burst, and then dominate world events. The argument here differs sharply from most other explanations offered by politicians, media commentators, and other academics. Step by step, Professor Wolff shows that deep economic structuresthe relationship of wages to profits, of workers to boards of directors, and of debts to incomeaccount for the crisis. Government bailout interventions have thrown too little money too late at a problem that requires more than money to solve. As this book shows, we must now ask basic questions about capitalism as a system that has now convulsed the world economy into two great depressions in 75 years (and countless lesser crises, recession, and cycles in between). The books essays engage the long-overdue public discussion about basic structural changes and systemic alternatives needed not only to fix todays broken economy but to prevent future crises.