Book Bits

? Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future

By Paul Mason
Review via The Guardian
Mason, like Marx, believes that capitalism will collapse under the weight of its own internal contradictions. These include unsustainable levels of debt on the part of both individuals and nations (“2008 was the tremor in advance of the earthquake”). In addition, the rise of information technology will corrode market mechanisms, erode property rights and destroy the relationship between wages, property and work. All this, plus burgeoning inequality, the inevitability of climate change and continued population growth, will open up the possibility of a brave new world. The alternative, warns the author, is chaos.

? The Age of Stagnation: Why Perpetual Growth is Unattainable and the Global Economy is in Peril

By Satyajit Das
Summary via publisher (Prometheus Books)
The global economy is entering an era of protracted stagnation, similar to what Japan has experienced for over two decades. That is the message of this brilliant and controversial summary of our current economic predicament from an internationally respected consultant and commentator on financial markets, who predicted the Global Financial Crisis of 2008. Satyajit Das challenges the assumption that growth can be perpetual and questions the ability of political leaders to enact the tough structural changes needed. He is particularly critical of the “easy money” approach to dealing with the Great Recession, citing the dangers of excessive debt and deep-seated fundamental imbalances. The fallout of these poor policies, he argues, will affect not only the business sector but also the lifestyles and prosperity of average citizens and future generations. Das concludes with a thought experiment illustrating the large-scale changes that will be necessary to restore economic, financial, and social sustainability. This experiment has already been tried in Iceland, which went bankrupt in the wake of the 2008 crisis, and now, after a painful adjustment, is on the road to recovery.