euro|topics - The end of capitalism?

Main focus of Friday, September 26, 2008

The end of capitalism?

Now that the global financial crisis seems to have reached a climax, experts from across Europe are asking whether capitalism as we know it has outlived its usefulness. Is it time for a new international economic order?

NRC Handelsblad - Netherlands

The international financial crisis is a sign that capitalism is also in its final throes, writes the newspaper NRC Handelsblad. "If for no other reason, the current financial crisis is a historic event because no one can maintain any longer that unlimited free trade automatically leads to a better world. And the old liberal fairy tale that the market always corrects itself has also been discredited. ... The late summer of 2008 will go down in history as the moment when the last political ideology of the 20th century experienced its demise. Almost 20 years after what looked like the definitive defeat of communism, the victor from those days is also down for the count. Both Cold War camps are now washed up. It will take a couple of years before the bankruptcy crystallises out. Then the 20th century will finally be over, just as the 19th century only ended in 1914." (26/09/2008)

La Repubblica - Italy

La Repubblica publishes an excerpt from the speech given today by the expert in business law Guido Rossi at the international civil rights conference of the Courmayeur Foundation. Rossi calls for a new legal framework for the capitalist economy: "The numerous modifications of the international business system introduced by the modern lex mercatoria, or Law Merchant, have not been able to forestall the crises that have rocked both society and the financial markets. ... In truth the crisis goes far deeper. The form of the large joint stock company has transgressed not only the traditional legal categories it was orginally founded upon, but also all of the most recent regulations - some of which are new and some of which were copied from other legal systems - and which go under the name of Corporate Governance. ... The old formulas are outdated. The joint stock company is on its last legs. A new phoenix must rise from its ashes. This new scientific paradigm must be far removed from the empty formulas of social market capitalism and the like." (26/09/2008)

Postimees - Estonia

Developments in the global economy have raised a host of questions, writes the Estonian author Mihkel Mutt in the daily Postimees. "Has the free market economy been discredited? Or at least neoliberalism? Can we expect paradigmatic changes to take place? ... Since 2002 many financial managers seem to have acted like casino visitors who can no longer stop raising the stakes. The market economy would be perfect if people were rational, and only rational decisions were taken. But humans are not rational, they are also driven by impulse. ... It would only be sensible to step up regulation in phases of economic overheating. The earlier the bubble is burst, the fewer unpleasant surprises await us." (26/09/2008)

Figyelő - Hungary

According to the weekly newspaper Figyelő the international financial crisis has shaken Western capitalism to its very foundations. A shift of the economic centre [of power] towards Asia could be the result: "In the US a recession is inevitable, the Eurozone is stagnating and the emerging markets are slowing down. ... Liberal capitalism has constantly been confronted with new challenges and today it is experiencing one of the greatest shocks in its entire history. No one knows the solution to the crisis at present. ... Will the crisis bury the system of Western-style capitalism under its weight and shift the weight of the global economy towards the Far East for good? The situation is certainly dramatic, but this is unlikely to be the case. After all, the system most likely to bring correction and innovation is a system that combines capitalism and democracy. But it is nonetheless a distinct possibility that the capitalism we have in a few years' time is different from that we have now." (26/09/2008)

» To the complete press review of Friday, September 26, 2008

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