(The following article is from theSeptember 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers and  overseas readers - $50 per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial, Sept. 1-15, 2009

Claims that the global economic crisis has "turned the corner" are based on reports of minor increases in GDP in some countries, an upturn in stock markets since last March, higher profits for some sectors of big capital, etc. These temporary indicators please the very wealthy. But they also hint at the next round of the crisis. Here in Canada, for example, EI benefits will soon expire for hundreds of thousands of workers laid off over the past year, giving a body blow to purchasing power.

     The private property system faces a fundamental contradiction: far from averting crises, vast increases in wealth, particularly if ownership is concentrated among the capitalists themselves, only make the inevitable crash more resounding. A recent study found that by 2007, the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans took home a larger share of their country's total income ‑ 50 percent ‑ than during the "Roaring Twenties." One does not require a degree in economics to recall that the inequality records chalked up during the 1920s laid the groundwork for the greatest collapse in capitalist history.

     Norbert Walter, chief economist of Germany's influential Deutsche Bank, recently told CNBC that many countries face difficult financial problems which could push the world economy downwards "not once but two more times in the near future... Some of us are already talking about a W‑shaped recovery. I'd probably talk about a triple‑U‑shaped recovery because there are so many stumbling blocks here to get out of this. The world is in trouble."

     Starving the working class will not solve this crisis. Only a dramatic and fundamental shift towards genuine people's policies - less capitalism and more socialism - can begin to tackle the myriad of problems created by the global capitalist system.