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adamskiboy528491's review
4.0
"COVID-19 will reshape our world. We don't yet know when the crisis will end. But we can be sure that by the time it does, our world will look very different." — Josep Borrell.
The Corona Crash by Grace Blakeley perfectly ponders the idea of what coronavirus will mean to the future of capitalism. The book is dense, & under 100 pages, so it delivers neatly & head-on. It brilliantly gives us a thorough guide of economics doing the COVID pandemic. For those who don't know, economic systems exist to allow a society to economise, i.e. allocate their supply of means towards various ends. The collection of standards is scarce because it cannot achieve all these ends. Thus, an economic system is something that provides a method by which these ends are prioritised, & means are directed to fulfilling them. Economic systems accumulate theories about how they function & how best to optimise them — &, in particular, to respond to adverse events.
By the end of March 2020, it had spread to the rest of the economy, with the US losing an unprecedented 10 million jobs in the last two weeks of March. The previous highest single-week job loss was 685,000 jobs in 1982. The last week of March 2020 managed 10 times that loss. By April 16th, the US had lost over 22 million jobs in just a month. For comparison, it took 3 years for The Great Depression to lose 25 million jobs.
Europe has seen the fastest spread after China, with Northern Italy as its epicentre. There are pressing concerns about how the pandemic will reshape the politics & economy of the European Union. The struggling economies in Southern Europe have made a proper answer to the outbreak trickier & have requested Northern Europe's countries to adopt a policy of debt sharing, the so-called "coronabonds" that would ease the struggle. The supporters of this are the Latin countries (Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal) & Greece, Slovenia & Ireland, with Northern European countries (Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, Finland) showing their reluctance at the prospect. This hot debate has driven Europe into economic & cultural clashes over how the Union should be run: Southern countries are notoriously more prone to let the state intervene in financial matters, while Northern countries are more prone to the opposite, & these tendencies are shown in their response to the outbreak (or lack of, in some cases).
This book strikes a good balance between setting the historical basis for where we are during this time of crisis. But also, on the other h&, laying out what is going to happen after the Coronavirus pandemic.
themorsecode's review
4.0
For such a short book, this was a very clear and thorough analysis of the current financial situation - particularly in the global North. Some useful thoughts on potential steps forward, including an even more urgent need for the Green New Deal.
trebor's review
5.0
A great little book giving relevant history on economics pre-Corona and how it relates to now. Including much-needed segments on the different effects on The Global South, it argues the division between politics and economics is fabricated and increasingly untenable. The state has had to intervene on a mass scale essentially centralizing large parts of the Economy and that this should be done democratically and in the interests of the people, not Finance and Corporations.
"Socialism does not just mean expanding the size of the capitalist state. Socialism means taking power away from the ruling classes - senior politicians, business owners and handing it back to the people"
"Socialism does not just mean expanding the size of the capitalist state. Socialism means taking power away from the ruling classes - senior politicians, business owners and handing it back to the people"
colin_cox's review
4.0
Grace Blakeley's The Corona Crash ponders what the novel coronavirus will mean to the future of capitalism. Her diagnosis does not inspire confidence. According to Blakeley, "Central bankers and politicians have staged unprecedented economic interventions, not to help the most vulnerable through this crisis, but to save capitalism from itself. The beneficiaries will be big business, big banks and powerful political interests" (xiii). State intervention to save capitalism is far from new, but Blakeley's point emphasizes the size and the scale of this intervention. In this way, the coronavirus has inverted for the wealthiest among us one of Ronald Reagan's most popular witticisms: "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." For the wealthy, the government is, in fact, here to help.
The problems inherent to these massive interventions are multi-faceted. Still, Blakeley emphasizes how, once again, the state (i.e., taxpayers) assumes the risk and debt while the capitalist class (i.e., elites) accumulates the profits of the state's generosity. She writes, "The risks of running an investment-grade business have been socialised, while the gains have remained private" (xiv). While Blakeley directs her specific critique in The Corona Crash at the financial (speculation) and energy sectors, her larger point is one quite familiar to readers of Marx: the consolidation of resources, influence, and profit sit with a capitalist oligarchy.
Although it is far from a new one, one of Blakeley's more insightful points highlights how capitalism needs crises and catastrophes to function correctly. Near the conclusion of The Corona Crash, she writes, "Economic crises, and the market concentration and ruling class cooperation they engender, are not avoidable kinks in the system but an inherent feature of any version of capitalist accumulation: you cannot have capitalism without crisis, without centralisation or without cronyism" (75). This point is so crucial and self-evident that it requires no additional elucidation, but if anyone needs additional evidence, consider this: Jeff Bezos, founder and president of Amazon, enjoyed the largest single-day increase to his net worth ($13 billion) on July 20, 2020. This point about Bezos is precisely why Blakeley writes about the next inevitable crisis, climate change, while we endure this one. The coronavirus has not stopped capitalism. If anything, the coronavirus was and will continue to be a boon to capitalists like Bezos. But with the next crisis, the effects of climate change, we, Blakeley argues, have a chance to reverse the effects of state-sponsored capitalism with initiatives like The Green New Deal. While programs like The Green New Deal are state-sponsored, they are, as Blakeley suggests, democratic in nature. She writes, "a global Green New Deal [is] a huge package of state investment built around democratically decided public priorities" (63). Such a program would widen "democratic public ownership" (63) and make clear who bears responsibility for the lion's share of carbon emissions: the wealthy. Furthermore, a global Green New Deal (and "global" matters because the efforts of the U.S. or the U.K. mean nothing without equal support from China, India, and the rest of the world) would put an end to liberal hand-wringing about personal responsibility because "climate justice can only be brought through systems change, not individual behavioural change" (67).
While early returns do not look good, massive catastrophes like the coronavirus are opportunities to reimagine a world beyond capitalism. "Over the long term," Blakeley suggests, "the public must become engaged in the rational planning of economic activity" (77). Let us hope a catastrophe like this coronavirus helps push us beyond capitalism because if it fails to do so, we may not survive the next one.
The problems inherent to these massive interventions are multi-faceted. Still, Blakeley emphasizes how, once again, the state (i.e., taxpayers) assumes the risk and debt while the capitalist class (i.e., elites) accumulates the profits of the state's generosity. She writes, "The risks of running an investment-grade business have been socialised, while the gains have remained private" (xiv). While Blakeley directs her specific critique in The Corona Crash at the financial (speculation) and energy sectors, her larger point is one quite familiar to readers of Marx: the consolidation of resources, influence, and profit sit with a capitalist oligarchy.
Although it is far from a new one, one of Blakeley's more insightful points highlights how capitalism needs crises and catastrophes to function correctly. Near the conclusion of The Corona Crash, she writes, "Economic crises, and the market concentration and ruling class cooperation they engender, are not avoidable kinks in the system but an inherent feature of any version of capitalist accumulation: you cannot have capitalism without crisis, without centralisation or without cronyism" (75). This point is so crucial and self-evident that it requires no additional elucidation, but if anyone needs additional evidence, consider this: Jeff Bezos, founder and president of Amazon, enjoyed the largest single-day increase to his net worth ($13 billion) on July 20, 2020. This point about Bezos is precisely why Blakeley writes about the next inevitable crisis, climate change, while we endure this one. The coronavirus has not stopped capitalism. If anything, the coronavirus was and will continue to be a boon to capitalists like Bezos. But with the next crisis, the effects of climate change, we, Blakeley argues, have a chance to reverse the effects of state-sponsored capitalism with initiatives like The Green New Deal. While programs like The Green New Deal are state-sponsored, they are, as Blakeley suggests, democratic in nature. She writes, "a global Green New Deal [is] a huge package of state investment built around democratically decided public priorities" (63). Such a program would widen "democratic public ownership" (63) and make clear who bears responsibility for the lion's share of carbon emissions: the wealthy. Furthermore, a global Green New Deal (and "global" matters because the efforts of the U.S. or the U.K. mean nothing without equal support from China, India, and the rest of the world) would put an end to liberal hand-wringing about personal responsibility because "climate justice can only be brought through systems change, not individual behavioural change" (67).
While early returns do not look good, massive catastrophes like the coronavirus are opportunities to reimagine a world beyond capitalism. "Over the long term," Blakeley suggests, "the public must become engaged in the rational planning of economic activity" (77). Let us hope a catastrophe like this coronavirus helps push us beyond capitalism because if it fails to do so, we may not survive the next one.
justinm's review
4.0
This installment from Verso's Coronavirus pamphlet series contains a great primer on the advancement of neoliberalism and finance capitalism.
Blakely then covers the likely impacts of Coronavirus on the global economy, with some specific examples from the UK where she is based. The emphatic message I got from this is that any recovery from this crisis that meaningfully addresses climate change and growing inequality must be global in nature. This would include but wouldn't be limited to a debt jubilee, and for the longer term pushing back against the World Bank and IMF's strategy of imposing neoliberal reforms on debt-laden states.
Blakely also points out that privatisation doesn't decrease central planning (corporations are centrally planned after all), it just decreases democratic oversight of crucial areas of the economy. For more on this topic I would recommend [b:The People’s Republic of Walmart: How the World’s Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialism|38914131|The People’s Republic of Walmart How the World’s Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialism|Leigh Phillips|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520055691l/38914131._SY75_.jpg|60477917].
All in all, this is a quick read with some good insights.
Blakely then covers the likely impacts of Coronavirus on the global economy, with some specific examples from the UK where she is based. The emphatic message I got from this is that any recovery from this crisis that meaningfully addresses climate change and growing inequality must be global in nature. This would include but wouldn't be limited to a debt jubilee, and for the longer term pushing back against the World Bank and IMF's strategy of imposing neoliberal reforms on debt-laden states.
Blakely also points out that privatisation doesn't decrease central planning (corporations are centrally planned after all), it just decreases democratic oversight of crucial areas of the economy. For more on this topic I would recommend [b:The People’s Republic of Walmart: How the World’s Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialism|38914131|The People’s Republic of Walmart How the World’s Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialism|Leigh Phillips|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1520055691l/38914131._SY75_.jpg|60477917].
All in all, this is a quick read with some good insights.