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- Falling profits and realization crisis are inevitable – ultimately doom capitalism
Unsustainable1NC -- UnsustainableCapitalism is the root cause to our ecological crisis – certain extinction. Decapitalization is the only solution.Erin Remblance 22 [Erin Remblance, 2-22-2022, "Decapitalising our minds: the key to addressing climate change," Resilience, https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-02-22/decapitalising-our-minds-the-key-to-addressing-climate-change/, smarx, HHW] Emissions continue to rise. Governments are failing us. A ‘global tipping point’ could be activated in as little as five years. Why aren’t we doing more to solve the greatest threat humanity has ever faced? Capitalism is the root cause of our ecological crisis and the key barrier to solving it. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, because capitalism cannot exist without economic growth, and economic growth is the main reason why our emissions have been increasing over the last 30 years and further growth will make it impossible to decarbonise in time to avoid activating tipping points. Secondly, because our minds have been shaped by capitalism and it is stopping us from seeing both the role capitalism plays in the cause of climate change and the full scope of solutions available to address the crisis. Social psychologist, Professor Harald Welzer, sums this up well, describing economic growth of industrial societies as “enshrined in business and politics, but also in the psychological structure of the people who grow up in such societies.” There are six key ways in which capitalism shapes our minds. Under capitalism we, collectively, believe: Nature is nothing more than a ‘resource’ to be exploited Our power lies in our consumption habits Success lies in evermore material items and novel experiences People are a ‘resource’ and must earn their living Money is scarce and the government must make choices We must compete with others This ‘capitalisation’ of our minds creates a barrier to solving the climate crisis in many ways, including: denial that the crisis exists because the solutions don’t fit one’s capitalistic ideology; disinterest and disengagement with the crisis because nature is for others to focus on; unconscious of how our minds are shaped by capitalism, we: champion solutions that are well-intentioned but inadequate because they assume mythical ‘green-growth’; implement targets that aren’t supported by policies to achieve them, instead relying on technology that doesn’t currently exist to cover the gap. Unsurprisingly, the mindset we need to address the climate crisis is the exact opposite of the mindset described above. We are entirely dependent on nature Across the planet, from rainforests and indigenous lands to oceans and mountain tops, we view nature as existing for us to plunder, dominate, and use to fuel our economic growth. Nature is myopically viewed as nothing more than a resource that those with enough money can ‘own’ and exploit for gain, excluding all others from the use of those resources. Furthermore, in a desperate attempt to not address the root cause of the climate crisis, we are betting the planet’s ability to sustain life on technology that does not yet exist, exacerbating other ecological crises in the process. This is not rational behaviour. This is delusional and symptomatic of a collective mindset that believes technology rules over all else and that nature can be tamed. We need to cherish nature for without it we cannot exist. We are a part of nature, not separate from it, and we are entirely dependent on it for humanity’s survival. Rather than selling off our natural environment to create private wealth we should be holding it in trust for future generations. Because we think we are separate to nature, we often ‘other’ people who care about the environment as ‘greenies’ or ‘environmentalists’ and dismiss their concerns as ‘passions’ which allows us to mentally compartmentalise them as someone with different beliefs and priorities to us when what we really should be doing is listening, questioning, learning and ultimately joining them. System change is the only solution It’s highly likely, if you are at all concerned about the climate crisis, you’ve had the thought “what can I do?” and concluded something along the lines of reducing your energy needs, switching to renewable energy, driving & flying less, buying an electric vehicle and eating less meat: actions that relate to how you, individually, spend your money. This is perhaps one of capitalism’s greatest achievements because it has rendered us unlikely to actually change capitalism itself. By reducing people to ‘consumers’ that believe they have little power beyond that of their consumption habits, the inertia to come together as citizens and communities of like-minded people to take collective action is significant. This is how capitalism likes it. Fittingly, it was a PR company engaged by BP that devised the personal carbon footprint concept, precisely to put the focus back on individuals and distract from the huge emissions generated by their business and their responsibility to address it. Whilst individual actions are well-intended and an important ‘entry-point’, we are now so late in the game that acting as consumers won’t cut it. We need to use our collective power as citizens to influence as many people as we can and ensure we vote in leaders who will change the economic system to one that is focused not on growth, but on the wellbeing of people and the planet. We need to adopt a war-like mindset and work together, finding strength in numbers. Otherwise, the enduring legacy of our lifetimes will be the collapse of human civilisation. Falling profits and realization crisis are inevitable – ultimately doom capitalismRaag Trivedi 22 [Popular Posts, 1-22-2022, "How Did Karl Marx Predict The Fall Of Capitalism?," Science ABC, https://www.scienceabc.com/social-science/how-did-karl-marx-predict-the-fall-of-capitalism.html, DOA: 6-18-2022, smarx, HHW] Karl Marx predicted several crises. The two major ones are the realization crisis and the falling rate of profit. According to him, such events would end capitalism. The time period of the 1920s to the early 1930s saw severe unemployment, economic depression, hyperinflation and global hysteria. This period is known as “The Great Depression”. The first world war, which ended in 1917, was a major reason behind this economic catastrophe. Since many countries were involved in the war, and not all of them were on the same side, the experience of the Great Depression varies from country to country. For example, Germany encountered its Great Depression from the early 1920s onward, while the United States of America saw its decline in the year 1929. To give you some idea of how bad the situation was, imagine that the currency of Germany in 1922 was “marks”. In Germany (1922), one loaf of bread would cost about 163 marks. When September 1923 arrived, this same loaf of bread would cost 1.5 million marks. By 1923, at the height of economic decline, one loaf of bread in Germany cost about 200 million marks (Source). However, in the midst of all this turmoil, there were some people who were happier than ever. There was a section of people in society who saw all this turmoil as temporary, leading to something greater, something that they had believed in for a long time. These were the Marxists. The Marxists saw this severe depression as the end of capitalism, something Karl Marx had predicted in his writings in the 19th century. So… why did they believe that the Great Depression was the end? How had Marx predicted the end of capitalism? Karl Marx, as an author, went through two major phases in his life. The first was the idealistic, while the second was the materialistic. The idealistic phase is when Marx focused on human suffering, what capitalism as a structure does to society and how it creates a class divide etc. After this, Marx decided to analyze the economic workings of a capitalist system. It was in this phase, with his classics like Das Kapital, that he delivered some of his iconic phrases: “Capitalism will create its own fall“, due to the economic crises that any capitalist system would eventually suffer. The two major types of capitalist crises are: Realization Crisis Falling Rate of Profit For the purpose of understanding these crises, let’s assume that you are an industrialist, and have a lot of money to invest in any field. Realization Crisis This crisis is also known as the crisis of demand. Consider the example where you are an industrialist. Imagine that you’ve been working in the gold industry for a long time, and the profits are no longer large. Like any other investor, you will now be looking to invest in a market that is fairly new, has big returns and, and will have balance. What balance is this? The balance of supply and demand! Once you enter a new market (provided that your product is successful), the demand for your product increases and you start getting big benefits. As the demand for your product increases, you increase the costs and slowly try to reap more benefits. The growing demand for your product puts your production in overdrive, so you keep producing more and more, thinking that there are always people that will want to buy the product. However, after a point, because of the expanding market, you increase prices slowly and the product gets more expensive. Due to the fact that your product is successful, people still try to buy it, but after a point, they can no longer afford your product. Economic Bubble Burst A situation finally arises in which you keep producing your product, but there is no demand for it anymore. How does this happen? This can only happen when there is a separation between the laborers and consumers. The wages of the laborers will be lowered to exploit them to a maximum benefit. This phase, in which your production and benefits expand, is called an “economic bubble”. When the bubble bursts, the price of the product is exorbitant, there is too much of it, and nobody wants any of it! Falling Rate of Profit Now, go back to the example where you are an industrialist. Let’s assume that upon leaving the gold industry, you decide to join the paper-making industry. The regular way would be to get the machinery and laborers, and then start up production. However, if you invest in better machinery at the first stage, that could change the game. If you have better machinery, your production will be much more efficient and you can achieve what is known as a “super profit”. For a while, you will enjoy huge benefits. Eventually, your new machinery will be open to everyone, however, and everyone else will start using the same machinery as you. This will result in your profits dropping; eventually, the market will come to a grinding halt, until another set of “new machinery” is introduced in the market. Download 2.09 Mb. Share with your friends:
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