The economic consequences of capitalism’s profit-driven movement out of its old centers (Western Europe, North America, and Japan) brought capitalism there to its current crisis. First, real wages stagnated in the old centers. Since globalization and automation boosted corporate profits and stock markets while wages stagnated, capitalism’s old centers exhibited extreme widening of income and wealth gaps. China grew fast enough to compete now with capitalism’s old centers. Capitalism has moved on, abandoning its old centers and thereby pushing its problems and divisions to crisis levels.

Source: The Guardian July 21, 2023 02:37 UTC