World Economy
Panama Papers revelation triggers political crises around the globe
By Jordan Shilton, 7 April 2016
As pressure builds on Britain’s Conservative government over the tax arrangements of Prime Minister David Cameron, it is becoming clear that the Panama Papers are merely the tip of the iceberg.
The reality behind the “Save our Steel” campaign in Britain
By Robert Stevens, 6 April 2016
Whatever deal Tata and the government cook up with the private buyers of threatened steel plants, the trade unions will do nothing to oppose any attacks on jobs, wages and pensions.
Imperialism, political corruption and the real face of capitalism
By Andre Damon, 6 April 2016
The publication of the “Panama Papers” has exposed the criminality that pervades the financial elite and its political representatives.
UK central to global tax avoidance
Cameron government implicated in Panama Papers revelations
By Chris Marsden, 6 April 2016
The leaked Panama Papers detailing widespread global tax avoidance place the UK at the centre of this operation.
IMF report points to sources of increasing financial turbulence
By Nick Beams, 5 April 2016
The ever-closer integration of the global economy has led to increased financial instability and turbulence, and heightened “systemic risk.”
“Panama papers” tax evasion leak stokes political crises worldwide
By Andre Damon, 5 April 2016
Documents provided to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists tie hundreds of wealthy individuals and world leaders to offshore havens used in tax evasion and money laundering.
UK Tata Steel operation at centre of escalating trade war
By Robert Stevens, 4 April 2016
The Labour Party and the trade unions have responded to the planned closure of Tata Steel’s UK plants with demands for protectionism and trade war.
The political economy of endless austerity
By Nick Beams, 31 March 2016
The imposition of austerity is determined not by a lack of economic resources, but by the relentless logic of the profit system.
Japanese economy continues to show signs of faltering
By Ben McGrath, 29 March 2016
A negative interest rate introduced in January by the Bank of Japan has done nothing to promote economic growth.
Economic nationalism, war and the fight for international socialism
By Nick Beams, 15 March 2016
The end result of the program of economic nationalism can be seen in the experience of the 1930s, when it brought about social devastation and led to world war.
Central banks confront unintended consequences
By Nick Beams, 15 March 2016
Markets are awaiting decisions by the Bank of Japan and the US Fed on monetary policies as concerns grow over negative interest rates.
European Central Bank cuts rates and pours more money into financial markets
By Nick Beams, 11 March 2016
The ECB’s latest measures will do nothing to boost the real economy, but only lead to further financial speculation and increase the danger of a currency war.
As Chinese exports plunge
IMF issues new warning on global economy
By Nick Beams, 10 March 2016
The sharp fall in Chinese exports reflects a decline in global trade that has been expressed as well in US trade data.
Bank for International Settlements warns of build-up of global debt
By Nick Beams, 8 March 2016
The European Central Bank is to meet on Thursday amid rising concerns over the longer-term consequences of the global proliferation of negative interest rates.
Chinese premier outlines plans for accelerated pro-market restructuring
By Peter Symonds, 7 March 2016
The Chinese Communist Party’s only “plan” is to further open the economy for private investment, both foreign and domestic, in the hope that it will drive economic growth.
China and Brazil: Two expressions of the deepening capitalist breakdown
By Nick Beams, 4 March 2016
As the “BRICS model” of economic growth disintegrates, conditions are emerging for another financial crisis.
Chinese government prepares to sack millions of workers
By John Ward and Peter Symonds, 3 March 2016
The emergence of huge overcapacities in China’s basic industries is intimately bound up with the continuing worldwide economic slump.
Chinese slowdown continues amid plans for major job cuts
By Nick Beams, 2 March 2016
Fears of where the global economy is heading led former British Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls to warn of “echoes of the 1930s.”
G-20 summit rules out coordinated stimulus
By Nick Beams, 29 February 2016
Despite calls for fiscal stimulus by the International Monetary Fund, the only area in which the major economic powers are increasing their spending is on the military.
Indian ruling elite in economic bind
By Kranti Kumara and Keith Jones, 27 February 2016
Longstanding tensions between India’s BJP-led government and the country’s central bank over how to revive India’s flagging economy have intensified in the run-up to Monday’s budget speech.
Perplexity and divisions mark G-20 meeting
By Nick Beams, 26 February 2016
The G-20 meeting in Shanghai is riven by the widening divisions between the major capitalist powers as the crisis of the global economy intensifies.
Germany’s Deutsche Bank in crisis
By Gustav Kemper, 23 February 2016
Fears of collapse and panic sell-offs on the stock market have halved Deutsche Bank’s value over the course of a year to €20 billion.
“Secular stagnation” and the contradictions of capitalism
By Nick Beams, 23 February 2016
The lowering of interest rates, quantitative easing and now negative interest rates are only compounding financial instability and laying the basis for another crisis.
Global volatility triggers concerns about Australian banks
By Mike Head, 20 February 2016
The ongoing collapse of commodity prices has placed question marks over the exposure of the banks to losses in the resources sector.
OECD downgrades global growth forecast
By Nick Beams, 19 February 2016
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said global growth has “practically flat-lined” and financial instability risks are on the rise.
Real estate statistics point to precarious state of Chinese economy
By John Ward, 19 February 2016
For the past seven years, speculative property investment has maintained growth in China, but this has laid the foundation for a broader crisis.
Economic problems mount in Japan and China
By Nick Beams, 17 February 2016
The latest statistics from the world’s second and third largest economies underscore the worsening world downturn.
Stock market panic risks new financial crisis
By Andre Damon, 12 February 2016
The global sell-off expresses growing fears that the trillions pumped into the financial system since 2008 have done nothing to improve its underlying health, and may have sown the seeds for a crash on an even greater scale.
A new stage in the global economic breakdown
By Nick Beams, 9 February 2016
The growing financial crisis in China, marked by capital flight and mounting concerns over debt levels, is accompanied by increasing doubts about the stability of the entire global banking system.
Oil price fall brings significant losses for big producers
By Nick Beams, 5 February 2016
The conventional wisdom was that the fall in oil prices would boost the economy, but this soothing scenario has been shattered.
The Ezubao scam: A sign of deeper problems in China’s financial system
By Peter Symonds, 5 February 2016
Ezubao was part of the largely unregulated peer-to-peer online finance industry that has drawn in millions of small investors with the offer of high returns.
Global manufacturing continues to fall
By Nick Beams, 2 February 2016
The Chinese steel industry recorded a loss of more than $9 billion for 2015, in the clearest expression of China’s economic slowdown.
Japan moves to negative interest rates
By Nick Beams, 30 January 2016
A quarter of the world’s gross domestic product now emanates from countries with negative official interest rates, an unprecedented situation in the history of world capitalism.
Wall Street falls on global growth fears
By Nick Beams, 28 January 2016
A downturn in the share prices of two major companies, Apple and Boeing, was responsible for more than half of yesterday’s fall in the Dow.
Global slowdown to deepen attacks on jobs
By Nick Beams, 25 January 2016
Stock markets recovered some of their losses at the end of the last week, but the underlying trend in the world economy is slower growth and outright recession.
The political significance of the global economic turmoil
By Nick Beams, 21 January 2016
The turmoil on global markets is an expression of the breakdown of the mechanisms and structures that have sustained world capitalism over the past quarter-century.
The ruling class meets at Davos
By Andre Damon, 19 January 2016
This year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland takes place against the backdrop of a deepening global crisis and soaring inequality.
What is driving the stock market panic?
By Barry Grey, 18 January 2016
After more than seven years of bailouts and trillions in virtually free cash for the banks and financial markets, the real economy has not only not recovered from the Wall Street crash of 2008, it is rapidly deteriorating.
Global stocks plunge amid fears of a new financial crisis
By Barry Grey, 16 January 2016
Friday’s selloff, with the EURO STOXX/50 index down 2.37 percent and all of the major US indexes lower by well over 2 percent, caps off the worst-ever yearly opening for Wall Street.
Wave of selling hits US markets
By Nick Beams, 14 January 2016
The sharp downturn in US markets has come amid a series of statements by banking officials that the conditions for a new financial crisis are rapidly developing.
China’s deep economic malaise
By Peter Symonds, 13 January 2016
The economic slowdown, which is exposing massive overcapacity and high levels of debt, is threatening to trigger an upsurge in the class struggle.
Chinese markets continue to fall, amid mounting concerns over growth
By Nick Beams, 12 January 2016
The Shenzhen Composite Index has fallen by more than 20 percent so far this year, wiping off almost $1 trillion from share values.
Australian stocks fall sharply on China and global fears
By Mike Head, 12 January 2016
A new year sharemarket rout highlights Australian capitalism’s acute vulnerability to the slowing growth and signs of economic instability in China.
Global markets continue to fall
By Nick Beams, 9 January 2016
The impact of events in China points to the worsening situation facing major Western corporations.
Stock markets continue to plunge amidst growing signs of economic crisis
By Andre Damon, 8 January 2016
The continued sell-off points to growing fears of a divergence between stock market values, which have been rising for nearly six years, and the slowdown of the world economy.
Global financial turmoil continues on fears of slower growth
By Nick Beams, 7 January 2016
The fall in oil prices to their lowest level in 11 years points to deepening recessionary trends that increase the risk of defaults in high-risk, high-yield bonds.
The New Year stock sell-off
By Barry Grey, 5 January 2016
The indicators of a deepening crisis in production sent shock waves through the financial markets because they portend the looming collapse of a vast speculative house of cards built up since the 2008 Wall Street crash.
2016 will be a year of escalating class struggle
By Jerry White, 4 January 2016
Class conflict will become an ever-more dominant feature of life in 2016 as the ruling classes in the US and around the world demand that workers pay for the global economic crisis.
IMF head warns of slow growth and economic “shocks” in 2016
By Barry Grey, 31 December 2015
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde wrote that global economic growth next year would be “disappointing” and the outlook for the medium term had also deteriorated.
On the threshold of the New Year
By Joseph Kishore and David North, 31 December 2015
It is characteristic of a period of crisis that more and more the essential nature of capitalism—a system of exploitation, inequality, war and repression—comes into alignment with the everyday experiences of broad masses of people.
A New Year’s sense of foreboding over the global economy
By Nick Beams, 30 December 2015
Economic developments in 2015 were dominated by intensifying recessionary trends throughout the world economy.
WTO buries Doha Round: Another rupture in the post-war order
By Nick Beams, 22 December 2015
The decision to end the Doha Round signifies the end of the multilateralism that formed a crucial foundation of post-World War II economic expansion.
After Fed rate hike, global economic fault lines deepen
By Nick Beams, 19 December 2015
The growing turbulence in financial markets is a manifestation of deepening recessionary trends in the global economy.
Federal Reserve begins “dovish tightening” with first rate hike in nine years
By Barry Grey, 17 December 2015
Fed Chair Janet Yellen stressed that further increases would be incremental and gradual and interest rates would remain abnormally low, triggering a sharp rise in US stock prices.
Junk bond crisis brings “stress” warning
By Nick Beams, 15 December 2015
The price of oil is at its lowest point for seven years with natural gas prices at the lowest level in more than a decade, sparking a crisis in the bond markets.
Junk bond panic signals new stage in crisis of world capitalism
By Barry Grey, 14 December 2015
The mounting crisis in the junk bond market has profound and convulsive implications for the entire credit system, in the US and internationally.
Paris agreement papers over failure to act on climate change
By Patrick Martin, 14 December 2015
Even in the face of a growing threat to human survival, the leaders of rival capitalist nations are incapable of serious action to combat global warming.
Weakening currency and economic slowdown in China
By Peter Symonds, 14 December 2015
The downward slide in the renminbi’s value threatens other Asian export-dependent countries and heightens the danger of a currency war.
Stocks plunge amid fears of global slump and credit meltdown
By Barry Grey, 12 December 2015
The global slowdown, reflected in collapsing prices for oil and other basic commodities, is now wreaking havoc on the corporate bond market.
A new tipping point in the global economic crisis
By Nick Beams, 10 December 2015
Corporate defaults are on the rise, not only in the energy sector hit by falling prices, but across the board.
BIS warns of sudden end to “uneasy” financial calm
By Nick Beams, 8 December 2015
Junk bonds are heading for their first losses since the global financial crisis, indicating the present stock market boom may be living on borrowed time.
The significance of the elevation of the Chinese renminbi
By Nick Beams, 5 December 2015
The renminbi’s elevation to the status of a global reserve currency is an expression of vast shifts in the world economy that underlie the rise in geopolitical tensions.
Australia: Reserve Bank leaves rates on hold despite plunge in investment
By Mike Head, 2 December 2015
The investment figures throw into doubt the government’s efforts to talk up the country’s economic prospects.
IMF lifts Chinese currency to reserve status
By Nick Beams, 1 December 2015
The decision to include the Chinese renminbi as an international reserve currency will be viewed by Beijing as a step forward but it is a two-edged sword.
Capacity to generate global economic growth “under question”
By Nick Beams, 24 November 2015
There is a growing realisation among policymakers that their economic models are no longer applicable.
Financial parasitism and the destruction of democracy
By Andre Damon, 24 November 2015
Under conditions of deepening economic and political crisis, the world’s ruling classes are willing to use any means necessary to ensure their continued monopolization of society’s wealth.
Japan enters “technical recession”
By Nick Beams, 18 November 2015
The deepening economic slump in Japan points to the failure of the program of “Abenomics” to provide any real economic boost.
The “Great Recession” and the deepening austerity drive
By Nick Beams, 16 November 2015
The loss of output following the global financial crisis is equivalent to the removal of Germany from the world economy.
Obama lectures the G20
By Barry Grey, 14 November 2015
That the US, whose economy is growing at an anemic rate of about 2 percent, is deemed the world’s “bright spot” says a great deal about the failure of the G20 to engineer a genuine recovery from the 2008 financial crash.
OECD cuts estimate for global growth
By Nick Beams, 10 November 2015
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned Monday that the sharp slowdown in world trade could be a harbinger of recession.
Global markets cheer dismal economic figures
By Andre Damon, 3 November 2015
Global stock markets are surging as negative economic news makes interest rate cuts by central banks more likely.
Japan’s economic outlook worsening
By Nick Beams, 3 November 2015
Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, is hovering on the brink of recession as quantitative easing fails to provide a boost.
Deutsche Bank to cut up to 35,000 jobs
By Marianne Arens, 2 November 2015
The Ver.di trade union is cooperating with the Deutsche Bank management to lay off tens of thousands of workers.
Holding rates near zero, Fed keeps option of a hike in December
By Barry Grey, 29 October 2015
The Fed has come under enormous pressure to abandon its stated intention, declared last year, to begin gradually raising interest rates in 2015 for the first time in nine years.
Central banks boost stocks as world economy sinks deeper into slump
By Nick Beams, 26 October 2015
There is no recovery in the global economy, as one emergency measure is piled on another, and those in charge of economic and monetary policy have no idea how to engineer one.
The global significance of China’s economic slowdown
By Nick Beams, 23 October 2015
China’s economic slowdown will heighten deflationary and recessionary trends throughout the world economy.
Chinese economy continues to slow
By Nick Beams, 20 October 2015
Although China’s third-quarter growth rate was the slowest since 2009, the real state of the economy may be even worse than presented in official figures.
China slowdown continues as imports fall
By Nick Beams, 15 October 2015
Chinese imports have fallen by one fifth over the past year as credit-fueled growth slows.
Top 1 percent own more than half of world’s wealth
By Patrick Martin, 14 October 2015
The growth of global inequality has reached a turning point, with the financial aristocracy owning more than the rest of the human race combined, according to a Credit Suisse report.
Perplexity and gloom dominate IMF-World Bank meeting
By Nick Beams, 12 October 2015
A report issued on the eve of the IMF-World Bank meeting said that emerging market economies had over-borrowed by $3 trillion over the past decade.
A crisis of global dimensions
By Joseph Kishore, 9 October 2015
As the world enters the final months of 2015, it can be said that not only the frequency, but also the intensity of crises is reaching a new inflection point.
IMF-World Bank meeting confronts lowest global growth since 2009
By Nick Beams, 9 October 2015
The world capitalist economy is being hit by two interconnected and toxic processes: worsening economic stagnation and the mounting risk of a major financial crisis.
The TPP: A step on the road to war
By Nick Beams, 8 October 2015
The foundation of the TPP is not free trade but an alliance between the US and Japan to weaken China and create the conditions for reducing it to semi-colonial status.
US-dominated Pacific trade pact agreed
By Mike Head, 6 October 2015
The TPP is a wide-ranging blueprint intended to be the economic instrument of the US military and strategic “pivot” to Asia to confront China.
Markets “celebrate” poor US jobs data
By Nick Beams, 6 October 2015
Like players in a gambling casino given free chips by the house, financial investors boosted share prices on the prospect that interest rises in the US are off the table for this year.
US jobs data underscore downbeat IMF assessment of world economy
By Nick Beams, 3 October 2015
The recessionary trends and falling commodity prices gripping the global economy are having a growing impact on the United States.
Global recessionary trends intensify
By Nick Beams, 1 October 2015
The crisis of mining giant Glencore, whose shares plunged by 30 percent this week, is only one expression of the slump gripping the global economy.
Reports forecast worsening economic conditions for Australia
By Mike Head, 26 September 2015
The mining investment boom that partly shielded the Australian economy from the full effects of the global financial crisis, has gone into sharp reverse.
Fed chief points to rate rise this year
By Nick Beams, 25 September 2015
The speech by US Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen Thursday sought to counter criticisms of the decision last week to keep interest rates on hold.
China, emerging economies and commodities roil financial markets
By Barry Grey, 24 September 2015
The very economies that were hailed as the engines of global growth following the Wall Street crash of September 2008 are now at the forefront of a deflationary crisis that threatens to plunge the world into a full-scale depression.
Fed decision fails to calm markets
By Nick Beams, 22 September 2015
Divisions have emerged in financial circles over the Fed’s decision not to lift interest rates, highlighting the absence of any coherent policy on the part of those in charge of the financial system.
Citing global economy, Fed keeps rates near zero
By Barry Grey, 18 September 2015
Exuberance over the decision to delay a rate hike was tempered by concerns over the state of the global economy and financial system as reflected in the Fed statement.
Japan’s credit rating cut as economy contracts
By Ben McGrath, 18 September 2015
The S&P move is a signal to Japan that the financial markets demand further measures to shift the economic burden onto the backs of the working class.
Seven years since the Wall Street crash
By Nick Beams, 15 September 2015
Seven years after the eruption of the crisis, financial parasitism has reached unprecedented heights while the global economy stagnates.
A world convulsed by crises
By Andre Damon and Barry Grey, 12 September 2015
Crisis is not the exception, but the rule. The very speed of events, with virtually no intervals of calm between the storms, denotes an intensifying general crisis.
Market turbulence linked to conflicts over ruling class policy
By Nick Beams, 11 September 2015
The market gyrations are an expression of the combination of greed and fear that underlies financial markets, arising from their parasitic dependence upon ultra-cheap money.
China confronts continuing economic turmoil
By Peter Symonds, 11 September 2015
Despite heavy government intervention, share markets are still volatile, amid more evidence of a marked economic slowdown.
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