Capitalism as a system ought to be judged by its failures as well as its successes, writes Richard Wolff in the London-based Guardian newspaper.
He contends the automobile-driven economic growth of the 1950s and 1960s "made Detroit a globally recognized symbol of successful capitalist renewal after the great depression and the war (1929-1945)."
"High-wage auto industry jobs with real security and exemplary benefits were said to prove capitalism's ability to generate and sustain a large "middle class", one that could include African Americans, too. Auto-industry jobs became inspirations and models for what workers across America might seek and acquire – those middle-class components of a modern "American Dream."
But over the past 40 years, capitalism turned that success into the abject failure culminating now in the largest municipal bankruptcy in US history, says Wolff. Perhaps most tellingly, automakers responded to their own failures by deciding to move production out of Detroit so they could pay other workers lower wages.
"The automobile companies' competitive failures, and then their moves, had two key economic consequences. First, they effectively undermined the economic foundation of Detroit's economy. Second, they thereby dealt a major blow to any chances for an enduring US middle class. The past 40 years have displayed those consequences and the capitalist system's inability or unwillingness to stop, let alone reverse, them."
The article, on the Guardian website, has more than 700 comments.
PeterS378 wrote: "Perhaps; but it is capitalism that turned it from a minor fur trading post with a population of 800 to a major city in the first place."
NeverMindTheBollocks wrote: "Detroit has been in decline for about 40 years. Ample time to address the "evil greed of shareholders."
BrainDrain59 responded: "Most of the critics of capitalism (myself included) would place most blame on large shareholders (not pensioners) and top executives.
"Now, at what point was it that Detroit capitalists were forced to cede enough power that workers and citizens were able to participate in decisions making enormous impacts on their lives? I totally missed that historic occasion, dammitall.
