What can capitalism do to survive when the people cannot or will not consume? Make people spend money? Give people money to spend? That latter is probably the biggest (it is sad to say) incentive, but of course they don't do this. At least not yet. Maybe they will, but for now they best they can offer is a ridiculous meal voucher. As if Greggs' supernova fuelled sausage (and I use that term loosely) rolls can sustain our economy for the foreseeable.
Is this what has become of humanity: driven to the brink by capitalism. Then, at the last minute, we pull back from consumerism, but only because a disease threatens us if we go shopping. Retail biological warfare. Our system requires us spend. This is the ultimate contradiction of capitalism: workers don't have enough money to pay for the things they make, putting them out of work. Crisis. Bust.
Now we are facing that again, but made worse by people, if they could otherwise afford it, choosing not to consume for safety reasons. Can the ruling class survive this; what will they do in order to survive? That is the real question. How much more can they sell off, how many cuts can they make? They've just promised a pay rise to (some) essential workers. This is a bribe. Is it even sustainable? I wouldn't be surprised if it never came to pass, and if it does who will they rob to pay for it?
We have crossed a point of no return. Society has shifted whether we like it or not. Change has been foisted upon us by events, dear boy, events. How that shift plays out is up for grabs. It is certain, according to all learned observers, that economic hardship will follow. At the very least a smaller retail market, as we are now seeing, will contribute to recession if not depression. How this will play out globally is another matter, an important question.
One thing is for certain there is no room for exceptionalism. Britannia may have ruled the waves once, with gunboats and racism, but no more. We have isolated ourselves according to the demands of racists and thieves, exploiters and idiots. We have fallen for their lies without seeing a bigger picture. At a time when we are going to need allies, regardless of the capitalist nature of the EU, it seems our leaders are hell bent on driving us off a cliff. One wonders if they cannot see what is happening, or whether they simply don't care.
Or how much they stand to £££.
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