MONETARY SYSTEM
ISMAIL LAGARDIEN: The next crisis will not be the end of capitalism
Too many people who own vast sums of money have too large a stake in seeing it continue. The rest of us — too proud to beg and too dumb to steal — are inexorably part of capitalism’s march
A decade has passed since the start of the last financial crash. Almost everyone believes that another crisis is looming, but nobody knows where or when it will happen. Like the drunk who wakes up with a wicked hangover and vows never to drink again, we imagine that the past crisis was the last — or, at least, that it cannot possibly be worse. It is almost certain, nonetheless, that another crisis will occur, with the heavy caveat that nobody knows when or where it will happen. We can only guess. If we are sure there will be another global crisis, the question arises whether it will be the Big One. Will the next one bring down capitalism? My guess is probably not. Too many people who own vast sums of money have too large a stake in seeing it continue. The rest of us — too proud to beg and too dumb to steal — are inexorably part of capitalism’s march. For better or for worse, it shapes every part of our lives. And we truly are none the wiser. Adam Smith reminded us centuries ago that...
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