Is capitalism in crisis? The question, posed earlier this year in a series of articles in the Financial Times, is suddenly commonplace. In the last week alone, this journalist has attended two august conferences entitled “capitalism in crisis”, one in New York, one in Washington. There is little consensus. But most agree that if capitalism is in crisis, it is localised: western capitalism is in trouble while communist China and its neighbours are free of philosophic angst.
For the time being, continental Europeans are filtering their woes through the prism of Europe, rather than the grander abstractions of capitalism. Only in the US, which for now is probably the least crisis-ridden portion of the western world (a scant consolation), is the question being addressed directly. Since the 2008 meltdown, America’s response has been divided into three schools, of which two are ascendant.
The first, which virtually monopolises the Republican party and which we might label “purgative”, says Americans are being punished for Washington’s gluttony. Only when government stops taxing and over-regulating the wealth creators will animal spirits return. At its extreme end comes Ron Paul, the libertarian candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, who refuses to lie down, no matter now many times he comes last. His fortunes have tracked the price of gold, which is now 14 per cent below its peak in 2011.