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Labour Wrap: The South African government could not have stopped, let alone cured, the current economic crisis facing the country, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap. But he maintains that the country could have been better cushioned against the effects of what is a systemic and global problem.
The prime problem, he says, lies with the lack of adequate — if any — government responses to what was clearly a crisis in the making. Now that the country faces further massive job losses, with horrific knock-on social and economic consequences, there is finally some stirring in official quarters, with crisis talks being held.
But, says Bell, there seems little hope of any practical solutions emerging since the government remains wedded fundamentally to the laissez faire policies and ad hoc reactions that exacerbated the situation on the home front. Yet, he points out that he, echoing a number of noted international economists, said, in the wake of 2008: this crisis is only beginning. Over the past 20 years in particular, voices were raised warning that a credit bubble was artificially buoying up individuals, companies, corporations and governments, and that a serious crisis was looming.
The economists who raised these warnings were able to do so, because they analysed, on a global scale, the real economy and the real facts, unblinkered by ideology. But governments — and this one in particular — along with most opposition parties, did not listen. As a result, working people the world over have to face the consequences.
However, Bell maintains that “it is not all doom and gloom”. This applies even when it is conceded that the only way this system can survive is to make most of humanity redundant while, in the process, destroying much of the natural environment.
He says it is obvious that change is required. And urgently. What sort of change and how it should come about are the big questions.
* Add your voice to this and / or the big labour debate and send Terry your job creation ideas.
* Terry Bell is a political, economic and labour analyst. Views expressed are his own. Follow him on twitter @telbelsa.
