finacial crisis

The document discusses the current global financial crisis and possibilities for the political left. It argues the crisis results from systemic factors within capitalism, including short-term boom/bust cycles converging with a long-term downturn in global profit rates. This downturn coincides with the decline of the US as global hegemon and the approaching limits of unlimited economic growth. The crisis involves elements of all four of these factors and represents a "perfect storm" within the inherently unstable capitalist system.