Coronavirus Has Exposed Capitalism’s Weaknesses

Summary

The coronavirus crisis has revealed the fragility of a system built on decades of financialisation and globalisation – but the task for the Left is to offer a real alternative, argues Costas Lapavitsas.

The systemic failures of financialisation and globalisation were starkly revealed by the public health emergency, and the state has become ever more implicated in sustaining this failing system. However, the character of its interventions give no reason to think that there will be a transformation at the top of the political and social hierarchy resulting in policies that favour the interests of working people.

The Covid-19 public health emergency has rapidly turned into a crisis at the core of the world economy, which also threatens developing countries in the periphery. It has changed the balance between state and market, once again exposing the emptiness of neoliberal ideology. This economic crisis casts a harsh light on contemporary capitalism — and is likely to prove even more important than the blow to public health.