Trade unions that claim to be "Marxist-Leninist" (especially without any real attempt at definition) and that uncritically support the "Bolivarian revolution" of Hugo Chavez tend to do so out of blind emotion rather than rational analysis. And this is an extremely dangerous and divisive road for organised labour to follow.
When the well-known mainstream economist Nourial Roubini, a former adviser to the International Monetary Fund, quoted Karl Marx as perhaps being right about an inherent fault in the economic system, he caused a minor stir, but no real criticism. Because the inherent fault is one that is now generally acknowledged and is at the centre of the present — and ongoing — global economic crisis.
It is time we all stopped bowing down at the altar of voodoo economics and acknowledged that our world is in crisis. And that this crisis is a consequence of adherence to an almost religious belief that “the market” is some sort of sane and sensible mechanism; that the mystical “invisible hand” mentioned by Adam Smith is a reality.
(First published: February, 2006) It is time we all stopped bowing down at the altar of voodoo economics and acknowledged that our world is in crisis. And that this crisis — not of shortages, but of gluts — is a consequence of adherence to an almost religious belief that “the market” is some sort of […]
We have turned the corner economically. That is the ongoing claim from politicians, pundits and mainstream media commentators. But, as Federation of Unions of SA general secretary Dennis George has noted: “Growth without job creation is meaningless. It certainly is for the overwhelming majority of the population, and this is a situation that applies across the world, although not in any uniform manner. For all the optimistic pronouncements, the global economic crisis continues and there is no sign that it is ending.
Terry Bell Writes 
February 11, 2018
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