Crises of Capitalism? Essay

Introduction

I concur with Harvey’s account of the infamous 2008 global financial crisis and how the past events could help in explaining the synopsis of the global meltdown. I also agree with Harvey on the issue of the goalpost shifting of different financial problems since capitalism is not interested in finding permanent solutions. The capitalist market is more comfortable when the crisis is shifted to another region. Although I had an idea of the possible catalysts of the 2008 global financial meltdown before watching the video, Harvey presented a clear report of the events that occurred before the crisis and put them into perspective, especially in terms of how the American financial market operates at the macro level.

Harvey subjected the financial market in America to a microscopic analysis in order to highlight the glaring imbalances resulting from subjecting markets to the capitalistic orientation. In the video, Harvey carried out a comparative analysis of the 2008 financial crisis and similar events in the past. The findings are analogous, indicating that capitalism is the root cause of all the past financial crises in the US that spills to other regions. In the view of Harvey, capitalism can only survive if it grows in order to retain a functional facet.

In the process of growth, capitalism shifts financial problems to different geographical locations. The shift occurs because capitalism is functional only when it grows and is successfully managed, irrespective of the direction. In the video, Harvey was specific about if the growth of capitalism is negative in the markets where it is functional, the shortfalls have to be shifted to another geographic location. The constant shift causes capitalism to spread and in the meantime incurs eventual financial crisis whenever it fails to grow in the market. This, in turn, compels a significantly wide scale of the financial crisis even when the meltdown originates from one region.

Main Discussion

I concur with the post on underlying factors that precipitated facilitate the financial crisis to spread worldwide as a result of capitalism. Based on Harvey’s talk, I can refer to the 2008 financial crisis as an institutional failure in one market as having the potential to spread like a bush fire to other geographical regions. It happened because an institutional failure under the capitalistic markets is not static and confined to one region since there is constant inter-and intra-market trade. To further clarify the institutional failure as catalyzing the crisis, the functionality of capitalism is purely based on its successes in implementation. These successes should be sustainable for the market to remain sound and economically viable. In the event of improper institutional regulation, there is bound to be a ripple effect on the market forces operating at the macro level. If the situation of institutional failure persists, there is no alternative but to move capitalistic shortfalls to other geographic markets.

Conclusion

The shift often occurs abruptly because of the interrelatedness of different markets, as influenced by institutions mandated to manage the financial market indicators such as the balance of payment. Unfortunately, if the shift is too sudden, there are considerably high chances of an instant spillage of high magnitude to the primary and secondary markets across the globe. If unchecked because of the persistent institutional failure, a global financial crisis of a different kind might occur to complete the recurring cycle, which often takes a different shape yet bringing the same results.