What then does capital need for continual growth? I'm reminding myself of what David Harvey said in 'The Enigma of Capital' about why capitalism needs continual growth: (1) because if capitalists do not invest and improve then their competitors will and they will go bankrupt (2) with money comes social power which in this day and age means the ability to dictate to governments. I'd also add one of my own: Capitalists always want to make more money because they are greedy for wealth and power, so stability without growth is not an option.
How then do capitalists find new avenues for investment? Wow, this really opens up a can of worms and one which its going to take me several posts to think about but I've a hunch it will lead me to lots of the problems of the world. I'm going to start by thinking about privatisation because that seems pretty relevant just now. Advocates of the free-market suggest that they want to privatise because they believe private ownership leads to much more efficiency than public ownership but I keep getting a nagging feeling that perhaps the prospect of making loads of money is the main reason to take over a service previously provided by the state.
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