-The Telegraph A system without any steering control An essential characteristic of modern capitalism is that the living conditions of millions of people are determined by the whims and caprices of a handful of financial speculators; indeed, that is what ‘leaving things to the market’ really entails. Consider what is happening in India today. There is a massive outflow of finance from the country because of which the rupee is depreciating  vis-à-vis...

-Newsclick.in None of its stated objectives have been met and the entire exercise has turned out to be a mere act of converting old notes into new ones, at great inconvenience to the people. In the entire history of post-Independence India, no single economic measure has been as devastating for the people and as utterly futile in achieving its stated objectives, as the demonetisation of currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs...

Contrary to the rising economic distress on the ground since the last few years, the official press release related to the fourth Annual Report on the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) at first glance seems to give a rosy picture about the employment situation in India.  Defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force, the unemployment rate in usual status (principal activity status + subsidiary economic activity status)...

-Newsclick.in It is clear that the stagnation that was setting in during 2019-20 has persisted and has even intensified now. The estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the April-June quarter released by the government on August 31 paint a dismal picture of the Indian economy. Since the GDP in real terms (at 2011-12 prices) shows an increase of 13.5% over the first quarter GDP a year ago, and since 13.5% appears...

-NetworkIdeas.org Central banks all over the capitalist world are raising, or are about to raise, interest rates as a means of countering the currently rampant inflation, which is certain to push a world economy that is barely recovering from the effect of the pandemic, back towards stagnation and greater unemployment. Of course the Federal Reserve Board of the US which sets the standard in this respect for all other central banks, claims...