No doubt we are heading for another economic crash because capitalism is always heading for another economic crash. It is the nature of capitalism to increase surplus capital and then destroy it again through a crash or war, in order to restart the accumulation process once again. After every crisis, as historical data shows, the rich get richer and capital concentration grows. The cycles from crash to crash are becoming shorter as the accumulation of surplus capital becomes faster.

There are two developments making an economic crash in the near future very likely. Similar to the time leading up to the 2008 crisis, there is again a looming private loan subprime crisis. Since the last crisis, banks (especially in the US and UK) have not changed their behavior. In the US alone  subprime private auto loans in the order of US$26 billion exist. This is happening in the light of the longer lasting structural problem that capital cannot be reinvested in a materially productive way. That is why e.g. Uber, which is only producing financial loss, was worth an estimate US$ 48billion in December 2017 (down from US$68 billion a couple of weeks earlier!) or bitcoin had a vertiginous growth in value.

How disastrous the crash will be, will depend on the extent to which a subprime loan crisis will also trigger the burst of the bubble created by casino capitalist adventures. The destruction not only of the middle class, but also more generally most people’s ability to satisfy their basic needs, is a worldwide reality. Nevertheless, the US has abolished most social anchors and has fewer financial control mechanisms than other countries. It is therefore very likely that the next crash will emanate from the US, and/or the UK (especially considering Brexit).

Several researchers answer to the question, among then Wolfang Streeck, Cédric Durand, Susan Newman, Mary Mellos, Andrew Ross ... and Dario Azzellini. To read all comments follow the link below: http://stateofnatureblog.com/one-question-economic-crash/