Not long ago the capitalist economists were predicting Europe would be experiencing boom times this year. Now predictions are more cautious. Closer to home, Australia is already experiencing a severe economic contraction which will inevitably affect New Zealand. Private ownership vs social production Capitalist crises occur with regularity. The fundamental cause lies within capitalism.
Production is carried out socially by the vast bulk of the population but ownership is private.
The worker gets wages, the capitalist the profits. But the source of profits is in production, with far more being produced by the workers labour than the cost of wages. Out of this contradiction arises capitalist crises of overproduction. The last cause of every real crisis always remains the poverty and restricted consumption of the masses as opposed to the drive of capitalist production to develop the productive forces as though only the absolute consuming power of society constituted their limit . Each capitalist produces as furiously as possible to capture as big a share of the market possible.