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How Nixon Opened China For Capitalist Growth
- Wolff recounts Nixon and Kissinger opening China as a capitalist safety valve to absorb investment and cheap labor.
- That 1970s deal gave western firms access to a billion low-wage workers and created a massive producer and consumer market.
Global Cheap Labor Created A New Reserve Army
- Western integration of cheap global production created a reserve army of labor that depressed domestic wages and lowered consumer goods prices.
- Wolff uses Walmart as the distribution mechanism that turned cheap Chinese output into global consumer goods, shrinking real labor value.
What A Glut Of Capital Actually Means
- A capital glut means investors hold wealth unwilling to risk domestic investment, creating depressions unless money is spent elsewhere.
- Wolff contrasts imperial expansion or government deficit spending/taxation as political solutions to mobilize idle capital.