•The 2015 Paris Climate Accord, signed by 175 world leaders, effectively acknowledged human-induced activities that started with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in 1769 initiated centuries of almost unchecked fossil fuel burning that resulted in global temperature increases, rising sea levels, and a 50% increase in global carbon dioxide emission since 1990 – with emissions growing more quickly between 2000 and 2010 than in each of the three previous decades.2
•The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, which resulted in more than 6.8 million deaths to date, revealed more than just supply chain disruptions: a 2022 report of the World Health Organization (WHO), titled Global Vaccine Market Report, validated disparities between rich and poor through its finding that “free-market dynamics are depriving some of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people” of the right to vaccines.3
•The January 6th attack on the United States Capital in 2021, which resulted in the the culmination of a seven-part plan by President Trump – a pro-capitalist demagogue currently under indictment for tax fraud who attempted to overturn a democratic election, was fueled by the rhetoric that saw some 2,000 rioters enter the building and the subsequent impeachment, though not removal, of the president.
•The report from Freedom House in February 2022, titled Freedom in the World 2022, found autocracy was making gains against democracy, with countries that suffered democratic declines over the previous year outnumbering those that improved by more than two to one.4
•The Russian invasion of the Ukraine in February 2022, which to date has caused tens of thousands of deaths, disrupted energy supplies, created inflationary pressures on the global economy, and heightened tensions around the globe, strengthened existing strategic alliances (NATO inviting Sweden and Finland into the fold, China reaffirming its relationship with Russia), engaged new regional alliances (such as that between China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran), or reaffirmed territorial rights over adversaries (China’s claim to the territory of Taiwan) that some predict would result in new world order if not set the conditions for a new world war.
•The announcement in 2023 that countries would not meet targets set forth by the Paris Accords and that continued reliance on fossil fuels would increase the risk of food insecurity, infectious disease, and heat-related illness.5
•And the events of March 2023, which saw yet another banking crisis caused by regulatory rollbacks, unsuccessful reorganizations, lack of investment diversification, inflationary pressures, and increased interest rates – with Silicon Valley Bank being bailed out after experiencing a bank run of $42 billion, First Republic Bank being bailed out to the tune of $30 million by a consortium of 11 giant banks, and Credit Suisse borrowing $54 billion from Switzerland’s central bank to cover its losses – with many other banks suspected of weaknesses under review.6
Whether taken individually or collectively, such events provide fodder for those who believe capitalism simply cannot cope with the complex demands of a 21st century global economy.
More Radical Remedies
For this reason, several critics put forth more radical proposals for change. Proposals gaining significant traction have come from French economist Thomas Piketty and Japanese philosopher Kohei Saito. Thomas Piketty is best known for his book, Capital in the Twenty-first Century, which presented a socialistic critique that argued a global system of progressive taxation was necessary for reducing inequality. Kohei Saito is best known for his book, Marx in the Anthropocene: Towards the Ideas of Degrowth Communism, which presents an environmental argument for revisiting and validating Marx’s critique of capitalism.
Piketty is a socialist who is avowedly anti-Marxist; and most commentators agree Piketty differentiates himself from Marx by focusing not on class struggle but on the
inequalities of income and wealth which he