A jump to the Left

Charlie is right that this is worth a read. It's a bit further Left than I usually go, but it's interesting to read a coherent view of the build-up to the financial crisis from that perspective. They argue that the process of financialisation masked a stagnating real economy, and (as we all now acknowledge) the surge in debt therefore served to stoke up demand. As Charlie suggests, the big gap in the theory is how the necessary change from an economy they see as inherently flawed will be achieved - organised labour just isn't there in enough strength or with the right political orientation to do the heavy lifting assumed by folks further out on the Left.