I think, though, we are at a moment in which the narrative by which capitalism is the only game in town is really breaking down.

And that's why people like a Barack Obama, that generation especially, is so steadfast attached to protecting it.

But they realize that words are not anymore weighty enough to defend the system. That's why you need to strike

concretely with austerity policies. So in the capital order, I discuss how austerity is both about

consensus building. So again, having us all think that, you know, workers are lazy, that those at

the top really deserve it. And so it's fair for resources to be shifted towards

those who are actually the engine of the economic machine, those virtuous individuals. Well,

of course, this is the complete opposite of another theoretical framework that would tell you

that actually capitalist economic growth derives from structural exploitation and it's actually

the workers that produce value.

And so they are at the center of the machine.

But if this narrative consensus building isn't any more working, and I think the newer generations are more and more skeptical, what we see today is clearly that our system is

in a crisis that is quite existential in terms of its appeal

to the new generations.

At this point, though, you need the coercion thing.

So austerity plays with this double strategy, consensus, coercion, and coercion comes

in the form of increase of interest rates.

Increases of interest rates will work as a disciplinary mechanism

because people will be forced out of their jobs.

Unemployment will create greater competition amongst workers,

who will then have to accept lower wages,

and in general, we'll have to accept to go to work for a wage.

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