Each protest movement is unique: some demand more democracy and greater political freedoms, while others are fueled by anger over corruption. Among all these grievances, however, there seems to be a common underlying theme: frustration with the economy and rising inequality.
Grace Blakeley, author of the book Stolen, How to Save the World from Financialization, believes that many protests, particularly in Latin America, are driven by economic discontent.
Blakeley argues that we are seeing cracks in the capitalist system. The problem, she says, is that businesses have become “financialized”; they are so focused on profits for shareholders that workers lose out.
"They (companies) will do anything to increase their stock prices in the short term, even at the expense of long-term investments and the remuneration of their workers," she says.
Diego Zuluaga, a financial policy analyst at the Cato Institute, doesn't believe we're seeing a collapse of the capitalist system and says people are generally better off economically.
/"I think we have not experienced a period in world history like the last 30 years in which the vast majority of the world's population, even in the most deprived places, suddenly and finally has access to basic commodities and necessities and this has been universally driven by liberalization,” says Zuluaga.
In this week's Arena, we debate the state of capitalism with Grace Blakeley and Diego Zuluaga.
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