wiki characteristics of late capitalism

Among the characteristics of late capitalism (or the 'third age' of capitalism after freely-competitive capitalism and monopoly capitalism) are said to be:

• the hypertrophy of the state, and systematic attempts by the state to moderate economic fluctuations as well as exerting more and more social controls;

• intensified monopolistic and oligopolistic competition for superprofit in world markets;

• the co-optation and integration of trade union and oppositional political movements into the state apparatuses;

• the globalisation of financial capital, commercial capital and production capital;

• a third technological revolution (electronics, synthetics, computerisation, biotechnology) and accelerated technological innovation;

• accelerated turnover of capital and the pressure to engage in comprehensive economic planning of investments;

• An increase in the rate of surplus value attributable mainly to increased productivity of labour;

• a permanent arms economy in which the military industry becomes a significant factor in economic growth;

• permanent currency inflation and growing debt levels;

• the hyper-concentration and centralisation of capital ownership and management on a world scale, in giant industrial and banking corporations;

• neo-colonialism involving unequal exchange and humanitarian imperialism where armed intervention in foreign countries is morally justified by reference to humane concerns;

• the corrosion and breakdown of all traditional social institutions by market forces, leading globally to a succession of continual wars, armed conflicts and unarmed social conflicts;

• (according to Leo Kofler) an optimistic belief in the power of technology to solve all problems, or, alternatively, a cultural pessimism. Some writers like Andre Glucksmann extrapolate this pessimism as a nihilist ideology; others like Elmar Altvater and Tariq Ali have interpreted it as a retreat to fundamentalism; and yet others like Frank Furedi see the pessimism as a cult of human vulnerabilities diminishing human potential and sowing unwarranted anxieties;

• an ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor, within and between countries, as strong market actors defeat the weaker ones;

• the growth of "excess capital" (overcapitalisation) and "excess capacity", meaning that much additional capital is no longer invested in expanding production, but diverted to trade and capital accumulation based on already existing physical and financial assets - with obvious effects on employment opportunities.