The Australian economy avoided much of the economic calamity that befell the industrialised world. It is now growing at the fastest pace in almost two years. How did this happen, and will everything be smooth sailing from here on in?

Goldman Sachs and other major banks set the stage for the financial crisis in Greece - and then figured out how to make money off it.

EU countries are under enormous pressure from the economic crisis. In Greece the crisis is particularly sharp and workers are beginning to fight back.

Over the last few months many economic commentators have perked up considerably. Economic growth, albeit very weak, has returned to the US and Europe. But behind all the talk of recovery lies a one-sided class war.

A new phase of the long-term systemic crisis of international capitalism is unfolding. The recession that began in December 2007 is the longest, deepest, most far-reaching global crisis since the 1930s.

Overall the 2009 Federal Budget can be seen as letting government debt pile up, and deferring major attacks on the working class for a future date. Hence, it has not been viewed as a "horror budget". Yet, the Rudd government has forged ahead with a policy change that is horrific: grabbing an extra two years out of the lives of all Australian workers in the future.

In 2008 more American jobs were lost than at any time since World War II - the figure is nearly 2 million and rising daily. Millions have lost their homes and shanty towns mushroom on the fringes of the big cities as the ranks of the homeless continue to swell. Many financial institutions have closed their doors, and manufacturing is at a 28-year low, with businesses large and small going to the wall.

Kevin Rudd blames "extreme capitalism" for the economic crisis threatening the lives of millions around the world. Even the most ardent supporters of the system have to admit that the "free market", which they've been eulogising for 35 years, has failed. But they're not suggesting that we need a different way of organising society.

The United States and the world are now in the opening stages of the worst economic crisis since the depression of the 1930s. This is not a typical cyclical crisis, which capitalism generally has every decade or so, but a systemic crisis.

We were told that free market capitalism was the solution to all the world's problems. Well, after 30 years of letting the market rip, we are now in the early stages of an economic disaster without precedent in living memory.

To the extent that neoliberalism has any meaning (and it is a slippery concept) it refers to three processes connected with the onset of crisis in the world economy in the 1970s: an attack on the working class, further monopolisation of business on an international scale, and the growing significance of financial speculation in the world economy.