This week, the collapse of Tricolour and First Brand sent a ripple of fear through the capitals of the world. From giddy boasts that the ‘bull’ market would never come down, capitalists are now reckoning with the fact that there is a gigantic bubble in the world economy, which threatens to pop.

But the bubble – which they are powerless to fix – is symptomatic of a much deeper crisis. Capitalism has reached its limits. For years, they have used bailouts to delay the day of reckoning. Now they are crushed under a mountain of debt, which threatens an avalanche of bankruptcies.

With economies around the world sliding into recession, overproduction, endless political instability, tariffs, and inter-imperialist competition, it is only a matter of time before the crash arrives. When it does, it will have devastating implications for the entire world economic system.

Most of all, as Francesco Merli and Hamid Alizadeh explain in this week's episode of Against the Stream, it will be a recipe for class struggle, as the capitalists and bankers try to force workers to pay the bill.

📖 RECOMENDED READING 📖

The Big Crash: Are we really heading for another 1929?

🔗 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/10/11/big-crash-are-we-really-heading-another-1929/

Gita Gopinath on the crash that could torch $35trn of wealth

🔗 https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2025/10/15/gita-gopinath-on-the-crash-that-could-torch-35trn-of-wealth

What the stock market bubble can tell us about the state of the US economy

🔗 https://marxist.com/what-the-stock-market-bubble-can-tell-us-about-the-state-of-the-us-economy.htm

Zombies: Ranks of world’s most debt-hobbled companies are soaring, and not all will survive

🔗 https://apnews.com/article/zombie-business-corporate-debt-investing-interest-borrowing-52bd9ebbe1dd98983d39fe7d14e3c7fd