The problems of advanced capitalist countries run even deeper than their desperate fight to cling onto global dominance. There are serious problems within the system itself. Throughout the G7 productivity is in decline - this is not a new phenomenon, nor is it a specifically British problem. As economic gurus have struggled to find an explanation for this, one thing has become clear, that the unleashing of neo-liberalism under Thatcher and Reagan did nothing to halt this tendency. So far capitalism is not providing the answer to its economic malaise, but can the left? If the problem is the system itself then it may not be fixable. If so then this is yet another reason to question the usefulness of capitalism to humanity, alongside the threat of global war and environmental catastrophe.