University Professor: World Cannot Survive Under a Capitalist System

Dr. Armando Navarro says his purpose for authoring his latest book, “Global Capitalist Crisis and the Second Great Depression,” went beyond his need to inform.

Lofty as it may sound, Navarro a professor of ethnic studies at UC Riverside said his mission was to save America from itself.

“Maybe it was age,” Navarro told a San Bernardino audience Tuesday night. “Because I was blessed for many years to be able to teach, organize, take delegations to Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, etc., do my committee work at the university, do all kinds of things and write a book. At my age right now I can’t do that anymore. I’m slowing down. I had to focus on exactly what I had to do and that was to write a book that I somewhat facetiously describe as a book designed to save the United States from itself.”

Navarro spoke to about 40 people from around the region Tuesday night. They listened to the professor’s passionate presentation. Look around, you, Navarro said. The country is not in a recession; it’s in a depression. And it’s not going to ease this year or the next.

And this November, the country will face a watershed election, he said.

Most of the discussion Tuesday night outlined what readers would find in the book. Much of the news was grim. Navarro called capitalism a failed system controlled by “capital.”

“Globally, if this world if it is to survive, it cannot under a capitalist system,” Navarro said Tuesday night. And the government has been slow to respond leading to the creation of the Occupy Movement and, in an extreme example, the violence that erupted in Oakland.

Navarro’s book makes some tough predictions such as: President Obama is preparing to take the country to war with Iran. The US’s economy will sink below China and India. It will stay just barely above Brazil and Mexico.

All the economic experts are predicting very little growth for the US while other economies grow around the US, he said.

“We have seen the better days in this country,” Navarro told the crowd. “And what you are experiencing today, the America of the great American dream, has now become the American nightmare because we’re not in a position to retrieve what we had.”

Navarro’s book calls for radical reformation or transformation of the United States economic and political systems: social democracy or democratic socialism. He also argues that the re-election of President Obama and Democrats control of both houses hinges on the creation of a welfare capitalist New Deal II, according to organizers.

“He really has an insight on what the future is, particularly for the Latin American community,” said Audulio Ricketts, of Highland. He asked Navarro about the role of the Occupiers. “I’ve seen the movement of the Tea Party, but I hadn’t seen the counter balance from the 99 percenters. I think his answer was correct that they can potentially have that power but they have to be organized.”