The effects of the recent financial turbulence cause resistance to mainstream economics, the crisis of US-led imperialism against the Washington Consensus, the rise of new centres of power against the US and the way of natural resources used against privatisation and individualism.

The chair of the international and non-partisan meeting in Paris on June 16-17, 2008 draws conclusions from the discussions. Whether a US- centred global financial system, and based on the dollar as a reserve currency, will continue for much longer is an open question. We must embark, from the beginning, on a directed, long-term strategy, initially based on public investment, while the fundamental issues are obscured by a superficial international regulatory discourse.

The Wall Street meltdown is not only due to greed and a lack of government regulation of a hyperactive sector. It stems from the crisis of overproduction that has plagued global capitalism since the mid-seventies. The author raises and answers the frequently asked questions.

The master of world-systems analysis gives an interview to Le Monde and writes his commentary The Depression: A Long-Term View on October 15. We have reached the last phase in the downturn of a Kondratieff cycle, when virtual decline becomes real: bubbles are bursting. The depression has started. Capitalism has come to its end, the present system cannot survive. It may take the form of a classic nominal deflation, with all its resulting negative consequences for ordinary people.

The underlying basis of the "big bang" of the financial-economic crisis is the structural crisis of the capitalist system: access to the natural resources around the globe is becoming restricted, thus sharpening the conflict between North and South. For the first time in history, this actually threatens the future of mankind and the Earth. The author also presents the main measures necessary to make the long transition from capitalism to socialism – a solution to this pressing problem.