Capital's role in the economic crisis

Two stories illustrate central dynamics of our time – the climate of fear generated around migration and the rise in house prices ('Go home' campaign denounced by human rights groups, Buy-to-let fuels property boom, both 9 August).

The house price rise, especially in London, is caused partly by the international movement of money as the wealthy seek to capitalise on speculative investment. At the same time those with access to money can borrow more and invest in buy-to-let properties, to profit from those who must rent. So this system works to move capital to where it will make more and to divide those who have it from those who don't. Wealth accumulates in fewer hands and and its movement produces rapid, uneven developments.

Writ large, that is the story of our world, and the free flow of capital is followed inevitably by the flow of rtls, as people move from areas of forced decline to wherever there is a prospect of work. Employers benefit from cheaper labour but the migrants are blamed for displacing unskilled workers and competing for scarce resources in housing and health.

To reverse these processes requires economic planning and wealth taxes to put accumulated private capital back towards social use; in the UK the ￡4.5 trillion owned by the top 10% could pay off the national debt four times or finance re-skilling, infrastructure, green technology and much else. It also requires politicians and media to stop blaming the migrants, refugees and other victims of the system, and to look instead at how to rebuild our world so it is more use to all who have to live in it.

As Larry Elliott rightly says, the proliferation of zero-hours contracts represents an increase in the "reserve army of labour" in an attempt to reverse a long-term decline in profitability (Why stop at zero hours? Why not revive child labour, 5 August). But neither this nor the other responses he mentions, such as financialisation, can ultimately overcome the tendency for profit rates to fall.

This is an inherent feature of capitalist competition, resulting not from pressure on prices but from each capitalist's attempt to raise their individual profit rate by investing in more capital-intensive production processes. The overall capital, relative to total profit, goes up, and the profit rate goes down.

Although such things as attacks on wages can offset the basic tendency, sooner or later it results in crises such as the one in progress since 2008. Since the cause is too much capital, the only cure (within capitalism) is destruction of capital through bankruptcy of less-profitable enterprises. Palliatives such as increasing workers' purchasing power can help the system limp along for a while but only at the cost of preparing a bigger and worse crisis.

Said quarterback Andrew Luck: "He's a phenomenal football player. He's going to make plays. You do sort of say, 'All right, T.Y.' He's going to do something special when he's on the field. He has that factor to him."

It's been a long time, maybe forever, since the Colts have had anyone like Hilton. And to think, the Colts got Hilton in the third round with the 92nd pick. Twelve receivers went before him, in large part because a quadriceps injury kept him out of the Senior Bowl and the NFL Scouting Combine."That bothered me," Hilton said. "I've always played with a chip on my shoulder."

Indy has learned quickly, Hilton is much more than simply a burner. He's got hands. He's a superior route runner. And he's a student of the game, having spent the off-season studying what it is that has made Reggie Wayne so great all these years. Specifically, he spent the summer studying Wayne's footwork and his ability to come back to the football.

The same couldn't be said of the Colts in general, who looked awful their first time out. But again, Indoor Positioning System. How many times did the Colts go winless prior to ripping off another 12-win season? If they look this bad in the third game, then howl.

It's darned near impossible to offer sober analysis on a first preseason game, especially with so many starters either sitting or playing only two series. Keep in mind, Buffalo played many of its first-team players deep into the first half, using rookie quarterback E.J. Manuel the entire half.