the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Aug 18, 2025
This article appeared in the monthly publication of the British Trotskyist group “Worker’s Fight”, No. 165, Jul–Aug 2025.
According to the Financial Times, Trump’s capitalist masters don’t agree with him that climate change is just a “hoax.” Banks and insurance companies have studied climate data for many years, as part of their assessments of future risk. In fact, the insurance sector—which is married to banking capital—is shrinking. As flooding, fires, and tornadoes occur more frequently, many properties in high climate-risk areas are no longer “insurable.” The U.S. Federal Reserve has warned of collapsing house prices and banks withdrawing from large disaster-prone areas.
The idea that the climate crisis alone could cause a financial crash is probably not so far-fetched. The interesting difference between a conventional cyclical economic crisis and a crisis brought on by climate change is, as the F.T. points out, that while a “normal” financial crash will be followed by a period of recovery—of course, at a cost—a climate crash is likely to be unidirectional.... There will be no recovery phase.
In the meantime, therefore, Trump or no Trump, the insurance industry is “adapting.” Insurance premiums in many thought-to-be-at-risk areas have been put up on average by 82%. And moreover, since most policies renew every year, it allows companies to pull out at short notice. No surprise—they are passing on the risk and the cost to the “public”!