"Death Blow" ?

It is possible, as Slavoj Zizek predicted a while ago, that covid 19 could be a serious blow to capitalism. But it will not be the end of the reign of Capital. It is important to separate the two; the "ism" can morph radically while the force which is Capital continues on its merry way. That is, the religion and ideology and cultural production machine which is the "ism" is definitely facing some serious challenges. There are plenty of folks who are sick to death of the savage rollercoaster which (especially this neoliberal version of) capitalism has subjected them to. The obscene inequality that the pandemic has exposed, as well as the fuck you bail-out for mega investment banks and corporations definitely has people grumbling and griping. Young people loaded with debt facing a shit job market must be wondering what kind of idiocy their Econ 101 professors were pushing.

Capitalist "democracy" and its management, euphemistically referred to as "politics", are also under a great deal of strain. Under the best of times this carnivalesque spectacle is a difficult sale. With Nation States competing for most dysfunctional morgue and states within nations openly sacrificing their "citizens" for the economy, nobody trusts anybody. Fake news and fake humans.

But this is not the same as Capital imploding. Certainly having to issue trillions more in new debt, lots of it quite shaky, while halting production and accumulation is not the preferred method of extracting surplus and amassing wealth, but it's not a total blockage by any means. It is not the unsurpassable limit. At the level of investment and production they have their workarounds, they can consolidate and merge. Kill the weak. Buy out the foreclosed. In this sense it is an old, familiar playbook with a few post-modern twists.

One of the key foundations of liberal ideology, that the state is a neutral actor, separate from Capital, has crumbled in spectacular fashion. It was becoming more and more difficult to maintain the illusion but with a Businessman In Chief making deals and the Fed now buying corporate bonds it is increasingly clear we are all shareholders, homo economicus, basing government policy on rate of return. God bless America and the Free Market in the brave new (old) capitalist "democracy".