Re: [Marxism] Eight Theses on the Economic Crisis

["S. Artesian" <sartesian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

First, my apologies to the list for not clipping the text-- the post was not 
supposed to be transmitted, but I hit the send button instead of the "save" 
and there we are.

Now what I mean is this:  Thesis 1:
1. *The current economic crisis has to be understood in terms of the
historical dynamics and contradictions of capitalist finance in the second
half of the 20th century*. Even though the spheres of capitalist finance and
production are obviously intertwined (in significant ways today more than
ever before), the origins of today's US-based financial crisis are not
rooted in a profitability crisis in the sphere of production, as was the
case with the crisis of the 1970s, nor in the global trade imbalances that
have emerged since.
_____________


Yes, the current economic crisis is most definitely rooted in the 
profitability of production, and the decline in the return on investment, 
and no, the crisis has nothing to do with global trade imbalances, so I 
guess I'm half in agreement.

You really cannot grasp the core of this crisis without examining the 
previous recession and the recovery.  As Charles Jannuzi remarked over on 
Julio Huato's list,  the US [and the world] is getting the collapse it 
avoided in 2001.

No, I'm not talking about a structural long term decline in profitability; 
I'm talking about a real eruption of a temporal decline, with the ROI 
peaking in the 2nd half of 2006.

And I don't believe in long wave theories.



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "brad bauerly" <bbauerly@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <sartesian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, March 01, 2009 9:10 AM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Eight Theses on the Economic Crisis


>>>>"Brother, if Leo and Sam don't think the root of this is in the
> profitability
> of production in manufacturing, mining, utilities, etc.  then they haven't
> been paying attention to near-current, current, and future events."<<<
>
> What do you mean by this?  Of course the root is in the drive for profits
> through production.  That is obvious.  The question is what is behind the
> decline in profitability of manufacturing, mining, utilities, etc.?  What
> role did the rising financial sphere play in overcoming  declines in
> profitability (through the coordination and disciplining that led to
> increased profits by comparative advantage and increased labor
> competition)? And what new contradictions did this successful overcoming 
> of
> declining profitability through financialization and the spreading of
> production around the globe (which required finance to coordinate it, as 
> it
> always has) produce?
> 


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