>Query: Suppose the great mother of all stock crashes occurs - here,
>Asia, Russia, Everywhere. The ruling class would still own all the means
>of production, still control the state? Why should they be nervous?
In the U.S., the stock market has been a great prop to market ideology. If it failed, the credibility of capitalism would take a blow. Not a death blow, for sure, but with some 20-30% of U.S. households into the stock market for the first time ever over the last few years, the potential political backlash is enormous. Remember the sour political mood of the early 1990s? The two parties seemed on the verge of a crackup, and alienation was all over the place? Under-5% unemployment and a Dow pushing 10,000 stilled that pretty well.
But that's not the great mother of all stock crashes. If you're talking about that, and not a mere bear market, then you're talking about a real systemic crisis. The circuits of reproduction - economic, social, and political - get disrupted. That's something the ruling class would be very nervous about. It doesn't have to mean a revival of the left or anything like that, which is why it's not
>the Godena-Adolfo thesis that only absolute misery generates resistance.
The ruling class could be worried about disaster without resistance. What happens if, say, Japan does sink, taking the rest of Asia with it, and Russia completely implodes, with 27,000 nuclear weapons scattered around? The r.c. would still own the m.o.p., but in a very devalued state. Bad loans and no profits, ruling class hell - with worse prospect.
Doug