gold and currencies

[Doug Henwood]

Charles Brown wrote:

>Edward Boorstein seems to disagree in _What's Ahead_ In his 
>discussion of the business cycle he describes recessions as the 
>crises that Marx was talking about.

That's a trivializing use of the word crisis. In the worst U.S. 
recession of the post WW II period, 1973Q4-75Q1, GDP fell 3.7%; in 
the second-worst, 1957Q3-58Q2, it fell 3.3%; in the third worst, 
1981Q3-82Q4, it fell 2.8%. The average is -2.0%. From 1929-33, it 
fell 27%. If the first set of recessions are crises, what do you call 
the 10-15 times worse Depression?

Doug