>>> Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> 02/19/00 03:19PM >>>
Charles Brown wrote:
>But Marx's theory of the business cycle , FROP and contradictorily
>overproduction/underconsumption, is a theory of cyclical , not
>capitalism endtime , crisis, isn't it ?
Well that's what I'm trying to get all the FROP fans to clarify. If it's just a theory of the business cycle, that's not uninteresting, but it's also about as conventional a kind of economics as you can find. Every standard issue Wall Street economist does business cycle economics. I don't think Anwar Shaikh wants to be taken for a member of the NBER Business Cycle Dating Committee. But if it's a more long-term theory, then where is it pointing? You (a general you, not a specific you) are going to have a hard time convincing me that FROP theory isn't something that wants to be a theory of terminal crisis, even if its proponents have gotten shy about admitting that at this late date.
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CB: I don't agree with solely FROP theorists ( those who deny overproduction's role in cyclical crisis) on the conventional economics question. But if they claim that FROP induced crisis somehow "automatically" causes the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism, then I agree with you, assuming you disagree with them.
It would be interesting to hear exactly what they say on this issue.
It is pretty clear that Marx sees cyclical crises as integral to capitalist functioning and restoring the rate of profit . no ?
CB