> >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.
Well, Doug, it's no mystery why someone would have a hard time convincing you that FROP was anything but a theory that "wants to be a theory of terminal crisis".
Perhaps you could explain a few things. What has led you to the conclusion that Marx posited the law of the tenedency for FROP as a theory of not just a contradiction capital must surmount, but a theory of terminal crisis? Please let us in on how you reached such a position with such conviction that is so hard to shake.. You must have some pretty powerful arguments. And while you're at it, could you explain the holes, the mistakes, the foolishness you found in my explantion of what Marx was really doing in positing the tendency for a FROP.
Actually I think I've got it now. You like to play Lucy with the football, don't you. Really, I promise Charlie Brown, I want to know how marxian and bourgeios categories differ. What is it that marxian categories can help us understand that we don't get from bourgeios categories. Won't you tell me Charlie Brown, huh? And, too, how come profit rates haven't been falling Charlie Brown? Doesn't that mean Marx was wrong? Well if FROP is not a theory of terminal crisis, what is it then Charlie Brown? Huh? I really want to know. You have my rapt attention, I promise.
The audition for the role of Charlie Brown answering Doug's questions is now open.
RO