<html><div style='background-color:'> <DIV> <P>Doug,</P> <P>Shouldn't these figures be averaged according to the business cycle, from peak to peak.  Since business cycles don't coincide with the beginning and ending of decades, these figures don't reflect how the economy expands and contracts.</P> <P>Averages according to the cycles would give a times series showing the long-term trend of the economy with the cycles dropped out.  The curve would probably be pretty flat, with fluctuations around another average varying with the number of cycles used.</P> <P>Cockburn makes the assertion (without figures) that the "rate of profits was falling the non-financial corporate sector, significantly so in manufacturing."  As Marx points out the fall in the rate of profit can be offset the accumulation of the mass of profit, so how can this be measured for 1998-2000?</P> <P>RS</P> <P> </P> <P>Randy</P> <P> </P> <P><BR><BR> </P></DIV> <DIV></DIV> <DIV></DIV>>From: Doug Henwood<DHENWOOD@PANIX.COM> <DIV></DIV>>Reply-To: lbo-talk@lists.panix.com <DIV></DIV>>To: lbo-talk@lists.panix.com <DIV></DIV>>Subject: Re: Cockburn: Can war save the economy? <DIV></DIV>>Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2001 13:50:31 -0400 <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>Chris Kromm quoted Alexander "Ace" Cockburn: <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>>Obit writers for the great boom of 1995-2000 usually avert their <DIV></DIV>>>eyes from <DIV></DIV>>>the fact despite all the exuberance of those giddy years, in terms <DIV></DIV>>>of growth <DIV></DIV>>>of gross domestic product, of per capita GDP, wages and <DIV></DIV>>>productivity the <DIV></DIV>>>Nineties did worse than the Eighties and the Eighties worse than <DIV></DIV>>>the <DIV></DIV>>>Seventies. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>I'm guessing Ace, as he was calling himself last year, cribbed this <DIV></DIV>>from Robert Brenner, who lurks here, but this isn't exactly true. <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>>ANNUAL AVERAGE GROWTH RATES (U.S.) <DIV></DIV>> <DIV></DIV>> GDP labor real hourly <DIV></DIV>> per cap productivity wage <DIV></DIV>>1900-10 2.5% 1.6% 1.3% <DIV></DIV>>1910-20 0.0% 2.4% 2.7% <DIV></DIV>>1920-30 1.4% 2.0% 1.4% <DIV></DIV>>1930-40 2.0% 2.3% 1.7% <DIV></DIV>>1940-50 4.1% 2.4% 2.5% <DIV></DIV>>1950-60 1.6% 2.5% 2.7% <DIV></DIV>>1960-70 2.9% 2.6% 1.7% <DIV></DIV>>1970-80 2.1% 2.0% 0.2% <DIV></DIV>>1980-90 2.3% 1.5% -0.8% <DIV></DIV>>1990-2000 2.3% 1.9% 0.2% <DIV></DIV></div><br clear=all><hr>Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at <a href='http://go.msn.com/bql/hmtag_itl_EN.asp'>http://explorer.msn.com</a><br></html>