Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>the declining rate of
> >profit predicted by Marx (she
> >considered the USSR to be state-capitalist).
> >
> >Joe R. Golowka
I have no strong opinions about the theory of the tendency of the rate of profit to decline, or what its importance is if it is true, but if one is going to talk about it at all it is essential to note that word "tendency." Marx never made a prediction about the future rate of profit. He argued that there was a constant _tendency_ of the rate to fall. But a tendency to fall is also a tendency to rise and a tendency to stay the same. Stand up. A major fact about your current physical condition is that you have a tendency to fall. It is impossible to explain your posture, muscle tension, etc. without accounting for that tendency.
I don't have the slightest idea how the tendency of the rate of profit to fall could be the basis for empirical predictions which would confirm or disconfirm it. If the rate of profit _were_ falling, that would not prove it, because it might be that the tendency to fall was working strongly but the various counter-tendency were working more strongly. And vice versa and et cetera. Did Raya Dunayeskaya speak of a tendency or did she simply affirm it as an actuality?
Carrol