Seth,
What has been done to restore profitability or to secure outlets for the profitable investment of a mounting stock of idle capital? Social democracy and collective bargaining have been scrapped. Industries have been restructured to guarantee shareholder value.
And in pursuit of control of extant and projected investment outlets, the US has declared a right to intervene on the grounds not of pre-emption but prevention and in violation of the UN. The US has also created spaces where habeas corpus is suspended and torture allowed. Other nation-states have and will follow. Things are very visibly getting worse.
The nation-state focus is misplaced as the effects of downturns are most sharply experienced abroad. There is a discernible pattern--labor has lost leverage and protection. Worker passivity is a reflection of that, not a sign of contentment.
The neoliberal offensive which disarmed policy making in most of third world did not have rosy effects as you suggest.
And I don't understand what you think Marx was saying.
Abu Hartal _________________________________________________________________ Explore the seven wonders of the world http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE