On Sep 27, 2007, at 8:21 PM, andie nachgeborenen wrote:
> I also think that
> leaving aside the ideological language, the notion
> that there is a trade off between unemployment and
> inflation is not crazy, and there may be an
> unemployment point below which inflation increases at
> a disturbing rate -- leaving other anti-inflation
> devices aside.
It's not just Friedman - it's Kalecki. Check out the excerpts from his essay "Political Aspects of Full Employment" that I posted here long ago:
<http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/1998/1998-October/008507.html>
> We have considered the political reasons for the opposition to the
> policy of creating employment by government spending. But even if this
> opposition were overcome--as it may well be under the pressure of the
> masses-the maintenance of full employment would cause social and
> political
> changes which would give a new impetus to the opposition of the
> business
> leaders. Indeed, under a regime of permanent full employment, the
> 'sack'
> would cease to play its role as a 'disciplinary measure. The social
> position of the boss would be undermined, and the self-assurance and
> class-consciousness of the working class would grow. Strikes for wage
> increases and improvements in conditions of work would create
> political
> tension. It is true that profits would be higher under a regime of
> full
> employment than they are on the average under laissez-faire, and
> even the
> rise in wage rates resulting from the stronger bargaining power of the
> workers is less likely to reduce profits than to increase prices,
> and thus
> adversely affects only the rentier interests. But 'discipline in the
> factories' and 'political stability' are more appreciated than
> profits by
> business leaders. Their class instinct tells them that lasting full
> employment is unsound from their point of view, and that
> unemployment is an
> integral part of the 'normal' capitalist system.
>
> 1. One of the important functions of fascism, as typified by the Nazi
> system, was to remove capitalist objections to full employment.