[lbo-talk] Fitch and Brenner

Patrick Bond pbond at mail.ngo.za
Mon Feb 23 23:56:05 PST 2009


Doug Henwood wrote:
> ... We're certainly living through a devaluation, though there have
> been plenty of devaluations of manufacturing capital in the U.S. over
> the last 30 years.

Yes, a good Marxist theory of overaccumulation and territorial contestation offers space for partial devaluations and uneven development.


> In any case, the rate of profit *rose* from 1982 through 1997, despite
> the best attempts of Marxists to adjust that rise away.

If the profits are increasingly drawn from a corporation's financial maneuvres, instead of from surplus value extraction, the best attempts of Marxists to track crisis conditions will be well rewarded. Had you read these comrades a bit more seriously, Doug, you wouldn't have been so flumoxed by the events of 2007-08.


> And "overproduction of commodities" despite the highest consumption
> share of GDP in U.S. history?

It's all relative; don't you find it mind-boggling, the ability of East Asia to pump out commodities, even today, into saturated markets? Burkett and Hart-Landsberg have some of the fine-tuned details.


> And overaccumulation of capital despite the lowest rate of investment
> of the last 5 expansions?

Yes, sustained overaccumulation in the US manufacturing sector is to blame for subsequent periods of relatively low investment. We've been saying all these things for some time - are you just getting it now, Doug? Join us!



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