[lbo-talk] An Orgy of Speculation?

[brad]

Yes, Wren.  He is singing a slightly different tune in that new
article then he did previously.  Even though he still wants to judge
all mfg profits by the very peak year, rather than compare the
1982-1997 era to a longer-term average When a longer-term comparison
is done, it shows the '82-97 era to be far above average, and the
'65-82 era as only slightly off of historical average rates of
profitability.

I also think the attempt to separate financial from non-financial as I
stated in my last post leads far too many analysis off track.  It
makes it into some sort of competitive comparison.  You claim yourself
that finance aided production through restructuring.  However, you
then come back to try to argue that they somehow are at odds with each
other.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Wren:

 But a speed-up of this sort can be a medium-term strategy at best;
there has to be some kind of
upper bound on how tightly you can squeeze labor before diminishing returns set
in.


>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Really?  How so?  Are you claiming that there is a limit that is a
physical limit or a political one?  Does this limit rest on workers
saying enough and doing something or is it that at some point this
squeeze undermines demand and impacts profits?  Isn't the whole
history of neoliberalism and the most recent use of state budgets to
attack workers an example that the claim of a economic or physical
limit exists doesn't hold water.

Brad