oops left out a NOT Excess capacity and the global competition to which it gives rise are the effects, rather than the causes, of a retrenchment in investment which is itself caused by diminishing profit prospects which thus remains to be explained.
The explanations which are consistent with the labor theory of value include a falling rate of profit caused by rising OCC and/or rising U/P labor ratio or a fall off in the level of investment demand that would equal total potential supply because of a perceived shortage of living labor which is the only source of value added. Fred M prefers the former explanation; I am suggesting that the latter canNOT be ruled out. Rakesh ps may I recommend to Professor Phillips Professor Anwar Shaikh's Introduction to the History of Crisis Theories. In US capitalism in Crisis, ed. Bruce Steinberg. 1978.
