But in each new transformation, it creates new, complicated contradictions. One could confidently predict that this will eventually come apart, just don't put a date on it -- even if it is 50 years hence.
What we do know is that much of capitalism is typically shelved during crisis. Planning during the 2 World Wars & the lack of gouging during emergencies, such as earth quakes and floods. The end of that sort of response to crises is one of the things I appreciated in Klein's book. I wish that I knew more about how that shift occurred. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sandwichman Sent: Sunday, June 15, 2008 10:41 AM To: Progressive Economics Subject: Re: [Pen-l] Naomi Klein: Beware of Obama's Chicago School ofEconomics boys On 6/15/08, Doug Henwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Capitalism gets in trouble now and then. Financial crises, recessions, > whatever. But it gets out of them too. It's just part of normality. I don't > see what the point of emphasizing that cyclicality is. If anything, it > supports an effort to stabilize the system, not transform it. It's the rest > of capitalist normality - polarization, alienation, environmental > destruction - that is the real problem. The trouble with "normality" is that it's never the same. Capitalism gets out of each spot of trouble by transforming itself a somewhat different version each time. It sheds some of the old bugs and adds some new features. In my view, this has included several major overhauls. I offer the observation that there has been an internal logic to the nature and sequence of the major overhauls. Furthermore, I would argue that the key innovations of the first three upgrades originated in production and those of the next three originated in circulation. Thus financial innovation has driven economic expansion for 150 years. That's an impressive record, but in comparison to the big picture a mere two human life-spans. After about three decades of the neoliberal fix, the system is ready for some big changes. Otherwise, there won't be the propulsion for sustained periods of expansion. The strategy of successive Fed-sponsored bubbles has a short shelf life. After a few episodes, investors (speculators) learn to factor in those expectations in ways that evade tedious detours through the real economy. -- Sandwichman _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
