Greetings Economists, On Feb 5, 2007, at 5:02 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
I realize it violates PEN-L orthodoxy to suggest that it's not 1928 or 1932 all over again, so I apologize for any hurt I've caused.
Doyle; The left has to be realists. There are interesting signs though happening. First as is obvious, this is the most promising time for the left since the thirties, primarily because of the war. Most of the political economy is about class based issues now. The so-called identity politics of the last long conservative periods seem to be withering away. The holiday slow down in consumer spending is significant if not really crisis provoking. The Davos folks predicted a soft landing ahead. So right now things are not so bad. It is still not clear to me how consumers can continue to hold the economy up. And therefore the global economy in which techies cork would feel a significant slow down in global demand. And that seems to me very precarious. I think this period is economic, and class issues matter the most rather than civil rights. Doyle
