Re: Re: Re: Re: Rentier's hoarding ?

2000-03-25 Thread Michael Perelman
I think that all of this agreement about the cause of the Japanese depression. Japan used macroeconomic policies to prop the economy up in the wake of the oil shocks, leading to rapid accumulation and a wild run-up in land prices. Finally the overhang caught up with Japan. I would like to add

Re: Re: Re: Rentier's hoarding ?

2000-03-25 Thread Jim Devine
At 02:00 PM 3/24/00 -0500, you wrote: I said I thought Japan looked to be in the throes of a classic overaccumulation/profitability crisis. For decades, state policy and the financial/governance structure permitted firms to invest to gain market share without paying much attention to ROI. Now

Re: Re: Re: Re: Rentier's hoarding ?

2000-03-25 Thread Christian A. Gregory
Doug is suggesting that the problem _might_ be solved the good old Maggie Thatcher or Attila the Hun way, imposing a shake-out that drives out the weakling capitalists and imposing wage cuts, deunionization, etc. on the working class. This would raise the rate of profit and eventually

Rentier's hoarding ?

2000-03-25 Thread Louis Proyect
the insanity of a crisis of overproduction. The Japanese are not starving and, with all their foreign asset holdings, have a few more cards to play in the international economy. So why should they worry that their balance sheets look grim by US accounting standards? The Washington Post,

Re: Rentier's hoarding ?

2000-03-25 Thread Michael Perelman
I just saw Louis's report. Yes, Japan now is starting some mass layoffs, but it is amazing how long they have put this off. The U.S. in 1929 tried to pressure firms to resist layoffs. Many large firms resisted about a year. Louis Proyect wrote: The Washington Post, January 3, 2000,

Mark Weisbrot Z-net Commentary

2000-03-25 Thread Michael Perelman
Here is today's ZNet Commentary Delivery from Mark Weisbrot. If you pass this comment along to others, please include an explanation that Commentaries are a premium sent to Sustainer Donors of Z/ZNet and that to learn more about the project folks can consult ZNet (http://www.zmag.org) and