Real rates, after making the appropriate Keynesian observation that they
are not an observable phenomenon, were indeed negative in the 1970s, which
is why the rentier class insisted on Volcker's takeover of the Fed, etc.
In the late 1970s, long-term bonds, those of us over 40 may remember, were
nicknamed Certificates of Confiscation.
Doug
Doug Henwood [[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Left Business Observer
212-874-4020 (voice)
212-874-3137 (fax)
On Thu, 24 Feb 1994 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> Jim Devine wrote:
>
> >> Behind this were the limits
> set by class society: interest rates couldn't rise so far as to
> swallow more than the total mass of surplus-value (except perhaps
> in a transitory liquidity crisis) and couldn't fall below zero
> (except maybe in the very short run).
>
>
> I don't know what Marx said, but I do know _real_ short-term interest
> rates in the 1970's were frequently _negative_ in real terms. That is,
> the annual inflation rate was higher than the rate of profit for
> finance capital. I think so anyway.
>
> J. Gulick
> UC-Santa Cruz
>
>
