I believe that your first question is correct. According to Marx, recession/depressions shock the system, generally making it stronger, but when then contradictions become too extreme, then even a small shock can be fatal.
On Fri, Jan 11, 2008 at 09:37:34PM -0600, Carrol Cox wrote: > Is it not correct that fairly frequent recessions are a necessity of the > capitalist system? And certainly, in practice, they have been happening > every five to ten years for a couple of centuries. > > But both on this list and in the financial columns of the media everyone > is fussing about whether or not a recession is coming. Why so much fuss? > Of course one is coming before too long. > > Is there so much fuss because quite a few people think something _worse_ > than even a severe recession may be coming? > > Carrol -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu michaelperelman.wordpress.com