Title: underconsumption undertow?
August 25, 2002/New York TIMES
Cost-Cutting Can Start a Ruinous Circle
By LOUIS UCHITELLE
In Alice in Wonderland fashion, we talk of expansion and ignore the contraction all around us. We convince ourselves that out of cost-cutting will come prosperity
Doug Henwood Must dissent here. The confidence numbers are a good leading
indicator of the bizcycle. They generally bottom about 3 months ahead of the
cyclical trough (and top out about 1-2 months ahead of the peak). And the
confidence numbers themselves - at least the Conference Board's version
Pen-l folks may be interested in the following.
Seth Sandronsky forwarded a letter that said: I have continued enjoying
your [Seth Sandronsky's] articles on commondreams.org since the last time I
wrote to you. Your latest article, An Undertow of Underconsumption,
discussed the spending
Devine, James wrote:
I answered, adding some comments [in brackets]:
there's a difference between (1) the problem of stagnant or falling
incomes and wealth limiting consumption and (2) the issue of consumer
confidence. The former refers to objective barriers, while the latter
refers to
G'day Doug'n'Jim,
Sez Doug:
Must dissent here. The confidence numbers are a good leading
indicator of the bizcycle. They generally bottom about 3 months ahead
of the cyclical trough (and top out about 1-2 months ahead of the
peak). And the confidence numbers themselves - at least the
Barkley Rosser says:
Japan never had a very high rate of profit.
The keiretsu were known for following a maximizing
sales and market share strategy rather than a
maximizing profit strategy.
Doug posted the following last year, however:
* Re: Re: Keynesians and Post Keynesians and growth
to mention the collapse of the bubbles.
Barkley Rosser
- Original Message -
From: "Yoshie Furuhashi" [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Saturday, March 24, 2001 4:25 PM
Subject: [PEN-L:9424] Re: Underconsumption
Barkley Rosser says:
Japan never had a very
(See Simon Clarke's 1993 book,
MARX'S THEORY OF CRISIS, published by Macmillan.) The way I interpret the
role of underconsumption (in _my_ theory, not Marx's) is that it has two
possible roles:
(1) in an economic boom, accumulation can go "too far" relative to consumer
spending, due
a coherent whole. (See
Simon Clarke's 1993 book, MARX'S THEORY OF CRISIS, published by
Macmillan.) The way I interpret the role of underconsumption (in
_my_ theory, not Marx's) is that it has two possible roles:
(1) in an economic boom, accumulation can go "too far" relative to
co
and private
appropriation. There's a better quote in Vol. III saying this , but I have lost track
of it.
The way I interpret the
role of underconsumption (in _my_ theory, not Marx's) is that it has two
possible roles:
(1) in an economic boom, accumulation can go "too far
Yoshie asks:
So, in the case of Japan, it's the theory of the falling rate of profit,
not that of under-consumption, that can account for the fundamental
problem better?
as a total ignoramus on questions Japanese, I can't say. My amateur
impression, however, is that the Bubble Economy that
Charles wrote:
On the contradictory or dialectical unity of overproduction and the law of
the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, Rudy Fichtenbaum ( who has
posted to this list) says in "Did Marx Have a Theory of the Business
Cycle" ( Nature, Society and Thought Vol. 1, No. 2 1988):
"A
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/22/01 01:05PM
... On what you say following isn't it also true that the limited
consuming power of society as a whole , limited to less than the total
value of commodities produced, rooted in the fact that the fundamental
facts of surplus value, in that the great mass
I wrote:
In "normal" times, the capitalists purchase the surplus commodities as
luxury consumption goods or investment goods or wasteful goods, so this
basic realization problem isn't realized (as it were).
Charles writes:
How many cars can a capitalist drive and buy ? How much toilet paper,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 03/22/01 02:18PM
I wrote:
In "normal" times, the capitalists purchase the surplus commodities as
luxury consumption goods or investment goods or wasteful goods, so this
basic realization problem isn't realized (as it were).
Charles writes:
How many cars can a capitalist
Message -
From: "Yoshie Furuhashi" [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2001 12:35 PM
Subject: [PEN-L:9351] Re: Underconsumption
Jim D. says:
[was: Re: [PEN-L:9306] Re: Re: Japan]
I'm familiar with the quotes below, which l
I wrote:
In "normal" times, the capitalists purchase the surplus commodities as
luxury consumption goods or investment goods or wasteful goods, so this
basic realization problem isn't realized (as it were).
Charles writes:
How many cars can a capitalist drive and buy ? How much toilet
ty and restricted
consumption of the masses as opposed to the drive of capitalist production to develop
the productive forces as though only the absolute consuming power of society
constituted their limit _ "
The ultimate reason for all real crises seems to be poverty and underconsumpti
s
somehow being heresy, I think that this is an invalid generalization of
Marx's valid critiques of what I called "an earlier generation of
underconsumptionists" above and the similar critiques of Baran Sweezy.
Just because old underconsumption theorists serious made mi
I wrote: As for Peter Burns' question about the GOP actually
stimulating private investment and thus the economy: yes, they
can do that. But such a profits-led boom encourages
investment to get further out of line with consumer demand,
implying greater tendency toward recession.
Mike
On Thu, 8 Sep 1994 21:54:59 -0700 [EMAIL PROTECTED] said:
Jim, my T-B burned up a few years ago, when our house burned. Do you
have a reference re: his line on instability when and economy is
Dept I-driven?
Jim, as far as I can tell, Tugan-Baranowsky never said that the
process of growth led by
What I call "accumulation through crisis": Department I expands
just because the demand for Department II products is sluggish or
falls -- as companies in both Depts try to protect or restore
profits by lowering costs when faced with a slow growth or decline
in final demand. This is the (crude)
illiantly brings out the importance of "the
use-value aspect of international specialization as a Political Problem."
In terms of the basic concepts of marx, it is very strong. It includes an
effective critique of underconsumption theory from a revolutionary
INTERNATIONALIST pt of view ()and
On Sun, 4 Sep 1994 22:43:09 -0700 donna jones (a.k.a. Rakesh) said:
Here's a more crude argument: if workers can't claim much of their
produced value and capitalists are fat with a mass of surplus value, why
couldn't (even mustn't)the latter still modernize their factories, thereby
create a boom
Posted on 5 Sep 1994 at 01:43:31 by Uriacc Mailer (002033)
underconsumption
Date: Sun, 4 Sep 1994 22:42:31 -0700
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (donna jones)
Donna Jones wrote a very informative posting giving a critique of
underconsumption theory. In the hope
o state spending thus requires a study of
Marx's general law of accumulation and his reproduction schemes. As I
understand Marx,he demonstrates strong tendencies towards maximum
underconsumption. The accumulation of total social capital is possible
with--and in fact dependent upon--both great inc
26 matches
Mail list logo
