[Marxism] Contours of Crisis - Bichler and Nitzan

[Daniel Rosenberg]

http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2008/1208bichlernitzan.html

Contours of Crisis
Plus ça change, plus c'est pareil?


By Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan



This is the first in a series of short articles we plan to write on
the current crisis. Our aim in this series is threefold: to outline
some of the important contours of the crisis; to situate these
patterns in historical context; and to reflect on their possible
causes and implications.

Since the crisis is still ongoing, such analysis can only be cursory
and suggestive. But it is nonetheless useful to put our preliminary
research and thoughts in writing. By spelling out what we do know (or
think we know) about the crisis, we can better identify what we don't
know and need to ask.

This paper sets the stage for the series. It outlines the conventional
wisdom about the cause of crisis; it describes the chronology of
events; and it contrasts the pattern and magnitude of the current
downturn with those of earlier episodes. The overall picture painted
by this analysis is highly stylized: crises appear to come and go with
remarkable regularity, their oscillations are fairly similar and they
share the same order of magnitude. The whole process seems almost
"automatic," and automaticity is reassuring: it suggests that the
current crisis has run much of its course and that doom and gloom will
soon give way to a new upswing.

But what if this automaticity is a mirage?


[clipped]