[Marxism] From Doug Henwood

[S. Artesian]

If I recall correctly, the NBER, the official whistle-blower on recession, 
called December 2007 as the start of the recession.

It took, I think, 3 Quarters to elapse before the NBER made the call, but 
that's close enough for government work.

So... if it takes the NBER 6-9 months to make the call, with all its 
resources, it seems a little churlish to fault a comrade for making the call 
2 months after the onset.

Others, and I say with a bit of pride, myself included, called it before the 
NBER-- even tracing its roots back to the a peak in the rate of return on 
investment in late 2006/early 2007-- and not on any decline in consumption.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Louis Proyect" <lnp3 at panix.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 20, 2009 10:14 PM
Subject: [Marxism] From Doug Henwood


I see that Charles Brown says that I wasn't talking recession back in
January 2008. No, but I did start talking that way when the January
employment report was released in early February. I was pre-empted the
Thursday after that release, but here's what I said in my March 13
commentary, after the Feb employment numbers were released: