THE FED & THE MARKETS, ARE THEY ON THE SAME PAGE?

IT’S MORE THAN A POLYCRISIS, IT’S A COMPOUNDED CRISIS.

This article was inspired by a talk Michael Roberts gave at the Marx Memorial Library in London recently where he investigated, inter alia, the ‘polycrisis’ confronting capitalism. This article shows the compounding effect of the 4 major crises capitalism has to deal with by focusing on the effect they have on cost-price and therefore the all important rate of profit. I remain convinced capitalism does not have the capacity to weather these simultaneous crises which is why we could be entering a revolutionary period.

WORLD WAR 3 – NOT YET!

Since publishing this post there have been two new developments. The US is deploying two more aircraft carrier groups to the region and the western media have been headlining that Iran can now produce nuclear weapons. This is reminiscent of the headlines prior to the Iraq War when it was claimed that Saddam Hussein had ‘weapons of mass destruction’. Clearly, in order to prevent the Middle East representing a second front in the war with China, the USA may be contemplating not only destroying Hamas and Hezbollah but bombing Iran itself. Should they do so, the internationalization of the conflict cannot be ruled out.

In addition as the revulsion against Zionism spreads, the Zionist narrative describing the events of October 7th continues to unravel. This time it concerns the reckless and panicked firing by Israeli gunships at the site of the festival and the kibbutzim adjacent to Gaza, under instruction to end the incursion as quickly as possible and by all means necessary. The Israeli government, fearful of what is being revealed, is now branding reporters investigating these events or present at the events as “terrorists” in order to silence them.

THIRD QUARTER PRELIMINARY ECONOMIC DATA: THE USA vs CHINA:

WHEN USING ONLY DEPRECIATION TO BE THE DENOMINATOR OVER WHICH PROFITS ARE MEASURED, ALL THAT IS OBTAINED IS A PROFIT MARGIN AND NOT A PROFIT RATE.

GAZA IS A CONCENTRATION CAMP: FINAL SOLUTION OR PEACE DEAL?

IS RUSSIA ABOUT TO MAKE ITS THIRD MISTAKE OF THE WAR?

THE LONG WAVE GOODBYE. Critiquing Aaron Benanav’s Critique of Ackerman’s Jacobin article on the rate of profit.

SITING THE JACOBIN ARTICLE AGAINST THE BACKDROP OF THE WORLD ECONOMY

Spreadsheet below for graphs and data

This concludes my analysis of the Jacobin article on the falling rate of profit or not. ERRATA Please note that Graph 1 is not correct as it implies the author has included foreign profits in his numerator which he has not done. To set the record straight please read the additional article below. Note as well, foreign profits or not, the net operating surplus derived from NIPA Table 1.16 remains problematic. None of my articles nor the calculations found therein rely on Table 1.16 so remain unaffected by this admission.

THE JACOBIN ARTICLE ON THE FALLING RATE OF PROFIT (FROP) – a correction.

Since obtaining the data used by the author of the Jacobin article it is clear that he did deduct the difference in depreciation from the net surplus side. The reason I thought he had not done so was because he used the wrong net surplus data to begin with, an error which inflated his rate of return due to its inclusion of internationally earned profits.