re 6572 > US needs to see off any challenge to its hegemony if it is to >sustain a sizeable 'middle class' in the US. David, I don't see how US capital is interested in sustaining, rather than expropriating, its own sizeable middle class. As the Enron case makes clear, small investors were cowed by corporate insiders who were able to siphon off money raised in the capital markets and cash out at the expense of this multitude of small investors. Now as market caps are slowly brought to earth--and I suspect there will be more weakness as Greenspan no longer eases--only those few who are cash rich will pick up the cheapened assets. As always, recessions are exited with a more centralized capital. The American middle class is even being further cut down to size. And not as a result of the loss of US world hegemony. I don't have the real numbers with me but remarkable data on American wealth concentration have been prepared by Edward Wolff. Rakesh
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