Via Baseline Scenario, where James Kwok comments that Brad DeLong is never afraid to admit error, this from DeLong:

“Back in the 1930s there was a Polish Marxist economist, Michel Kalecki, who argued that recessions were functional for the ruling class and for capitalism because they created excess supply of labor, forced workers to work harder to keep their jobs, and so produced a rise in the rate of relative surplus-value.

“For thirty years, ever since I got into this business, I have been mocking Michel Kalecki. I have been pointing out that recessions see a much sharper fall in profits than in wages. I have been saying that the pace of work slows in recessions–that employers are more concerned with keeping valuable employees in their value chains than using a temporary high level of unemployment to squeeze greater work effort out of their workers.

“I don’t think that I can mock Michel Kalecki any more, ever again.”

What DeLong is saying speaks to the more extreme -- and by "extreme" I mean "accurate" -- interpretations of this Times story covered by Dakinakat here and, with far less analysis, here. "The widening gap between data and reality" is the key phrase to take away from the Times story, and when DeLong is giving kudos to a long-dead POlish Marxist, you can bet that the gap is widening all the way from under the bus, through the passengers on the bus, and everywhere except, well, the owners of the bus line.

Fasten your seatbelts.

NOTE Is there a feminist take on The Big FAIL, the depression? If so, may I have a link?

If you have them.