I should hasten to NB here for Freepers WHY Kondratrieff was purged by Stalin.
Kondratieff was given the job of researching which economic system more efficiently allocated capital and scarce resources, not to discover patterns in the western capitalist systems, per se.
Kondratieff found that, for all our faults and hiccups, the western capitalist economies allocated capital more efficiently, more consistently, than a centrally-planned economy. The nut of his finding was this: When we screw up and mis-allocate funds in the capitalist system, MOST of the time, we mis-allocate small, and we make a lot of little mis-allocations and corrections.
HOWEVER... every 60 years or so, credit builds up to a point where we have huge mis-allocations of capital - oh, and they most often involve land/real estate. Thus it has been in Japan, in the US in 1873, 1933, 2008. In 1873, it was railroad land development; in ‘33, it was farm/ag land. In 2008, it was residential real estate.
For finding this, Stalin purged (ie, killed) Kondratieff.
The most famous side-result of Kondratieff is what we know as the “long wave” or “supercycle” stuff today, too often over-promoted by Elliot Wave adherents.
BTW — what Kondratieff discovered is well known by the Chinese and farmers/ranchers in the US. It is this: wealth does not last past the third generation. Two different cultures, thousands of years apart - have the same maxim - it means that what is going on in the K-cycle isn’t so much an issue of economics as it is of human nature.
That’s the story as I understand it as well.
I couldn’t find a link on it though. Do you have one?
Thanks in advance
The info I have is that he was sent to Siberia.
“What Kondratieff discovered is well known by the Chinese and farmers/ranchers in the US. It is this: wealth does not last past the third generation.”
Thomas Stanley, author of “The Millionaire Next Door”, explains this concept THIS way:
The generation that earns capital respects it; that’s how they earned it. The next generation doesn’t have that respect for capital, but, at least grew up with their parent’s values as an example. The third generation? Twice removed from both respect of what it takes to earn that capital and a consistent parental influence/example of those values. IF the children of millionaires don’t blow all of their inheritance, THEIR children: will.
THIS is why 80% of millionaires in America are first generation millionaires. That was true in 1900; it’s true today.
The flip side is also true. Work hard and full time, dual parent, and you will not be poor.
In fact, the gov’ts own statistics show that the average household in the lowest quintile has 1 part time wage earner. ONE. PART-TIME. How does that family manage to stay in the lowest quintile? Easy. The gov’t subsidizes it. The only poor that STAY poor do so with gov’t asst.
Both the rich and the poor are very dynamic groups in America. (The rich are an ever changing group of families in the process of becoming rich and, a generation or two later, spending that wealth. The poor an ever changing group of people entering the work force and those in the work force moving up and out of poverty.) The left would not have you understand this. If these groups are dynamic, and they are, then the rich can’t be the enemy and the poor cannot be truly disadvantaged.