Re: [OPE-L] The Accountant in End Times

From: Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM
Date: Sun Oct 02 2005 - 09:29:40 EDT


Hi Phil,

I don't accept the premise "since aggregate value must equal aggregate
labour."    If  new output equals zero, then _whatever the inputs in the
form of  circulating capital and labour_, the value of the new output must
equal zero.  This must be the case since without any commodity product
the use-value must equal zero and hence the value must equal zero.

While I don't want to take the materialization of labour too literally
and corporally,  there is a physical dimension to commodity output,
whether that output is in the form of corn,  etc. or services.  Without
any output, there is no physical or social corpus that can represent
value.  If and when the value of the output is less than the value of the
inputs in the form of  C + V,  this is a consequence of the risk and
uncertainty associated with the production and circulation of
capitalist commodities. Simply because labour is expended in a
productive form is not a sufficient condition for the actualization
of value.

I can see your point, though:  an accountant would express such a
situation as a debit with a negative sign: i.e. on the balance sheets
this type of situation would appear as if it were "negative value."
This is not, through, primarily an accounting issue: it is a question
over what is constitutive of value.

In solidarity, Jerry


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