From: Rakesh Bhandari (bhandari@berkeley.edu)
Date: Tue Nov 07 2006 - 10:20:01 EST
> > >Individual private commodity producers are connected with one another >through the societal division of labor, but their products acquire social >character only in retrospect, namely, when they realize their value on the >market. In a society based upon exchange, the social character of goods >produced does not consist solely of their ability to satisfy the needs of >others; products must stand in a quantitative exchange-relationship to one >another, they must possess a Value in addition to their use-value. In >bourgeois society, wealth becomes an abstract quantity: it no longer >consists of a multiplicity of use-values and amenities, but rather of >abstract "Value." I thought value is an abstract quantity is contrasted to wealth which still consists of a multiplicity of use values. Surely wealth in the latter sense does not cease to exist and condition the accumulation process and put us under ecological strain. > What is new is that in >the last few decades, a largely internationalized financial system has >emerged, which increasingly dictates international standards of capital >valorization. If the increase in speculation is seen as the main cause of >the ills of capitalism, which is therefore in need of regulation, the >necessary interrelationship between the financial system and capitalist >production is torn apart and -- at least tendentially -- a "good," >productive capitalism is contrasted with a "bad," speculative financial >capitalism. I thought the good productive capitalists were heavily involved in this bad speculative financial capitalism. Rakesh
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Thu Nov 30 2006 - 00:00:06 EST