Re: [OPE] Marxist theory of crisis

Paula wrote:
> P
>
> Some years ago this list discussed whether banking capital is part of
> the whole social capital
> (http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/~cottrell/OPE/archive/0006/0018.html
> <http://ricardo.ecn.wfu.edu/%7Ecottrell/OPE/archive/0006/0018.html>).
> The same question can be asked of unproductive capital in its
> entirety. If it is, and in a sense it must be, then this would imply
> that the general rate of profit may fall /independently /of what
> happens to productivity, simply because a growing portion of the
> social capital is actually unproductive; but, on the other hand, it is
> perhaps a consequence (and manifestation) of the rising organic
> composition of productive capital that so much capital has been
> invested in unproductive sectors to begin with ...
>
 The growth of the unproductive sector does, I think, depress the
overall rate of profit quite significantly. This can be disguised for a
while for accounting purposeses since the banking sector can appear to
be showing a profit due to the appreciation of financial assests at a
time when in reality it acts as a consumer rather than a producer of
surplus value. The illusion is eventually broken and we see that the
banking sector has consumed capital in the form of bonuses, expenditure
on office blocks, equipment etc, which has no real productive use. At
this point the tax payer is called upon to make good the capital
withdrawn for private consumption by the banking class.
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Received on Wed Nov 19 05:29:37 2008