Paul,
Granted my statement is not clear. Let me now be clear.
If a capitalist invest 1000 in fixed capital, he must compute
his rate of profit using that amount. If the value (price) of
the means of production falls as he is recovering his investment,
he still needs to get back his investment. Thus the normal
procedure would be to allow for this "moral depreciation", as
he invests in fixed capital. He may well chose a type a
depreciation that accelerates the amount recovered or he
may use straight line depreciation. Either way the point is
profit calcualtions must include the recovery of the value or
price of the constant capital invested.
John
On Mon, 22 Jan 1996 wpc@clyder.gn.apc.org (Paul Cockshott) said:
>John
>----
>With all this, I hope we do not lose sight of what we dealing
>with here. That is, the issue is the "revaluation of inputs."
>The basic idea is that capitalists attempt to recover the value
>invested and not the value that it takes to reproduce the means
>of production at any given point in time.
>
>Paul
>----
>No this is not what is basically at stake. What is at stake
>is the effect that accelerated depreciation has on the aggregate
>rate of surplus value, and through that on the rate of profit.
>Whether individual capitalists anticipate it is a secondary
>matter.
>