Me:
> > If capitalists are able to raise
> > prices _generally_ to cover themselves against moral depreciation, why
> > didn't they raise prices already, to make higher profits?
Duncan:
> I would say they can't make higher profits just because technical change
> makes equipment obsolete. The limit on profits at the level of the
> economy as a whole is the rate of exploitation.
I didn't express myself very clearly. I meant to dispute the idea that
the capitalist class as a whole is able to cover itself against moral
depreciation via a general rise in prices; and my suggestion was that if
(counterfactual) they had the power to increase their profitability via a
general price increase they would not hold this power in reserve, so to
speak, until offered the "excuse" of moral depreciation. I agree that
the limiting factor is the rate of exploitation.
Allin.