We have -45- members.
So far, -16- members wrote posts in February, which began with
[OPE-L:4129].
TOPICS DISCUSSED THIS MONTH
---------------------------
A. The thread discussed at *greatest* length (20 or more posts) was:
o DEPRECIATION [relates to previous discussions on moral
depreciation; includes posts on "sheep"; "depreciation
and financing"; "competitive wolves ..."; "scrap value";
"depreciation and demand"] (-29- posts).
B. Other threads that we discussed *at length* (10-19 posts) included:
o PROFIT RATE DETERMINATION [arose out of "TSS transformation
procedure" thread; related to extending Marx, empirical work,
and depreciation threads] (19);
o EQUALIZATION OF PROFIT RATES/QUIZ [continued from January] (14);
o TSS TRANSFORMATION PROCEDURE (14);
o VARIABLE CAPITAL AND TIME [arose out of TSS transformation
procedure thread; includes "the analytical significance of
production periods] (13).
C. *Other topics discussed* included:
o EXTENDING (COMPLETING, DEVELOPING, DEEPENING) MARX [related to
January's discussion of "102 years later" and "Books 4-6";
includes "extending political economy] (8);
o CRITIQUING EXPLOITATION [continued from January];
o THE EFFECT OF TURNOVER ON THE RATE OF PROFIT [arose out of and
related to depreciation thread];
o QUERY [ON WOLFSTETTER];
o USE-VALUE AND VALUE [continued from January];
o MISSING TEXTS [arose out of use-value and value thread];
o MAKOTO'S LAST LECTURE;
o VALUE-FORM UNDERDEVELOPED TOPICS [see #4162 and Mike W's #4181];
o NEGATIVE SURPLUS-VALUE [continued from December-January];
o DISSERTATION TOPICS;
o UNCOVERING MARX'S UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS [see #4255 by Kevin
Anderson forwarded by Andrew K];
o MEL AND THE DETERMINATION OF VALUE [MEL = monetary expression of
labor; see Alejandro R's #4258].
-----------------------
OVERALL, February was the *slowest* month in list history. Previously,
the slowest month had been June, 1996 when 13 of 39 members wrote 150
posts. An even more dramatic comparison is to February, 1996, when 23
of 37 members wrote 357 posts. This was a consequence, primarily, of
two factors:
(1) Our discussions were interrupted repeatedly by circumstances
beyond our control, i.e. the server at California State
University wasn't functioning properly for _over 7 days_ this
month (1-3; 17; 21-23);
(2) As we continued the discussion of threads from previous months,
new subjects for discussion were either not raised or did not
catch on. Diminished interest in previous threads, IMHO, is
reflected by the the very significant decline in participation
(down from 24 in January and one of the lowest participation rates
in our history).
Surely, there are many important subjects that we have either not
discussed or discussed only briefly. Please make suggestions.
In solidarity, Jerry