Re: AUT: Fictitious Capital

["Nate Holdren" <nateholdren@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I risk betraying my ignorance here, but then, when do I not? Other folks
please correct both my factual and theoretical shortcomings.

As I understand it, Enron made money by buying and selling energy-providing
companies/facilities. While accounting fraud and dishonesty is the chief
thing picked up on in the mainstream press, what's below the surface?
Wouldn't it be low profits in the energy providing sectors, with the
accounting being just a maneuver to eke out short term gains?
I've still not read Midnight Oil (another book taunting me from my shelf
...) but the Caffentzis interview Chris posted to the list a little while
back went into how oil and energy production are reliant on a huge amount of
reproductive or socialized labor.
Very schematically, low profits in an industry relying on a bunch of
reproductive/socialized labor would be the result of that labor (or some
labor somewhere in the circulation amongs all the diverse types required)
not being performed in line w/ capitals' needs. I don't think I've really
answered Adrian's question, as there's still the whole issue of what
specific struggles are involved. That I'm not clear on.
Can someone give a quick overview of banking and finance capital? What is
the role of credit extended to big companies and when big companies default
on their debt what does it mean (to their creditors, I know it means loss of
pensions and so on for workers)?

Nate


>From: pmargin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Reply-To: aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>To: aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: Re: AUT: Fictitious Capital
>Date: Mon, 08 Jul 2002 06:17:50 +1000
>
>I'd like to second Adrian's query ...
>
>Adrian Wilding wrote:
> >
> > Does anyone have any thoughts about the recent spate of 'accountancy
> > scandals' (Vivendi in Europe, Enron and WorldCom amongst others in the
> > US), and how this has sent the stock markets if not into a crash, then
> > into what some economists are predicting as an extended chronic decline.
> > Clearly speculation on the stock market is speculation on future
> > surplus-value extraction, and so individual capitals posting inflated
> > profits are distorting capital-in-general's ability to predict it's own
> > future accumulation. But can we relate the present crisis of finance
> > capital more directly to cycles of struggle?
>
>
>      --- from list aut-op-sy@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ---




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