Re: [Marxism] Atilio BorÃn: From infinite war to =?win...

["S. Artesian" <sartesian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Couple of things:

I think we are mostly in agreement on the critical points-- although I think 
overproduction is still in fact what goes on, but we have to know what 
production, and overproduction is-- the production and overproduction of the 
means of production able to exploit wage-labor at a sufficient intensity.

But yes-- what is going on here is the system devaluation of accumulated 
capital-- or as you put it, the destruction of value production.

As for China's direct investment in the US-- China does have such direct 
investments, concentrated almost exclusively in the financial sector through 
use of its sovereign wealth funds.  Of course, those funds have been burned, 
and to the crisp, by the implosion in that sector, but hey separating fools 
from their money is what capitalism is all about.

The "shopping spree" of China in other countries-- 2 recent "grand tours" of 
the UK and Europe, didn't really produce such big purchases--  couple 
billion here, couple billion there, real money, I know,  but nothing 
anywhere near the M&A action the bourgeoisie pulled on each other during the 
2003-2007 run up.

No, China is not producing real goods in exchange for worthless paper that 
then sit and become a drag on the expansion of the market.  China is a 
contract player, producing real goods, for the purpose of accumulating 
capital, just like any other capitalist country. Just like a big fat 
maquilladora.  The "imbalance" or accumulation of  the US denominated 
reserves, based on trade surpluses is once again the result, and an index, 
to China's own lack of development, the tethering of its population to the 
rural economy, and the inability to reorganize that rural production, that 
rural property without detonating all the conflicts of uneven and combined 
development, without detonating class struggle in both city and countryside.

One critical point you make, and that needs to be reemphasized is that this 
predicament of capital will not, cannot be resolved simply by "expanding 
markets."  First-- because there is no simple "expanding of markets." 
Creating the market, expanding it means creating the class relations where 
the means of production exist as a private property and confront, and 
exchange, labor as wage-labor.  But if capital has so overproduced as to not 
be able to exploit that wage-labor with sufficient intensity so as to offset 
a decline in the rate of return-- then capitalists can only destroy the 
means of production, and drive the exploitation of labor below reproduction 
levels-- and that is exactly what they intend to do.

Count on it.  And that is historically, not faith, based.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <Waistline2@xxxxxxx>
To: <sartesian@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, April 04, 2009 6:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism]Atilio BorÃn: From infinite war to =?win... 


________________________________________________
YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
Send list submissions to: Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Set your options at: 
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40archives.econ.utah.edu