[OPE-L:8723] Re: Exchange, value and money

[artefact@xxxxxxxxxxx (Michael Eldred)]

Cologne 09-Apr-2003

rakeshb@xxxxxxxxxxxx schrieb Tue, 8 Apr 2003 15:51:37 -0700:

> Michael E wrote:
> "Groundlessness does not mean "empty of 'ontic' content". The form
> itself is not in
> doubt -- what things are worth assumes a definite form or 'look',
> namely, the
> price-form of value. The groundlessness pertains to the quantitative
> determination
> of this form, i.e. quantitative price, which is groundless in the sense
> that no
> intrinsic causes can be named on which to 'blame' price quantitatively.
> The causes
> remain those which just 'happen', i.e. _kata symbebaekos_, those which
> just 'go
> along' with and influence the actual event of sale. Such causes may
> exhibit a
> regularity which can be ascertained, but such regularity _epi to poly_,
> i.e. 'in
> many cases', does not amount to a causal ground. Indeed, the regularity
> can and
> does 'regularly' collapse, often unexpectedly."
> ______________________
>
> What kinds of regularity in quantitative price collapse? Are you
> referring to a collapse in the absolute price level, i.e., a bout of
> deflation,  or a collapse in the relative stability of exchange ratios?

Rakesh,

I am thinking, say, of gluts which come out of the blue and lead to a
collapse in prices. A recent highly visible example is the collapse in
prices for optic fibre networks. But you only have to open your eyes to see
it happening all the time on a smaller scale -- market precalculations are
constantly going wrong (perhaps even for the better -- winfall profits).
Suddenly, all that labour embodied in optic fibre cable is worthless. Why?
Because there is no _use_ for it. (Exchange-value is derivative of
use-value, and use-value means that things are useful in social practices.)

There were around 47,000 bankruptcies registered in Germany last year. Here
in Cologne I see more and more shops empty, the premises unlettable. Just
two further ontic examples for how products of labour do not gain
sufficient value-form validation in price to recoup capital advanced.


Michael
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