the productive macworker

["michael a. lebowitz" <mlebowit@xxxxxx>]

Came across the following today in a piece by Naomi Klein ('The Bush
doctrine....'). Sounds like they (unlike NK) have been reading Marx on the
distinction between producing a commodity and effecting a change in its
value-form. Would people agree that the macworkers are not only exploited
but also the source of surplus value?
        in solidarity,
          m

> Some jobs, however, are more responsive than others to the power of
> positive presidential thinking. More than 82 per cent of the jobs created
> in April were in service industries, including restaurants and retail,
> while the biggest new employers were temp agencies. Over the past year,
> 272,00 manufacturing jobs have been lost. No wonder the President's
> Economic Report in February floated the idea of reclassifying fast-food
> restaurants as factories. "When a fast-food restaurant sells a hamburger,
> for example, is it providing a 'service' or is it combining inputs to
> 'manufacture' a product?" the report asks.

Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor Emeritus
Economics Department
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, B.C., Canada V5A 1S6

Currently based in Venezuela. Can be reached at

Residencias Anauco Suites
Departamento 601
Parque Central, Zona Postal 1010, Oficina 1
Caracas, Venezuela
(58-212) 573-4111
fax: (58-212) 573-7724