[PEN-L:6881] Re: rising rate of profit?

[Blair Sandler <blairs@xxxxxxx>]

>Blair wrote
>
>>And you a Marxist! Doug, theory tells us that the rate of profit falls over
>>time. These data must be incorrect!  ;-)
>
>Tsk, tsk, Blair! You left out the crucial term "tendency". Virtually all of
>Das Kapital is an exercise in explaining what the capitalists do to _resist_
>this tendency (including lengthening the working day and introducing new
>technology) and how that ultimately reinforces the tendency.
>
>There's a world of difference between a tendency and a trend.
>Regards,
>
>Tom Walker, knowware@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, (604) 669-3286
>The TimeWork Web: http://mindlink.net/knowware/worksite.htm

Tom: I'm not clear if you missed the all-important "wink" at the end of my
comments to Doug. Marx spent twice as many pages (K, vol. III, chs. 14 and
15) elaborating the "countertendencies" as he did the tendency itself (ch.
13). In my reading of CAPITAL, Marx was arguing not *for* but *against* the
Ricardian notion that the rate of capital falls. Also, see Steve
Cullenberg's book, THE FALLING RATE OF PROFIT: RECASTING THE MARXIAN
DEBATE, Pluto Press, 1994.

Regards,

Blair




Blair Sandler
blairs@xxxxxxx