[PEN-L:6884] Re: rising rate of profit?

[Gerald Levy <glevy@xxxxxxxxx>]

Blair Sandler wrote:

> 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.

Certainly, Marx's LTGRPD can be read *in part* as a critique of the
Ricardian belief in the FRP. However, the amount of pages that Marx spent
on elaborating the "law" vs. the "counteracting factors" can not be read
as evidence that Marx believed that those "counteracting factors" would
overcome the law of the tendency for the general rate of profit to
decline.

> Also, see Steve
> Cullenberg's book, THE FALLING RATE OF PROFIT: RECASTING THE MARXIAN
> DEBATE, Pluto Press, 1994.

Steve's book is an interpretation of debates _among Marxists_ concerning
the FRP rather than an interpretation of Marx _per se_.  He makes this
point very explicitly in his book.

Jerry