Re: A New Economy?

[Shane Mage <shmage@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Jan 27, 2008, at 6:32 PM, Paul Phillips wrote:

> But Louis, isn't that the point. Unproductive labour must be paid
> out of
> surplus value.  As the ratio of unproductive to productive labour
> increases, the rate of exploitation of productive labour must
> increase, no?
Not in the least.  Marx makes it quite clear that the wages of
"socially necessary but unproductive" labor are paid out of [the
circulating
portion of] constant capital. While to the individual capitalist  they
appear to be a deduction from surplus value, to the capitalist system
as a whole they
are part of the overall cost structure.  This was demonstrated 45 years
ago in Ch.3 of my dissertation.  Thus, because these wages consist of
part of the gross product, the higher their share of the total wage bill
the lower the share of the gross product available to the ownership
class
for consumption and investment, and accordingly the *lower* the rate
of exploitation.

> Louis Proyect wrote:
> > > What is the Marxist take on this new economy? Do most of the service
> > > sector jobs fall in the category of unproductive labor? After all
> > > security guards and cashiers do not create any use value...
> >
> > Didn't you mean to say that security guards and cashiers do not
> > produce surplus value...they are necessary to the realization of
> > surplus value over the entire productive sphere.

Shane Mage

"On the basis of capitalist production a new swindle develops in stock
enterprises with the wages of management. It consists of placing above
the actual director a board of managers or directors, for whom
superintendance and management serve in reality only as a pretext for
plundering shareholders and amassing wealth."  (Das Kapital, v.3 p.458)