Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site uwmacc.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!uwvax!uwmacc!myers From: myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Jeff Myers) Newsgroups: net.politics.theory Subject: Re: What is "capitalism"? Message-ID: <1015@uwmacc.UUCP> Date: Wed, 1-May-85 16:31:36 EDT Article-I.D.: uwmacc.1015 Posted: Wed May 1 16:31:36 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 4-May-85 03:56:31 EDT References: <441@gargoyle.UChicago.UUCP> <1831@topaz.ARPA> <1008@uwmacc.UUCP> <1855@topaz.ARPA> Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center Lines: 16 > > > What then is the VALUE of the labor "stored" in the lathe? It depends, > obviously, on what you use it for; but the significant point is that > it *multiplies* the "value" of the succeeding labor by some factor, > rather than merely adding to it. The thing to note is that if you > iterate the production of capital, using each generation to help > create the next, the result is an *exponential* increase in wealth. > This is why capitalism (in my sense) is such hot stuff. This is why *human labor* is such hot stuff -- the same lathe produced by exploited and non-exploited labor has the same UTILITY value. Many influential economists take the labor theory of value very seriously, which you would have noticed if you had been reading recent postings. jeff m