>Doug Henwood wrote:
>>
>> Carrol Cox wrote:
>>
>> And how did she provide capital for production by buying bonds or stocks?
>>
>
>Why do you think this a releveant question?
>
>I wouldn't have the slightest idea -- she simply bought a share of
>surplus value. Same with Mrs. Dodge 66 years ago. Her husband left her
>with $50 million (quite a lot in 1935). She put it all in tax-free
>municipal bonds, but she sure as hell didn't stop being part of the
>capitalist class.
>
>I don't think tracing the exact flow of surplus value (or variable
>capital) has any relationship to the analysis of class relations.
No? The world is a lot more complex than your simple class model - the economy is more complex, and so are social strata. A rentier is not the same as a capitalist; a senior VP isn't the same as the manager of a McDonalds; a manager of a McDonald's isn't the same as the owner of a chain of MCD's franchises; the francisee isn't the same as the CEO of MCD's; the CEO isn't the same as a shareholder; the owner of 100 shares isn't the same as a rich individual who may own 10,000 shares or a pension fund manager who owns 1,000,000. They work, act, and think differently, and have different interests. Or are you a vol. 1 Marxist?
Doug