Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> Carrol Cox wrote:
>
> >Two simple yes or no questions, and I think it's useful to
> answer them
> >as a framework for this discussion.
> >
> >Do you, Doug Henwood, believe that a capitalist class exists?
>
> Yes. I'd say it consists of direct owners of the means of production,
> large stockholders, high-end financiers, and very senior execs of
> very large firms.
>
> >And if it exists, is it a ruling class?
>
> Good question. I'm tempted to say that not all capitalists are
> members of the ruling class, and not all members of the r.c. are
> capitalists. The owner of the proverbial plastics plant in Tennessee
> is a capitalist, but not a ruler (except maybe on a local scale), and
> Henry Kissinger is a member of the ruling class, but not a
> capitalist. To be a member of the r.c., I think you have to have some
> relation with state and/or ideological power; it's not enough to be
> rich.
Well for me, things are getting confusing. Can there be capitalism without capitalists? My friend in Houston I understand. But we're getting on to something else.
Can I say that ownership of capital is now largely institutionalized?
I've read somewhere that musical instruments in the Middle Ages were not owned by musicians but institutions, mostly the Church. So maybe capitalism is now institutional in an analogous way.
I'm not sure that very senior execs of large corporations are necessarily capitalists either. Legally, they are employees, and their duties to the institution (can I get away with that?) are defined by contract. In my sarcastic moments I call them "nomenklatura" because in reports to the government (10Ks and the like) they are "named" employees. By contrast, I was an unnamed, anonymous, employee.
Large stockholders and high-end financiers seem ok. But someplace somebody said there are very few large stockholders in the sense they own enough to control the corporation, so it would seem that this is a shrinking list.
Hmm. I'm tempted to say ownership is institutionalized and not personal anymore.
BTW, I've read someplace that the bulk of the Republican party are people like my Houston friend.
-- John K. Taber