[lbo-talk] Delong puts the smackdown on ol' Whiskers

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Tue Apr 5 13:51:08 PDT 2005


Michael Perelman wrote:


>Brad seems to attribute the growth of productivity to the saving of
>independent
>farmers outside of the market in his example. In other words, he
>explains the way
>capitalists exploit by the way self-sufficient farmers save. Marx
>had fun mocking
>this abstinence theory -- look in Capital under Nassau Senior.
>
>If you believe that modern corporations actually operate like Brad's farmers,
>depriving themselves rather than their workers, then his explanation
>holds water.

It's weird - Brad picks a pretty wacko example, admits its kind of wacko, but then claims it's important and conclusive anyway. Why does Marx make smart people do silly things?

Doug



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