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

Carl Remick carlremick at hotmail.com
Tue Apr 5 14:29:51 PDT 2005



>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>
>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?

Dunno, but I'm inclined to do something silly by uncharacteristically saying a good word on BDeL's behalf. I think there is something to his conclusion, i.e.: "If you want to make a compelling criticism of economic and social relationships, you cannot do so by saying that there is Marxian 'exploitation' --which exists wherever workers are paid less than the average product of labor. You have to, instead, inquire into the origins of the wealth and property rights on which the proprietor class's income is based. The labor theory of value is simply a red herring."

Carl



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