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

[Brad DeLong]

>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

Because I want to save an undergrad who's ODing on capital from 
drowning in the swamp that is the labor theory of value...

Would you wish anybody to disappear into *that* swamp?

Brad DeLong