>Carrol Cox wrote:
>
>>Michael Pollak wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> In theory it seems to make sense. In the reality the basic valuations and
>>> the P/E proportion that is considered reasonable both seem to be set by
>>> crowd behavior.
>>
>>Isn't this what Marx said about interest rates (C III)? Unlike
>>commodities (in Marx's TOV) the price of money is determined only by
>>supply and demand, and can fluxtuate without limit.
>
>Yup. Or as an old friend of mine who handled investments for a large
>insurance company was told by his chief investment officer back in
>the late 1980s, "There's no value. There's only supply and demand."
There's a colorful quote from Marx on this (Capital III, p. 485 of the Vintage edition): "Where, as here [with interest rate setting], it is competition as such that decides, the determination is inherently accidental, purely empirical, and only pedantry or fantasy can seek to prsent this accident as something necessary."
Doug