On Jun 2, 2007, at 12:58 PM, Carrol Cox wrote:
> This raises a general question about all members of a capitalist
> ruling
> class: having more than they can (or even their heirs) can possibly
> spend, why do they still struggle for MORE MORE MORE. A capitalist
> _firm_ (whether corporate or 'privately' owned) has to try to grow to
> stay even -- that is the central dynamic of the system. But
> individuals
> within the class don't, and yet many of them do! Many also don't but
> transform themselves into rentiers, but as the case of Paris Hilton
> (but
> also I gather of Paul Allen on a bigger scale) continue to try to
> enlarge their 'nestegg' beyond reason.
Paris Hilton is rich, but she's not ruling class.
Joel Kovel once gave a lecture, which I don't think he's ever published, on the capitalist ego at a Rethinking Marxism conference, must have been 1996. As I recall his argument, the ego-subscript-K is grandiose and voracious; it has to exploit whatever it sees for maximum gain. The urge to accumulate has to be deeply inscribed in capitalists. I know you're not big on individual agency but it's hard to understand how the system works without producing people like this.
Doug