[lbo-talk] Lionizing Wealthy Americans, Rather Than Taxing

[Chris Sturr]

Well, Marx gives an economic answer to the question of how *wages* are
determined--they are determined the same way the price of any other
commodity is determined. But you were asking about the 1% and whether they
"earn" what they are paid.  But the 1% are not paid wages, because they are
not wage workers. I just think when people ask whether the 1% or the
super-rich "earn" what they get, they usually decide on moral/ethical
grounds--that is, they are thinking about whether they *deserve* what they
get. (Defenders of the 1% think it's a fair return on their investment;
critics think they don't deserve it, etc.)  And I did give an economic
answer of sorts:  Jim Cypher's:
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2011/0711cypher.html.  But I think
even Jim's answer depends on a moral foundation.  And Marx's economic
answer did too, in a sense. In response to people who thought that
employers were "robbing" their employees, or that workers "deserved" the
full proceeds of labor, he typically responded that employers aren't
stealing from their workers, if they pay the prevailing wage; they owe the
workers no more than that. The prevailing wage *is* the fair wage--but in
Marx's view that's no defense of it. His critique of wage-labor was
political, not moral.

^^^^
CB: Carrol makes a logical error here. Chris said determining how much
people deserve for their work is an ethical question. I did not. I
asked for an _economic_  answer. Note that in Marx's political
economic labor theory of value , he gives a scientific, not ethical,
answer to the question of whether capitalists earn the wealth he has.
Capitalists exploit their wealth.

Or we might call it a legal and political question.  If private
property , the law is changed, then capitalists will not be earning
what they are paid.  We, the 99%, can change the law of private
property.

^^^^^^^

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-- 
Chris Sturr
Co-editor, Dollars & Sense
29 Winter St.
Boston, Mass. 02108
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email:  sturr at dollarsandsense.org