Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 14:49:26 -0700 (PDT)
From: LH Engelskirchen <lhengels-AT-igc.apc.org>
Subject: followup


 
 
 
I forgot to identify myself in the last post thanking Chris for
"counterveiling".  I'm Howard, LHEngelskirchen,
lhengels-AT-igc.apc.org.  
 
Reflecting on what I wrote I realized that even assuming everything
I said, I still did not quite get to the point Hans E was making. 
One way I put it to myself was how are we to explain the "I can't
get no satisfaction" quality of contemporary social life.  Of
social life under capitalism.  What is the source of this?  I think
a (the?) source of it is in the emergent property of money -- a
commodity whose function is to express the value of all other
commodities.  The source is not in need itself, even aggregate
social need, for however expansive, real needs are not unlimited. 
Instead it is in the fact that money measures value, congealed
labor, and does so quantitatively.  That the function of
quantitative measure is inherently not subject to limitation,
itself has causal consequences for individual motivation and social
life.
 
Does this come closer to grasping the point, Hans?
 
 
Howard