File spoon-archives/marxism-thaxis.archive/marxism-thaxis_1997/marxism-thaxis.9708, message 108


From: "Karl Carlile" <joseph-AT-indigo.ie>
Subject: Re: M-TH: Labor Theory of Value and Keynesianism
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 02:39:13 -0700


This is a multi-part message in MIME format.




KARL: Hi Boddhisatva! This is a duplicate of my last posting to you.Just in
case you missed as happens.

BODDHISATVA: It is credit, not accumulation, that increases the
velocity of money.

KARL: There exist a necessary link between credit and the character of
the accumulation of capital. Clearly under conditions of accelerated
accumulation credit tend to expand. Under conditions of contracting
accumulation credit tends to contract. Accumulation of capital, the
expansion of the valorisation process, is the source of both credit and
medium of exchange under capitalism. Under conditons of accelerated
accumulation of capital the velocity of circulation of money tends to
increase as does the expansion of credit. Both forms have their source
in the accumulation of capital.

BODDHISATVA:  It is true that the breakdown of a credit system and the
devaluation of a currency are linked.  However, a government
devaluation, or any government action which puts the value of the
currency in doubt
(Mexico, a couple years ago, Thailand a few weeks ago) can cause the
credit system to collapse (or be weakened).

KARL:	In so far as this is true it is because conditons of accumulation
in those particular countries are in difficulty. As I said the
accumulation of capital, the valorisation process, is the source of
these developments and not any particualr government.

BODDHISATVA: As well, a collapsing credit
system can devalue a currency because of asset over-valuation (Japanese
and Korean real estate in the 80's and today, respectively; American
stocks in the 20's) or because of poor prospects for economic
production and growth (any country subject to war, natural disaster or
recession).

Internal deflation in a country which is undergoing recession is
associated with slackening consumption, not decreasing accumulation. 

KARL:Slackening consumption is a function of contractions in the
accumulation of capital. Recession is an euphemism for a slackening  in
the rate of accumulation of capital. If the rate of accumulation
diminishes then this tends to lead to a diminution in the quantity of
variable capital advanced in the form of wages. This tends to lead to a
decline in the volume of consumption  by the working class.

Concerning the rest of yoour message I fail to see what it has got to
do with modern  capitalist society. It is in the context of the latter
that the discussion, as far as it involved me, has been taking place.

Finally why do you regularly sign of with the logo 'peace'? Are you a
pacificst?


Greetings,
Karl Carlile


 


----------
boddhisatva <kbevans-AT-panix.com>
To: marxism-thaxis-AT-jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU
Subject: Re: M-TH: Labor Theory of Value and Keynesianism
Date: 06 August 1997 14:47





		Karl,



	It is credit, not accumulation, that increases the velocity of
money.  It is true that the breakdown of a credit system and the
devaluation of a currency are linked.  However, a government
devaluation,
or any government action which puts the value of the currency in doubt
(Mexico, a couple years ago, Thailand a few weeks ago) can cause the
credit system to collapse (or be weakened). As well, a collapsing
credit
system can devalue a currency because of asset over-valuation (Japanese
and Korean real estate in the 80's and today, respectively; American
stocks in the 20's) or because of poor prospects for economic
production
and growth (any country subject to war, natural disaster or recession).

Internal deflation in a country which is undergoing recession is
associated with slackening consumption, not decreasing accumulation. 


	        The absence of commodity production - a distant and somewhat
utopian goal - would not obviate the need for money by any means. 
Money
is the measuring unit of credit, and credit is essential for an
interdependent economy, and economic growth.  One can only compare
apples
grown today with cider sold next month using money.  If one looks, for
example, at small towns in pre-revolutionary America, one finds a
currency-scarce and largely barter economy, engaged primarily in simple
reproduction. In that economy, vast, cumbersome networks of barter
credit
were created spontaneously.  If not for that credit, the economy would
have stood still, as will any interdependent economy without an
adequate
credit system. Credit needs a measuring unit, and money is and will be
that unit for the foreseeable future.  Even the allocation of resources
by
political edict does not obviate the need for money.  People need to be
paid now for work that will not have any economic benefit for some
time.
That work needs to be valued against future demand.  Money is the only
reasonable unit of valuation and credit is the only reasonable method
of
valuation.  Obviously under socialism access to credit must be
generalized
to the greatest extent possible.  Eventually, under communism, credit
and
democracy become synonymous. Yet even then credit must be measured, and
money is the obvious way to bridge the gap between promise and
delivery. 




	peace






     --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---

HTML VERSION:


Driftline Main Page

 

Display software: ArchTracker © Malgosia Askanas, 2000-2005