The Falling Rate of Profit (Intro to Marxism Part 4)

[@TexTalksSometimes]

Notes to read before levelling criticism: * I am well aware that labor saving in capital goods industries can decrease C and create a decreasing composition of capital. I mention it at the end but probably don't spend enough time talking about it. I am fairly sure that, capital goods requirements staying the same, as long as labor saving in the capital goods industry doesn't significantly outpace labor saving in the wage/luxuries sectors, C/V rises. I haven't fully confirmed this however. As I say in the video multiple times, the goal was to just present Marx's argument uncritically. I know he was aware of this issue but his handling of it is ridiculous. He just defines the organic composition to be 'C/V insofar as it does what I want it to'. I elected to ignore the issue it entirely. Maybe that's dishonest. I dunno. I did it in the interest of not confusing people. * My thoughts on the C region stuff in the 'implications in real terms section' are not fully developed. I felt like I needed to address those points for obvious political reasons but the ideas are closer to my own and need more working out. In particular there are obviously problems with thinking about the wasteful labor in an equilibrium economy, and that's where the difficulties lie. I'll probably edit this again

[@watcher314159]

Something that perhaps should have been mentioned when discussing the non-inevitability of greed is that a quick look at non-capitalist societies in the anthropological record shows that greed is indeed not inevitable (at least not on a socially dominant and pervasive level; individual people will indeed sometimes be greedy), and even that wealth inequality does not necessarily imply either greed or exploitation (and when there is greed the lack of exploitation means that the harm made possible by that greed is almost eliminated).

[@cavalera380]

banger video

[@skatefastreadmarx5564]

I love your comment that the way Marx deals with the issue that increasing productivity doesn't always lead to increased OCC to the point that it causes a falling rate of profit is "ridiculous" is very correct, he basically just repeats a working situation in the part in vol 3 and then continues on without ever proving the claim that it must be the case that the OCC rises, all he proves is the possibility. I'm actually writing a paper for class on this right now, defending Cockshott and Cottrells argument that its the rate of population growth which largely determines how the tendency will go.

[@TexTalksSometimes]

Oh cool, jealous you're taking a class on this stuff. May I ask what school?

[@skatefastreadmarx5564]

@@TexTalksSometimes Sure! Its the Evergreen State College, I'm doing an independent learning contract on volume 3 (I've read bits sporadically but never fully through), doing a study of debates on the falling rate of profit and a public facing presentation, and then a paper diving into the importance of the concept of fetishism in volume 3 and Marxs philosophical critique of capitalism, pulling mostly from II Rubin and Ian Wright. I was gonna do another paper on the complexities of crisis theory and simultaneously defend the falling rate of profit fanatics and the idea that crises can happen due to different complexities leading to oscillation within the system, but got very caught up in whats been taking the nation by storm.

[@theenix_adn7517]

This is absolutely incredible, you put into words (and math) the thoughts i have had about capitalism and i really couldnt take the time to study these subjects. I have always wondered why exactly the capitalist class would keep exploiting workers and do things the way they do, greed is obviously not the main cause, it makes sense that not only they are born basically in a totally different culture from what the lower class is, but they are also constantly fighting "with" the system and trying to keep it at float. It still does feel like there is something off though, just like you said, the lower class theories are underdeveloped so the model isnt complete, but it fits very well.

[@TexTalksSometimes]

This is really nice to read, thank you so much for your kind words! Seems like you're picking up exactly what I was trying to pass on to people :)

[@theenix_adn7517]

Also loosely related to huntsman's comment: i think ive heard before that a socialist economist had predicted the 2008 financial crysis and considered it not just mishap but actually an inevitability in the capitalist system that happen from time to time, just like it did in 1907, though im not sure of any of this, like i said im not well versed on these topics

[@TexTalksSometimes]

I'm sure most of them thought that tbh. We'll be talking all about the inevitability of periodic crises in the next video. They're not just inevitable, they're critical to the system functioning in the long term

[@theenix_adn7517]

Thats fascinating, i will definetly be checking the next videos, and hopefully the computation videos aswell when i get the time!

[@felixii4931]

Correct, anwar shaikh, michael roberts & many others have consistently predicted cyclical recessions, they're a feature not a bug

[@huntsman8787]

Great Video as always. I think that you have made the Falling Rate plausible (could happen) but haven't shown it to be true (does happen). We know that not all plausible things are true, and hence the video would have been greatly improved if you added some empirical evidence showing the falling rate of profit from Kliman/Moseley etc.

[@TexTalksSometimes]

Tbh I haven't looked into the evidence enough to give an educated opinion on it. I don't feel like I'd be able to take a stance on the evidence without first studying econometrics and that's on the to do list. For now all I feel good for is presenting the logic

[@TexTalksSometimes]

If you have some suggestions on where to look for that kind of thing though I can add links in the description

[@huntsman8787]

@@TexTalksSometimes Fair enough.