"What I've been wondering is whether neoliberalism reflects a conscious
recognition of this need on the part of leading capitalists and their
ideologues."

 Wages-fund doctrine simplified (vulgar 19th century political economy):
1. Wages increase when the wages-fund increases.
2. The wages-fund increases when profits increase.
3. Profits increase when wages are kept low.
Thus the way to increase wages is to lower them.

Wages-fund doctrine updated (neoliberalism:
1. Full employment requires economic growth.
2. Sustained economic growth requires low inflation.
3. Controlling inflation requires limiting wage demands.
4. Limiting wage demands requires a non-accelerating inflation rate of
unemployment (NAIRU).
Thus the way to achieve full employment is to circumvent it.

On Thu, Jul 2, 2015 at 2:19 PM, Carrol Cox <[email protected]> wrote:

> Tom Walker:
>
> That is the "beauty" of capitalist production.
>
>         "that it not only constantly reproduces the wage-worker as
> wage-worker, but produces always, in proportion to the accumulation of
> capital, a relative surplus population of wage-workers."
>
> ========
>
> I believe capitalism is unique among all social systems in both creating
> and depending on a large body of unemployed men and women.
>
> What I've been wondering is whether neoliberalism reflects a conscious
> recognition of this need on the part of leading capitalists and their
> ideologues.
>
> That would make sense of the determination of Germany to crush Greece, and
> the support for this goal from other capitalist powers.
>
> Chapter 14 of WPP seems to see austerity as an effective form of
> repressing revolutionary activity by reducing workers to one level mass of
> wretches incapable of any higher struggle.
>
> Carrol
>
>
>
>
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>



-- 
Cheers,

Tom Walker (Sandwichman)
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