The Sandwichman remarked recently that that "finance capital is all there
is:
It's only a paradox if you believe there needs to be an identity between two
very different concepts of capital, one of which is an accumulation of
surplus value and the other a capitalization of a future income stream.
Rather than an identity, the relationship between the two constitutes an
apologetics, with the accumulation of capital(1) _seeming_ to represent (as
a "factor of production") and thus justify the capitalization(2) of the
future income.
Either Marx was wrong or I understand Marx incorrectly to posit "industrial
capital" as the generative form of capital. I would tend to be mersuaded by
Nitzan and Bichler that finance capital is all there is. Capital is a
present valuation of an expected return. And that's it. That might not seem
"just" or "fair" or "materially grounded" but perhaps that's the point.
Power is it's own raison d'etre. Capital says, "I get, therefore I am."
The Sandwichman
The same idea seems to be asserted on the A-List.
>From the A-List:
In reply, Michael Hudson wrote:
<<Boy, are you optimistic.
The economy's largest sectors -- real estate,
oil and gas, and mining -- haven't declared any profits for half a
century.(If they did, they'd have to pay taxes.) They operate as a public
charity.
What real estate is after is capital gains, not
profits. The profits are paid out to the bankers. The rest of the economy
likewise has been financialized.
And as for increasing productive capacity,
capital gains (and what profits there are) are made by downsizing and
outsourcing.
Welcome to post-industrial finance
capitalism.>>
and Henry Liu added, inter alia:
<<No company has actually earned profits for decades.
All profits come from bookkeeping manipulation and tax
avoidance. Finance capitalism is not interested in the least about labor
efficiency or productivity. Its game is mergers and acquisition,share
buy-backs, increasing shareholder value, intellectual property, good-will
value,brand names,
marketing infrastructure, etc. Labor and plants are
merely props for the game.>>
