yeah it’s not good if the only thing that matters is to capture gains in profit instead of passing on cost reductions. if everything is financialized and built on infinite growth then those numbers need to always go up.
EDIT: when concentration of production occurs under a DotP and those large, near-monopoly companies are state-owned, then when you make productivity gains or technological advances those gains can be passed on to everyone via price reductions
Except reinvestment doesn’t matter if you aren’t capturing any labor value from that reinvestment. All of this financialization does not produce any labor value, which is why inflation goes up.
This is why, according to Adam Smith, in order to create wealth, real substantial wealth, the ‘wealth of nations (not individuals)’, you need to be able to direct that individual wealth into areas that produce labor value for the society.
Inflation and deflation are, according to Adam Smith and Karl Marx, essentially symptoms of the same problem. The problem of using fetishes (currency) and exchange value, to represent and derive labor value, when the two are separate things. But we can, in theory, integrate inflation and deflation into part of a formula that creates labor value.
love too fearmonger about deflation as if regular people who buy things don’t like lower prices
It’s a problem when society is lead by self-interested business men.
yeah it’s not good if the only thing that matters is to capture gains in profit instead of passing on cost reductions. if everything is financialized and built on infinite growth then those numbers need to always go up.
EDIT: when concentration of production occurs under a DotP and those large, near-monopoly companies are state-owned, then when you make productivity gains or technological advances those gains can be passed on to everyone via price reductions
The textbook problem with deflation is that rich people keep their cash instead of reinvesting it.
I’m sure this could be countered with wealth tax too.
But keeping the working class in a continuous economic struggle just to maintain their income is a desired outcome of inflation, I’m sure.
Except reinvestment doesn’t matter if you aren’t capturing any labor value from that reinvestment. All of this financialization does not produce any labor value, which is why inflation goes up.
This is why, according to Adam Smith, in order to create wealth, real substantial wealth, the ‘wealth of nations (not individuals)’, you need to be able to direct that individual wealth into areas that produce labor value for the society.
Inflation and deflation are, according to Adam Smith and Karl Marx, essentially symptoms of the same problem. The problem of using fetishes (currency) and exchange value, to represent and derive labor value, when the two are separate things. But we can, in theory, integrate inflation and deflation into part of a formula that creates labor value.