EconoSpeak

 The phrase quoted in the title is probably the most well-known in the Grundrisse. It has been cited in books and journal articles at least a hundred times, an order of magnitude more frequently that the alternative translation found in the collected works, "capital itself is a contradiction-in-process," It is also a centerpiece of Moishe Postone's Time, Labor and Social Domination, where Postone quotes the sentence that contains it twice, in full: Capital itself is the moving contradiction,...

 I am posting before the election results of Nov. 2, 2021 are fully in, but it looks that the GOP candidates will win in Virginia, where Biden beat Trump by 10 points a year ago for the statewide races, with GOP making gains in the House of Delegates that may switch its control to them, although that remains more up in the air. Also in New Jersey, where it was presumed that the Dem incumbent would easily win, the race is too close to call and he might lose.  In short, the GOP is doing very...

 I am posting before the election results of Nov. 2, 2021 are fully in, but it looks that the GOP candidates will win in Virginia, where Biden beat Trump by 10 points a year ago for the statewide races, with GOP making gains in the House of Delegates that may switch its control to them, although that remains more up in the air. Also in New Jersey, where it was presumed that the Dem incumbent would easily win, the race is too close to call and he might lose.  In short, the GOP is doing very...

In the early 1980s, I was riding home from work on a bus and looked out the window at a Toyota pickup truck alongside. I was overwhelmed by the realization that I could never in my life make such an object by hand, even if I had a well-supplied metal workshop. From that perspective, how could I hope to own such an item? I did own a Volkswagen Rabbit but somehow the pickup truck made more of an impression on me at the time.I was experiencing a severe burnout from work in those days that...

In the early 1980s, I was riding home from work on a bus and looked out the window at a Toyota pickup truck alongside. I was overwhelmed by the realization that I could never in my life make such an object by hand, even if I had a well-supplied metal workshop. From that perspective, how could I hope to own such an item? I did own a Volkswagen Rabbit but somehow the pickup truck made more of an impression on me at the time.I was experiencing a severe burnout from work in those days that...

Marx mentioned, "the theory of surplus population and surplus capital," parenthetically, in the Grundrisse and "surplus population and surplus capital" in his 1862-63 draft of Capital. Although it isn't certain what theory exactly he was referring to, the phrase reappears, in reverse order, in chapter 15, section 3 of volume III of Capital, "Surplus Capital alongside Surplus Population," indicating internal contradictions of the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall.  Don't you...

Marx mentioned, "the theory of surplus population and surplus capital," parenthetically, in the Grundrisse and "surplus population and surplus capital" in his 1862-63 draft of Capital. Although it isn't certain what theory exactly he was referring to, the phrase reappears, in reverse order, in chapter 15, section 3 of volume III of Capital, "Surplus Capital alongside Surplus Population," indicating internal contradictions of the law of the tendency of the rate of profit to fall.  Don't you...

 Abner Linwood Holton, Jr. has just died at age 98 at his home in Kilmarnock, Virginia, near Richmond. There is a certain irony in this as a Republican, Glenn Youngkin, is likely to be elected governor of the state in three days, and Holton was the first Republican to be elected to that position since Reconstruction, which ha managed to do in 1970.  He defeated the pro-segregation Byrd Machine that had run the Democrats and the state since the 1930s.  That machine had supported massive...

 Abner Linwood Holton, Jr. has just died at age 98 at his home in Kilmarnock, Virginia, near Richmond. There is a certain irony in this as a Republican, Glenn Youngkin, is likely to be elected governor of the state in three days, and Holton was the first Republican to be elected to that position since Reconstruction, which ha managed to do in 1970.  He defeated the pro-segregation Byrd Machine that had run the Democrats and the state since the 1930s.  That machine had supported massive...

From: Tom WalkerSent: October 27, 2021 3:49 PMTo: [email protected]: Lump of labor fallacyDear Scott,I just came across your article, “Examining the Lump of Labor Fallacy Using a Simple Economic Model,” from November of last year on the St. Louis Fed website. I have done quite a bit of research on this topic and I was dismayed to see the old canard of a fallacy recycled without any attention to the documentation refuting the perennial fallacy claims.You state that “the ‘lump...