----- Original Message ----- From: John A Imani To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, December 13, 2010 5:14 PM Subject: Henryk Grossman's" Law of the Accumulation of Capital" and the Internet
Henryk Grossman's" Law of the Accumulation of Capital" and the Internet "...what is the impact of the accumulation of capital on the process of reproduction? Can the equilibrium which is presupposed be sustained in the long run or do new moments emerge in the course of accumulation which have a disruptive effect on it?" Henryk Grossman "Law of the Accumulation and Breakdown of the Capitalist System. 1929 http://www.marxists.org/archive/grossman/1929/breakdown/ch02.htm Grossman's supposition (following Marx' analysis in Capital Vol 3 Chapter XV Section 3) asserts that in advanced capitalism a disjunction occurs when the growth of the constant capital relative to the surplus produced by it (s/C) leads to a falling rate of profit and an eventual breakdown of the system as the amount of surplus produced in not sufficient to meet the investment needs. Excerpt from Business Week's article "Will Video Kill the Internet, Too." 12-6-2010. P43-4 http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_50/b4207043617708.htm (Curiously, the on-line version is entitled: "Will Netflix Kill the Internet?") "AT&T (T) and Comcast (CMCSA) will see Internet revenues grow by 5 percent a year through 2020. Meanwhile, traffic will surge by 27 percent annually, and carriers will need to increase their investments by 20 percent a year to keep up with demand. By this math, the carriers' business models break down in 2014, when the total investment needed exceeds revenue growth." In addition, there is this interesting tidbit on the second page online. P44 print): "Sanford C. Bernstein (AB) analyst Craig Moffett has studied the issue from the perspective of the wireless carriers. As traffic soars, he expects the revenue per megabit to fall from 43 cents today to just 2 cents in 2014." http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/10_50/b4207043617708_page_2.htm Here, the curious business propensity (think oil companies) to reckon profit on the ratio of return from the circulating capital. In this case, the 'information packages' (i.e. movies, downloads, etc) are seen effectively as the circulating capital (v). This all akin to a capitalist commodity merchant reckoning his rate of profit (P') by his margin on each good sold. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
