I have been following this LTV discussion, admittedly not too closely,
and I'm struck by how slippery its determinants are becoming as
entrepreneurial Wild-Westism proceeds in the world.
For instance, I just unpacked a space heater that's far smaller, hotter
and smarter than anything previous, and only 40 bucks, tax included.
But, oops!, there it is: "Made in China," so suddenly I'm wondering
whether I have members of the new Chinese working class to thank,
or benighted wretches who are chained to their benches and sleep on
them at night. Whichever, how much does their labor contribute?
Then there's the ceramic heating element (better than quartz) and the
microprocessor that makes it smarter than me: where are _they_ from,
and who designed them?
Marx, living in the Workshop of the World, the very core of the core,
had no such conundrums to address; in all his years there he probably
never used, or even saw, a non-British industrial product. The colonies
supplied raw materials only, except for rum, and the rest of Europe was
producing for domestic markets and still largely in a hand tool stage.
I think Papa Karl would be better served if the LTV were completely
reapproached from the reality of today's conditions, and tomorrow's
(if we can truly predict them). He was amazingly prescient re current
reality, but only because his general perspective was so accurate as
to bring him here; the standpoint of day-to-day experience would
have been quite a different input. I'm not advocating a dumbing-down
of the theory, but more a smarting-up of its defenders and discussers,
since it too is finally a product that must compete in the marketplace.
valis
