> Ricardo Duchesne:
>
> >Oviously the
> >notion that European capitalism developed as a result of the
> >exploitation of the Third World has been so roundly refuted I need
> >not elaborate this here. Just a handy, if incomplete, stats: At
> >most 2% of Europe's GNP at the end of 18th century took the form of
> >profits derived from commerce with Americas, Asia, Africa! (I think
> >source is K.O'Brien).
LP replied:
> Isn't slavery exploitation? Isn't theft of gold and silver from the veins
> of Latin America exploitation? Are you using "exploitation" in the narrow
> sense of Marxist value theory? That would be very naughty of you, if not
> even perverse.
Exploitation or theft have nothing to do with the
extent to which colonization fueled capitalist
development. What matters are returns in
excess of cost. Even thievery is not possible
without costs to the perpetrator. I could exploit
you or steal from you and still earn meager
returns. If exploitation guaranteed profit, low-wage
firms would never go bankrupt, but of course they
do all the time.
I have to say that after one of your arrivals here
you would excoriate others for substituting citations
for arguments. At the time I thought this was well-
taken, up to a point, but now we seem to have an
accelerating ratio of footnotes to discussion which
tends to narrow participation in the discussion.
MBS
===================================================
Max B. Sawicky Economic Policy Institute
[EMAIL PROTECTED] 1660 L Street, NW
202-775-8810 (voice) Ste. 1200
202-775-0819 (fax) Washington, DC 20036
http://tap.epn.org/sawicky
Opinions above do not necessarily reflect the views
of anyone associated with the Economic Policy
Institute other than this writer.
===================================================
