Re: Re: Re: incomplete abstraction vs. empiricism

[Rob Schaap]

Hi again,

Speculates Paul, most intriguingly:

> Indeed, early capital 
>accumulation (I argue until after the 1st WW) was from unequal 
>exchange between the commercial/transportation sector which 
>used its monopoly power to extract surplus from the primary 
>producer, not from appropropriated surplus value from waged 
>workers.

May we draw a parallel betwixt the railroads of 1900 and the Telco cartel
and IBM/MSFT behemoth in 2000, then?  Is the stuff they get back for their
product/service not way above exchange value?  Are they not copping heaps of
surplus value from other sectors (and, importantly, other countries) - much,
much more than might be indicated by looking at remuneration costs inside
the Telco/IT sector itself?  And ain't they working a lovely institutionally
protected (WIPO, WTO, trade-status threats etc) monopoly rort?

Cheers,
Rob.