not sure about these examples, Jim. People like having their hamburgers handed to them in their cars (rather than having to get out of their cars to pick them up) and they like shopping in supermarkets (rather than little shops where everything is behind a counter). You don't have to be a business genius to see that these are services that people value, and therefore part of the normal production of value. The analysis of finance as not being value-creating work is much narrower and certianly can't be extended to retailing - it's in the Critique of the Gotha Program.
-----Original Message----- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Jim Devine Sent: 23 September 2007 01:09 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Queery about Greenspan and productivity if they simply involve changing who has property rights for some commodities, work at "WalMart checkout desks and McDonald drive-through windows" is not productive in Marx's sense. (It's part of the necessary overhead.) if the people who work there provide services beyond that, they can be productive. -- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
