Paul Philips writes: >> I think one of the problems that many have with the concept of >> productive/unproductive labour is that many workers are both at the same >> time and the productive/unproductive aspects of their labour can not be >> separated or quantified independently. Take for instance the gated >> community security guard who is productive in the sense I outlined >> above, but is also protecting the insurance companies in their pursuit >> of realizing surplus value and, in this sense, is unproductive labour.
Perhaps not relevant, but this reminds me of a law school exam on secured transactions which tests the student's understanding that a truck is "inventory" in the hands of the dealer, "equipment" in the hands of a business purchaser, and "goods" in the hands of a consumer purchaser. David Shemano
