{"resolved":true,"match_type":"uuid","source_type":"original_book","book_id":"4a3d22bd-c5b9-47a4-a022-bd35d44d9bfe","title":"Zombie Capitalism Global Crisis and the Relevance of Marx","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781608461042","requested_by":"printed_page","book":{"source_type":"original_book","book_id":"4a3d22bd-c5b9-47a4-a022-bd35d44d9bfe","id":"4a3d22bd-c5b9-47a4-a022-bd35d44d9bfe","uuid":"4a3d22bd-c5b9-47a4-a022-bd35d44d9bfe","title":"Zombie Capitalism Global Crisis and the Relevance of Marx","normalized_title":"zombiecapitalismglobalcrisisandtherelevanceofmarx","author":null,"edition":null,"publisher":null,"year":null,"isbn":"9781608461042","isbns":["9781608461042"],"parsed":true,"ai_readable":true,"document_type":"book","page_count":426,"navigation_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/4a3d22bd-c5b9-47a4-a022-bd35d44d9bfe","title_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/title/Zombie%20Capitalism%20Global%20Crisis%20and%20the%20Relevance%20of%20Marx","fixed_page_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/ai/book/4a3d22bd-c5b9-47a4-a022-bd35d44d9bfe/page/{printed_page}","path_api_url_template":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/book/4a3d22bd-c5b9-47a4-a022-bd35d44d9bfe/page/{printed_page}","read_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/read/4a3d22bd-c5b9-47a4-a022-bd35d44d9bfe","page_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/4a3d22bd-c5b9-47a4-a022-bd35d44d9bfe/page","search_url":"https://workshop.closeclaw.top/api/ai/books/4a3d22bd-c5b9-47a4-a022-bd35d44d9bfe/search"},"page":{"printed_page":75,"pdf_page":75,"physical_index":75,"physical_index_base":0,"printed_page_status":"recognized","page_sha256":"fdfd8de7c22234cf490f5385925890f4da8260f53a0075bf94c58413c06bb516"},"chapter":"Zombie Capitalism Global Crisis and the Relevance of Marx","content":"Capitalism is based not just on value but upon the self-expansion of the values embodied in capital. This necessarily implies a comparison of current surplus value with the prior capitalist investment from which it flows. The very notion of \"self-expanding values\" is incoherent without it. And the loss of value of the equipment and materials of production that have already been paid for is detrimental to the self-expansion of value.\n\nThe fall in the cost of investment might help the new capitalist. But he in turn is under pressure from still other capitalists who invest after him in still cheaper equipment. And all the time the existence of surplus value made in previous rounds of production and available for investment in still newer techniques serves to push up the ratio of investment to the labour force.\n\nThere is continual growth in the mass of surplus value seeking an outlet for investment. The more of this surplus value an individual capitalist can get hold of, the bigger the investments he can make and the more productivity-increasing innovations he will be able to introduce compared to his competitors. A capitalist may be able to buy today a machine which is twice as productive as one he paid the same price for a year ago. But that is no help to him if a rival is using greater accumulated surplus value to buy a machine four times as productive. The individual capitalist can stay in business only if he spends as much surplus value as possible on new means of production. If the means of production become cheaper, that only results in his having to buy more of them in order to achieve competitive success. So long as there is more surplus value available for investment than there was previously, the organic composition of capital will tend to rise, other things being equal.47 It makes no difference if the physical means and materials of production are cheaper-that just causes more of them to be employed.\n\nCrisis and the falling rate\n\nBut if the depreciation of capital through increased productivity cannot by itself save the rate of profit, it can if it is combined with something else-the crisis. For the crisis involves some capitals being made bankrupt. They are then forced to dispose of their capital not just at its depreciated value, but for anything they can get, however little. The beneficiaries are those capitalists who survive the crisis. They can pick up means of production-accumulations of value-on the cheap, enabling them to restore their own rates of profit.\n\nThe Dynamics of the System\n\n75","previous_page":74,"next_page":76}