Of surplus-value/capital

[Entrails Konfetti]

Hello,I'm new here.

Hmmm,we're told not to have photos of ourselves as avitars.Bastard Nazis better not beat my dog up!

Anyways,I've been reading Capital for some time now.Marx mentions how that if the Capitalist were to add a profit to the commoditie,and from the money the capitalist recieves,he doesn't really make a profit because he must have to buy with the money he made.When he purchases something in the market,that commoditie he buys has a profit attached to it by someother capitalist.

This makes sense but,howcome if the business men of the world don't really recieve full profit they manage to remain wealthy? Is there something I'm missing here ?

[NovelGentry]

Capitalists are consumers too, and unless you're a very broad capitalist it's unlikely you supply everything your business needs to operate. In buying a good or service from another capitalist, those capitalists too are acquring products with profit added to the necessary cost of labor to create them. In turn, they develop their products with it, the end result is massive profit stacked on top of one another.

Generally speaking the capitalist must add profit to whatever his costs are in order to come out on top. The final production, those that deal with an item sold as an inclusive product, is stacked with his profit along with the profit of the rest. In the workings though, it is inescapable that he has "paid" some profit out to another, and thus, loses the total profit acquirable in that commodity. Get it? I hope that made sense.


EDIT:

Maybe I should clarify to actually attempt to answer your question. The capitalist does receive profit, but he does not receive the FULL profit -- some other capitalists make off with that. His wealth is derived as much by the scale of his empire, as by the margin which is his profit in particular... although that obviously plays a role.

[Entrails Konfetti]

"Generally speaking the capitalist must add profit to whatever his costs are in order to come out on top. "

So say for example,I sell you leather straps for you to make bags with an added 10% profit for myself,you turn around and sell the bags with an added profit of 25% ,correct ?

Is there actually a standard percentage on all commodities,or is really determined by how much the consumer is willing to pay ?

[KptnKrill]

Originally posted by EL [email protected] 30 2005, 05:47 PM
Is there actually a standard percentage on all commodities,or is really determined by how much the consumer is willing to pay ?
Well that kinda depends on the product now doesn't it?

[Entrails Konfetti]

Originally posted by [email protected] 30 2005, 05:56 PM

Well that kinda depends on the product now doesn't it?
So every commoditie has a certain standard percentage of profit on it ?

[NovelGentry]

So every commoditie has a certain standard percentage of profit on it ?

No, some products are regulated though. For most products it is the capitalists decision, if they feel they can get 50% profit on the market, they might shoot for it. Spend more in advertising to make it look really good, and make up for it heavily with profit. They may take a hit on other products that they sell if they feel their flagship offerings can establish enough to cover those -- thereby simply spreading their product line.

Microsoft, for example, does this. They make so much from their OS and Office that they've taken losses on a number of their other products simply to establish themselves in that field. For example, the XBox. But in doing this they a) make up for it in game licenses (once you have an XBox it's fairly useless without games) and b) have a chance to drive competitors out of business.

What must always be true is that given the whole, the whole of the companies earnings, the whole of their product sales, the whole of their costs, etc... they must be on top. They can undersell by taking hits, but only on the condition that they have made enough prior to that or are effectively ensured to make enough after that, to cover their losses. In the end, they always have to make more than they give back, or else they do not survive.

This wealth does not come out of thin air. It is extracted. The value of the product to the consumer is more than the value given to the worker for their labor required to make that product. This is true on an "overall" scale at all times through the development of a commodity, including the final sale of that commodity.

[slim]

A simple but good example of varying profit is baked beans.

Theyre all the same most of the time but with prices varying from 9p to 35p.