The New Propaganda of Declining Profit Shares and Inadequate Investment

Abstract

This paper investigates and refutes the claim, sponsored by business interests and prominent economists, that there is a shortage of capital in the United States, arising from undue encroachment on profits by rising wages The statistical distortions involved are exposed Data are presented proving that the surplus value generated bv U S workers is more than ample for any reasonably expectable dom estic investment requirements, under capitalist conditions Other data are presented which show that the share of capital in net values created has been stable or increasing in recent decades, while the rate of exploitation of labor has increased, and the wage share of net production declined The paper characterizes the false claims as propaganda devices used to justify attacks on working peoples' living standards, which are already underway An alternative policy approach is sketched, and an ultimate socialist solution advocated