[Reader-list] The residue

[Are Flagan]

In the wealth of nations, published in 1776 along with the declaration of
independence (but on another continent, of course), adam smith sketched out
the parameters of market capitalism, but he struggled with the mechanisms
that set the value of goods. What actually determines how much something is
worth? The answer essentially revolved around the cost of labor, but this
immediately raised another question about profits. How could such a system
grow through a surplus? Smith's solution was the recognition that accounts
for the residual effect; those with the means of production had to pay their
workers less than their labors were worth and keep or invest the difference
to accumulate capital. The very founding principle of market capitalism is
hence uneven development and all the figures quoted in the articles are what
we succinctly call the widening gap between rich and poor. It happens on a
local scale, between people, and on a global scale, between countries, and
at an accelerated rate. For the system to maintain and increase its
profitable margin, capital must be able to migrate to places and conditions
where the return is greatest -- this is third world labor. When populations
of workers start to move (countering the move of corporations coming to
them, like the recent move of Quark, the software company, to India), to
increase their own worth by securing higher returns on their toils, the
profits decrease and the the balance of development shifts away from
accumulation toward mere maintenance. It is easy to see why and how borders
play an increasingly important role in keeping the flow of capital
directional, while the cheapest labor remains unable to escape the
exploitative conditions of its plundered country. I think what you say about
incarcerations internally is absolutely correct. But consider also camps
like Woomera in Australia, Sangatte in France, Yarl's Wood (spelling ?) in
England, even X-Ray on a US base in Cuba. These are interment camps in legal
limbo, some even run by corporations (like Group 4/Wackenhut) not
governments, intended to stop these migrations and simultaneously make
dispossessed people disappear, without identities, national and otherwise
since they are now considered entirely without status, rights and arguably
worth. I believe this is the clearest current example of the residue effect
you talk about. And it is certainly a topic that desperately needs
visibility.

-af