The mainstream Left faults corporate capitalism for planned obsolescence, waste, and general excess — but usually misses the statist root of the problem. Kevin Carson, though, consistently strikes it. His eleventh research study for the Center is now available for download: The Great Domain of Cost-Plus: The Waste Production Economy [PDF]
Cost-Plus: The Waste Production Economy
By Kevin Carson
“Mass production requires running machinery at full speed to minimize unit costs, without regard to preexisting demand. This large batch production model carries with it, in turn, the imperative of controlling the outside society to guarantee demand for the products, so the economy is not glutted with unsold inventory. This is accomplished, in part, by mechanisms of push distribution: high-pressure marketing and planned obsolescence. It is accomplished as well, at the macro level, by the existence of entire sectors of the economy whose primary function is to absorb surplus capital and production capacity.”
This “ready to print” version of Cost-Plus was created by Invisible Molotov.
Invisible Molotov is a market anarchist zine distro & publishing house.
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This looks fantastic. But dammit! I just downloaded his last 3 studies earlier today and started reading them… Tell Mr. Carson to stop being so prolific! On second thought, don't do that. We need more people with his insight and gift of gab.
when are you guys gonna publish these studies in a book so we can spend a few bucks supporting c4ss and kevin and so i don't have to read pdfs on the computer?
Seconding the above comment, are there any plans to publish these in book format?
Another stupendous paper.
On a more serious note – The section wherein you talk about the geometrically-increasing demand for subsidized sectors, while the subsidizers can only increase supply arithmetically bares much resemblance to the Jevons paradox.