, of which we will speak
in its place.
What, then, is this reality, known to all peoples, and
nevertheless still so badly defined, which is called interest or
the price of a loan, and which gives rise to the fiction of the
productivity of capital?
Everybody knows that a contractor, when he calculates his costs
of production, generally divides them into three classes: 1, the
values consumed and services paid for; 2, his personal salary; 3,
recovery of his capital with interest. From this last class of
costs is born the distinction between contractor and capitalist,
although these two titles always express but one faculty,
monopoly.
Thus an industrial enterprise which yields only interest on
capital and nothing for net product, is an insignificant
enterprise, which results only in a transformation of values
without adding anything to wealth,-- an enterprise, in short,
which has no further reason for existence and is immediately
abandoned. Why is it, then, that this interest on capital
is not regarded as a sufficient supplement of net product? Why
is it not itself the net product?
Here again the philosophy of the economists is wanting.
Pages:
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471