Suppose you have a 55 gallon drum sitting next to a lake. There are 2 men on either side of the drum using beer mugs to put water into the drum. An economist stands nearby counting and recording the number of mugs of water going into the drum each minute. So the number of mugs going in each minute is the GBP, Gross Barrel Product. BUT! There are 2 holes at the bottom of the barrel. One man is a capitalist and the economist has a gauge measuring the water coming out on his side. He subtracts this and puts it in his written reports to the government and other economists but most of the time he never talks about it.

There is water leaking out of the other hole for the worker consumer, but it is not measured. It is ignored. They pretend it doesn't exist.

Obviously the amount of water in the barrel is affected by the leakage from both holes. The equation that I am using is intended to account for both.

I haven't heard any Marxist sayng accounting should be mandatory in school. I once had a conversation with a man selling THE WORKER'S VANGAURD newspaper about it but he appeared to think it wasn't important. Everyone doing their accounting properly would notice their losses due to depreciation even though they can't deduct it from taxes. It could mean more people thinking about depreciation BEFORE they buy.

umbrarchist