[Marxism] Worth Looking At

[S. Artesian]

Actually, they are comparisons of rates of change, and they are comparisons 
of actual costs of compensation, with the BLS attempting a "standard" for 
compensation rather than wages or earnings, since what constitutes earnings, 
says the BLS, varies considerably from country to country.   The 
compensation cost seeks to capture all that goes into compensation-- i.e. 
hourly direct payments and employer social insurance expenditures and labor 
taxes of any kind. This includes payment for time worked, time not worked 
[vacations, holidays], selected social allowances, expenditures for 
retirement and disability, health insurance, income guarantees, sick leave, 
life and accident insurance, injury and illness compensation, unemployment 
insurance, payroll taxes.. etc.

And it is possible to draw a comparison from the data provided-- a 
comparison of the relative strength of the most developed countries in 
holding down total compensation costs, and that continues to be to the 
advantage of the US bourgeoisie.

As for the issue of compensation subsidies from less developed to more 
developed... the tables shine just a little light on this if you keep in 
mind the proportions, the changing proportions of corporate income deriving 
from overseas or foreign activities and the trend in actual compensation 
costs.    Regarding this-- I agree that no hard/fast conclusion should be 
drawn, but it does provide an interesting area for further investigation.

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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Palmer" <spalmer999 at yahoo.com>
To: <sartesian at earthlink.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:49 PM
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Worth Looking At

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