Study Guide for "Where do Profits Come From?"
The following includes a very broad set of questions to help you understand your assigned reading. You are responsible for material in the article that these questions may not directly address. That is, to do well on the quiz you must read the entire article at least once if not more than once. On the day of the quiz, you will have a five question multiple choice quiz in class. Study hard and enjoy understanding where profits come from
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Define costs of production, sales revenues, and profits.
What are the two main flaws of the monopoly rip-off argument?
What percent of giant corporations' profits can be attributed to special monopoly pricing power?
Why are dollars taken in not a good measure of profits--what is a better measure?
Explain in detail and give an example that illustrates your understanding of the following sentence. "The ultimate source of profits in a capitalist economy is the extra time that workers spend on the job after they've produced enough goods to cover their own wages." Use the following terms in your answer, necessary labor time, surplus labor time, and surplus value.
According to the article, what is the foundation for corporate profits in U.S. capitalism?
Why must capitalists pay their workers enough to sustain themselves? What threats can capitalists use and employ to keep wages down?
What are the two connected features of economic control in capitalist economies and how are they related to the costs of labor? Use the following terms in your answer, reserve pool of wage-laborers and private and centralized ownership of the means of production.
Explain this statement: "Profits come from corporate power over workers."
Should capitalists keep all the rewards from making risking investments? Give two reasons why they should not.
Should capitalists keep all the profits from investing in new machines and by doing so making their production process more productive? Give several reasons why they should not keep all the rewards.
Why do capitalists fight so hard to keep unions out of their businesses? Why is "forced overtime" extremely attractive to capitalists?
Why are capitalists driven to discover ways to increase the rate of production from their workers? Describe ways in which capitalists increase worker productivity.
Why is Radford University increasing the number of "staff/adjuncts" who teach courses and why is there a drive to increase the number of students each professor teaches?
Comment on the argument that profits are good for all of us who do not own the means of production.
Comment on the argument that the lives of working men and women would change if only capitalists would hire administrators/managers who were truly concerned about working conditions.
What is the class struggle?
What three factors determine the level of surplus value capitalists can extract from their workers?