the same instance the general rate of profit gradually and inevitably falls , due to a stagnant or diminished amount of variable capital being used-up in production . The profit rate falls because in a mad-dash to cut production-costs in order to maximize profits , the capitalist reduces variable capital , i . e . wages , to its minimum while augmenting constant capital to it maximum , thus , resulting in ever-increasing costsaving-technology and means of production on one side and ever-diminishing and / or static variable capital on the other side , which only accelerates the general falling rate of profit .
It is important to note that this process , concerning the general falling rate of profit , is the product of expanded capitalist reproduction rather than simple capitalist reproduction . If simple capitalist reproduction , according to Marx , is about capitalists consuming the total sum of profits , created after one turnover , on themselves , i . e ., “ where surplus value , [ i . e . profit ], no matter what its proportional size [ is ] used … only for individual consumption ”[ 83 ], essentially maintaining industrial production and reproduction at its current static level , then expanded capitalist reproduction is about reinvesting and growing capitalist production and capitalist reproduction . For Marx , expanded capitalist reproduction is about all or parts of “ the realization of … surplus value , [ i . e . profits , being ] transformed back … into additional natural elements of [ i . e . constant capital , or ] productive capital , [ where ] in the next production circuit , the increased capital supplies an increased product ”[ 84 ], which itself is reinvested and used to expand capitalist reproduction , ad infinitum . It is only in expanded capitalist reproduction that capitalism is susceptible to a general falling rate of profit , where constant profits , not totally used up by individual capitalist consumption , are continually reinvested in production so as to make it grow , both to maximize profit and the profit rate . Within simple capitalist reproduction , there is no tendency towards a general falling rate of profit , despite the fact that simple capitalist reproduction , nonetheless , functions according to a process of general equalization of all profits and profit rates among all spheres of production .
Be that as it may , in sum , the general falling rate of profit , the general equalization of profit rates across all spheres of production and the stability of prices of production etc . are all predicated on the strict assumptions underlying Marx ’ s economic model and his mechanistic law of value . Such assumptions , that value is only scientifically quantifiable value , that value cannot be created in exchange , that total value and total price are synonymous , that value and price are given numerical finite sums and nothing more etc ., limit Marx ’ s economic model and analysis to a certain fatalistic economic reasoning . These underlying assumptions constrict Marx ’ s economic model and his analysis , ultimately , forcing Marx to adopt certain irreversible conclusions and outcomes , pertaining to the capitalist modes of production , consumption and distribution , which are not necessarily valid . Yet , because Marx adheres to a strict immutable capitalist law , due to his overwhelming desire to discover an immutable law inherent within capitalism , a modern Newtonian desire in tune with the 19 th century , he is thus , in consequence , obligated to ascribe to a set of terminal economic conclusions and outcomes , precisely , due to the overarching freestanding law of value , he has fetishized .
III
All the same , there is ( unquantifiable ) value to Marx ’ s economic model and his mechanistic law of value , but it is incomplete in the sense that by adhering to a strict scientific , economic reason , Marx fails to understand the malleability , multiplicity , creativity and overall unpredictability of value and value-production , namely that value , ( and value-production ), is a broader term than simply scientifically quantifiable value . Value is as well comprised of larger unquantifiable value . And this unquantifiable value , contrary to Marx , has substantial influence on the capitalist modes of production , consumption and distribution , namely how price , value , profit and wage determinations function and operate within postindustrial post-modern bourgeois-state-capitalism . Creative-power , the larger context and concept of labor-power , is foremost the source of general-value and general-value embodies both quantifiable and