Marx also refers, here, to the point I have made earlier, in relation to the current conditions, and the draining of surplus value into interest/dividends, so as to keep the prices of fictitious capital inflated.
“It is clear furthermore that if compound interest equals accumulation, then, apart from the absolute limits of accumulation, the growth of this interest depends on the extent, the intensity, etc., of the accumulation process itself, that is, on the mode of production. Otherwise compound interest is nothing but appropriation of the Capital (property) of others in the form of interest as was the case in Rome and in general with usurers.” (p 303-4)
That is what we have seen in a variety of forms. Firstly, although yields on shares, bonds, property have continually fallen that is only because the prices of these assets have risen astronomically, as a consequence of serially inflated bubbles. The actual amounts paid out as dividends, bond interest, rent etc. has risen substantially, as shown by the evidence provided by Haldane, in relation to the rise in the proportion of profit paid out in dividends. In essence, this amounts to stealing from socialised capital. It is made possible by the fact that current company law, in relation to corporate governance, allows shareholders to exercise control over property – productive-capital – they do not own. It enables them to appoint Directors to look after the financial interests of shareholders not the company. The Directors themselves are incentivised to do that, by being themselves shareholders, paid in shares and stock options, and by being paid huge stipends, way in excess of any value they could possibly add to the company. In addition to over inflated dividend payments, this theft from the socialised capital is undertaken via direct capital transfers to shareholders, the use of profits to buy back and inflate company shares rather than for capital accumulation, and so on.
In addition, the suppression of wages over a long period has led to a dependence of large sections of workers on usury. That takes the form of large scale credit card debt, store card debt, and debts to payday lenders, and back street loan sharks. This is indirectly a draining of surplus value, away from profits, available for capital accumulation, and into the pockets of these usurers. A similar theft occurs via the payment of around £9 billion per year of Housing Benefit, into the pockets of landlords to cover massively inflated rents. Again that is surplus value that could otherwise have gone into real capital accumulation.
Had dividends been kept at 10% of profits, as in the 1970's, dividend yields would have sunk to zero, and the astronomical bubble in stock markets would not have been possible to sustain for so long, and it would have had a consequent effect on bond and land prices. The vast revenues that have flowed in interest and rent payments to these socially useless classes would instead have gone into productive investment, creating more sustainable higher value, more productive employment.
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