Barry (prior): :
'[A]n additional process of production' is the exact phrase...
I would like to add that a bus driver, who traditionally drives people to the work place (either production process or circulation sphere) instead of driving commodities to their final selling-point (truck drivers), can be explained using the same principle---and I'm sorry that I neglected to do so in my earlier post. If socially necessary labor is, as I believe it is, whatever it takes to realize surplus value, then the taxes spent on public transportation are (indirect) variable costs. As transporting raw materials to the production site is a component of constant capital, transporting workers (such as those who cannot afford automobiles) to their respective work sites is a component of variable capital. This is also a 'necessary evil,' for workers who are paid so little (for doing certain jobs) that they cannot afford automobiles are workers who could not accept these jobs because they literally could not get to these jobs. Such companies can either pressure the real estate market to make room for their employees or agree to accept public transportation costs (through taxes). Like food prices, basic transportation costs are kept steady---through government intervention---so wage demands (variable expense) will stay steady...
Concerning the 'conventional wisdom' question, 'are bus drivers not really working class?,' I repeat: take a working class American to the Philippines and he or she becomes middle class...
None.
