When do profits count?

JW Mason

"You might naively think that whether a business makes profits is independent of who happens to own it. Profits appear as soon as a commodity is sold for more than the cost of its inputs. So the bolded sentence really only makes sense with the implied addition, profits for venture capitalists or for finance. But in the disgorge-the-cash era, that's taken as read.

Capitalism is still about M-C-C'-M', same as it ever as. But C-C' now includes not just the immediate process of production, but everything related to the firm as a distinct entity. Profits aren't really profits, under the current regime, as long as the claim on them is tied to a specific business or industry. And the only real capitalists are owners of financial assets."