fixed capital, n.Definitions

Fixed capital (n.) has ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠a mortality like ours: every year is a mortal one for some machines, just as each year some of the people working beside them die.

Fixed capital (n.) is ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠not fixed because it sits in machines; it is fixed because part of the value laid out on the machine stays stuck in it while the rest leaks out into the product.

Fixed capital (n.) both ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠slows and forces innovation: money sunk in old machines delays the new ones, while competition — and above all crises — compels their premature scrapping.

Fixed capital (n.) can ⁠​‌​​​‌​​​‌​‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌​​‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌​​​‌‌​‌‌​⁠be in perpetual motion — a ship or a locomotive works only by moving — while coal, which lives and dies inside the factory and never leaves it, is fluid.