| This question <184-26|23> overall <21|23> Squeezy: <5|167-8>. |
| Question 68: How can labor time be the measure of value, of a social quantity, if it seems the private matter of the producer whether he or she spends much or little time, and others may not even know? |
| [22] Squeezy: Measuring a Commodity's Value. Labor time cannot be the measure of value of a social quantity because of producer and commodity differences. If labor time was the determination or measure of value of a certain commodity it would enable laziness to profit. |
| A commodity's value should be measured by its ability to better society and enhance human life in all aspects. The determination of this value would be the responsibility of society as a whole. Giving each voice equal power. It would be the combination of every person's input, enabling the betterment of the entire society. This method of value determination allows for full profits. For if only goods that bettered society had a profitable value, only they would be produced and by their production society would profit. For example, the cutting and shaping of a diamond is a tedious process and under the measure of labor time as a means to place value it would be a high priced or high valued commodity. However one must ask themself how much profit does society attain through the sale of a high valued diamond? On the other hand, the growing of vegetables would hold little value under this value determination method, but in reality is unmeasurably more profitable for society than a diamond. Thus showing that labor time should not be a factor in determining a commodity's value but rather how much it profit society achieves should be the determining factor. |
| I must note that I do see the advantage of measuring labor time as a value determination, in that it does in certain cases allow for the production of greatness (e.g. Mozart and Einstein) as there are greater rewards for more time. However if their product is truly profitable for society they would be rewarded just the same under the value system talked about above. If it is not profitable for society it would be unjustly rewarded under the labor time measurements and it would thus be putting society at a loss rather than a profit. This shows that the determination of value stressed above allows for greatness to strive without letting necessity and betterment of society stifle. |
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