This question <133|132> overall <140|142> Hans: <140|152>.

Question 23: How does Marx's starting point differ from usual approaches to economics?

[141] Hans: Marx's starting point.   Cdew writes in [132] that Marx, unlike today's economists, “begins with people already having those things that enhance life.” This is a good observation. The economy does not begin when you or I get our paychecks, it is an ongoing concern. Furthermore, the scarcity which we all feel is artificial. It exists only so that businesses can hire help at minimum wages. Overall our economy is incredibly rich. The concern of a Marxist economist are the social structures which allow for a high and rising rate of poverty in the richest country of the earth, which is blessed with so many natural resources. The problem is not scarcity but the misallocation of wealth.

Bob writes in [133]:

The commodity is what we use to try and satisfy our unlimited wants. This want in turn gives the commodity use-value and exchange-value.

Marx strongly denies that exchange-value derives from wants. The interesting question is exactly: if the exchange-value does not come from our wants, where does it come from? This question gives an in-depth entry point into the web of economic relations in which we all are embedded.

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