This question <217|217> overall <214|221> Demosthenes: <213|871>. graded A

Question 27: Using modern experience, describe some implications, good or bad, of the indifference of market relations towards the nature of the needs which the commodity satisfies.

[217] Demosthenes: Indifference Towards Nature of Needs.   This indifference leads to the growing inequity that we observe in our capitalist society. I recall a conversation between two men, one of whom was a potato farmer. The farmer could scarcely understand why he wasn't a wealthy man. He said, “I am producing something that everyone in the world can use. I mean, everyone's gotta eat, right?”

The needs for food, water, shelter, air, are the most basic and fundamental that we as humans would most like to have met from day to day. Why then, would someone who produces commodities that satisfy these needs, such as this farmer, not be able to exchange his commodity for something else of “great value”? This is because market relations, which determine the exchange value of the commodity, are not affected by the needs satisfied by the commodity. This is why one ticket to a Lakers basketball game can be exchanged for a room full of potatoes. The indifferent market forces of supply and demand bestow a higher exchange value on the basketball ticket, which provides entertainment, than the sack of potatoes, which can sustain life. Thus, the basketball star lives a life of luxury, comfort, and excess, while the potato farmer struggles to provide the basic needs for his family.

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