[lbo-talk] value form

Bill Bartlett billbartlett at aapt.net.au
Wed Sep 27 19:47:48 PDT 2006


At 6:12 PM -0700 27/9/06, boddi satva wrote:


>Look around your house.
>
>Consider the things you want.
>
>They're commodities. They are objects subject to exchange, if for no
>other reason than the basket of goods you want in your house is
>different from the basket of goods I want in my house. So we have to
>engage in exchange to get to the basket of goods we need.
>
>Of course people want to do work simply to contribute - the basis of
>society is reciprocal altruism - but they do also want their needs
>met. And so they offer to satisfy the needs of others (writing books,
>working at a computer factory, and, yes, even having sex) in exchange
>for the means to get what they want. It's not an evil thing. For
>reciprocal altruism to work, there has to be reciprocity.
>
>Why do you insist that producing commodities is evil?

The problem is that it makes us commodities as well, to be bought and sold like any other commodities. The question is not why anyone would think that evil, but why anyone would think it just fine for people to be bought and sold as units of production? Next question, is there a viable alternative?

Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas



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