The Theory of the Value of Labor was constructed via 3 quite distinct men: Adam Smith, Karl Marx and David Ricardo. Smith was a proponent of competition to keep prices low. Marx leveled the value to be a matter of labor hours assuming all pricing equal. Ricardo basically supported the Marx theory of utility fixing the price. And then there are the very knowledgeable Facebook personalities who state that the value of labor is what someone is willing to pay – which derives from ‘fair and equitable’.
I beg to differ with them all: recently I needed a repair to my air conditioner. I was recommended a local family owned and operated business, lives down the street, pop does the repairs, mom does the books. Support your neighbors kind of business. I was charged $175 labor for 15 minutes of work. This equates to $700 per hour for HVAC repair. On an annual basis, that would equate to 4 times what The President of the US makes, 4 ½ times what an experienced doctor makes, and double what a lawyer makes – with overhead costs.
I paid because I had no choice – not because it was a fair and equitable exchange.
In 1759 Economist Adam Smith declared: “he was wary of businessmen and warned of their “conspiracy against the public or in some other contrivance to raise prices”. Again and again, Smith warned of the collusive nature of business interests, which may form cabals or monopolies, fixing the highest price “which can be squeezed out of the buyers”. Smith also warned that a business-dominated political system would allow a conspiracy of businesses and industry against consumers, with the former scheming to influence politics and legislation.”
An example of forced payment vs choice: every household must pay for their water (unless on well water). But they must also pay for their water company’s ‘fixed charges’. Part of the fixed cost on my bills is a line item “renewable water’ – as in recycled waste cleaned and siphoned back into my house’s drinking supply for which I am charged an extra flat fee. The ‘fixed charges’ are typically 2-5 times higher than my cost for actual water use.
I don’t have the option to find competitive water companies. I don’t have the option to search different utility companies that provide my electricity and gas I don’t have the option to pay a different government. Their VALUE of Labor is a totalitarian doctrine. In these instances, labor is not based on value at all – it is based on price fixing.
Why? Because Competition has been eliminated by large Conglomerates which effectively and collectively own the vast majority of our corporations providing basic necessities. They fix prices across their ownership brands and people quietly pay because we are told it is basic supply & demand economics of labor value. But it’s not.
Interestingly, these same people who accept without thought that an HVAC repair is worth $700 per hour in labor, decry the dastardly cost of gas, of food prices, housing prices, medicine or doctors etc.. as beyond rationale. Somehow tradesmen don’t pump oil, don’t grow our food, and don’t build houses. Because if they were counted under the same logic no one could complain about any level of pricing! Would that fall under the Value of Labor?
The Art of Critical Thinking.
Critical Thinking Definition: “The intellectually disciplined process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, and/or evaluating information.” The issue within critical thinking doctrine is the source of information you are analyzing. As in – does it come from Mass Media? Because Mass Media is fed by the Conglomerates and Cartel to tell their version of Reality. Obviously that vacuum would completely obliterate to analyze.
Today, the value of labor is determined by The Conglomerates and The Cabalists. This is why our government pulled us out of the gold standard. To allow this out of control upward trajectory of value without any real basis to support it. Their are no gutters or barriers to quell the advance, as such the real value of the dollar is now 3cents. Much like building a house on sand.
Another argument of the Labor of Value Theory regarding my HVAC repairs posited by FB posters: ‘that is valuable skilled labor’, therefore they can charge whatever they want! That trade skill requires no college degree and takes roughly 9 months in a tech school and certification exams. The purpose of tech schools is to train graduates in a trade that is marketable instead of a college degree in basket weaving. I support that. What I don’t support is the greed factor; a living entity that creates false standards of rates and markets.
For example: complaining about a burger flipper wanting $25 ph while heralding a Tradesman for making $700 ph ($1,400,000 annually) – a differential of 2800% wipes out economics and labor completely. It also reflects exactly what Adam Smith predicted – a society squeezing out demand by the greed of mentality.
Retailers across the US are going bankrupt within the mentality. Fast Food restaurants can’t make ends meet. And doctors are quitting at an unprecedented rate.
When small businesses fall into the trap established by corporate America, they feed the demons. One side of their mouth they vehemently complain about the rising costs of food, housing and gas, while the other side promotes the greed of their trade.
It is why Biden is bankrupting the Federal government. Spending us into an oblivion of unsustainable debt that can only be wiped if every government falls and corporate elites take over. It is the World Economic Forum Agenda – A solitary global government of stakeholders. States managed by corporate CEO’s who create their own means of ‘labor value’ based on the social credit score. It is why blue governors allow crime. Crime raises prices – causing less demand – causing bankruptcies – causing poverty. It is a trajectory that too many people seemingly either don’t understand, or don’t try to understand – ie critical thinking.
It is a dystopia wherein our western culture is being trained to maximize costs under the guise of ‘value’.
In the world of Hunger Games, we will accept that we need to be punished and all live like peasants licking bootstraps as we thank the Cartel for allowing us to exist. Ultimately, this means of thinking will collapse the US economy. And suddenly all our broken systems following an unlimited value of labor will be worthless requiring an ever advanced depopulation.
And You Will Be Happy – damn it!
First a business license, utilities, trucks, equipment (if provided by the employer), the different types of refrigerant etc. R12 is over a thousand fedbucks if you can find it,,, R22 is a couple hundred for 30lb containers all tax from the federal, state and local for climate change which we both know is a fraud. Even a bookkeeper is costly and today with an extra 85,000 armed IRS agents (paid by us) you need a good one!
Back quite a few years I could buy R12 for $1.00 to 2.00 a 10oz can to recharge. Today you cannot find R12 locally which is a great refrigerant. They blamed it for the disappearing ozone layer which was really caused by their weather modification programs. R22 is in most American household A/C units is a CO2 problem according to the Climate Change “experts’. They are now also coming after R134A used in the auto industry today.
They are purposely making everything super expensive and eliminating just about anything that works. Gas stoves,,, Gas Hot Water heaters,,, Gas/Oil heaters are on the way out unless Americans grow a set and that does not look promising.
Take my emergency water well for example. I live in a hurricane zone. It is tied in to my home plumbing along with the county water system. Not only do I have a shut off valve to isolate them AND a check valve,,, but of course,,, it’s not good enough.
They now require a Backflow Preventer Valve that costs the owner about $300. Plus a cost of about $150 to have it checked every 2 years also paid by the owner. The only way out is to kill the well. or they will disconnect you from their system. It’s not good enough to disconnect it from the main plumbing. You might sneakily hook it back in,,, they say.
Nowhere in the US over the last hundred years has any private well contaminated a public system. I have the test equipment to test the valve but they won’t accept that. One must be licensed and trained. They require you to work for a plumber for two years first. Then a school and testing. This obviously is to keep people like me from testing the valve which takes a whopping 15-20 minutes. It’s kindergarten level stuff. So obviously they don’t want us to have a private well or if we do we pay out our butts.
My water is nice, clear and clean. Their water is full of garbage and loaded with Chlorine to keep people from getting sick. People are drinking swimming pool water!
Your $175 is pretty cheap compared to some of the horror stories I’ve been told. Sounds like he just corrected the charge or cleaned the condenser.
regards
Omg funny man! Made me laugh. Anywho I am in margaritas lala land and thoughtful responses are reserved for the morning
You obviously did not pay attention. This was mom and pop. He’s in his pickup truck working out of his house with his wife answering the phone and invoicing. His son came with him. He lives 5 minutes away and installed a new part that retails for $23. Took ten minutes to install and 5 minutes to go home. Next time you rant at me like that. Your comment will be trash. The world is difficult right now but rage toward the perpetrators next time. Kindness goes a long way helping your neighbors
That provides a lot more clarification. That being the case I would agree that the price was $75 to $100 too high. Greed is like a virus that is indifferent to any trade or profession, it seems the whole world is infected with it and none more so than mine. I had a customer take his vehicle in to a dealership for a recall and he had some other repairs estimated while there, the estimate was over $9000, most of it was stupid shit that didn’t need done and some of it were blatant lies, I repaired everything the vehicle needed for $385. I have more respect for an armed robber than a dishonest mechanic, at least the robber is being honest with you and this is the case with any in the service industry. When some considers hiring someone to provide a service the first thing they consider is trust, can I trust this person? All of us get salty when our trust is betrayed. Until the world swaps until the paradigm changes from a “how much you can take” into a “how much can you give”, it will continue down the path that we are witnessing. I know none of this is really the gist of your piece, but as someone in the service industry I got defensive without knowing the details. I really enjoy your work, I think you’re a fantastic writer with a spot on perspective.
I’ll try not to upset the cart. I sure don’t want to be trashed. I actually worked in the field. Most of the problems was a blown fuse, contactor or dirty condenser. My fault for barging in on a personal rant without all the details.
We all have our moments including me. Sorry.
FWIW, and I may be wrong, but I didn’t get the impression he was ranting at you, just ranting at the system.
You are right – I was in lala land having FB democrats try and tell me how hourly wages really work because I, a CPA, obviously don’t understand that magic trick… Anywho – I apologized.
You think that poor bastard is making $700 an hour? How’d he get there? A service truck? Any idea what it cost to maintain a service truck? The initial cost, insurance, tag, repairs, tires, fuel, batteries, what about all the tools in that truck? I don’t think you can comprehend the investment. What about the woman answering the phone? I doubt she’s doing it for purely altruistic purposes. What about the phone and the building it’s setting in? The length of time it took him to drive to and from? If he had to add to some refrigerant to your system, R22 is $100 a lb now, granted it would only take about 15mins to put it in, but your system could hold up to 8lbs. I love your writing, absolutely love it. I repost everything you write to Gab and FB, but you’re off track here by dragging us tradesmen into the woes. I’m an automotive mechanic, I started in my father’s shop in 1976, so I’ve been doing it awhile, I have a little one man shop and I have a $80 an hour flat rate, my trade is a little different because we have flat rate guides to tell us how much time to do any specific job and we multiply that by our flat rate. I do not make $640 a day, I answer the phone, talk to customers, order parts, sweep the floor, maintain the building, mow the lawn, on and on. Granted my circumstance is different, I’m not really a business, I don’t advertise, it’s all word of mouth and I have a personal relationship with most of my cliental, I would consider most friends, so I’m not out to see how much I can make, I operate on how cheap I can do it, make a living and have the feeling that one someone leaves my shop I have done them a favor. The point is that there’s a lot of overhead in any service industry. Here’s some advice, no matter what repairs or service you’re needing done educate yourself about it, doesn’t matter if it’s your ac, your car, washing machine anything, Google it, watch a couple videos on Youtube so half way know what’s going on, You’d be surprise there’s probably a lot of things you could do yourself, because it’s not going to get any cheaper.