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!