Bill Howard patiently explains.....
<The weather may well have created oil, gas, coal, � diamonds but as
long as they remain in the ground, � not worked by hand, they remain
raw materials and � possess neither use value nor exchange value.>
And all the subsequent posts by Mark, Carrol, and Charles Brown really
are just variations of the same mantra.
Carrol really gets insulting and pedantic with.... these people are only
into the magic of the word 'value'... (therefore hopeless) post directed
to Mark. Throw up your arms, Carrol, why don't you!
And Mark sticks to the detailed outline of the labor theory of value,
even as he states that all economic theory is pure hog wash.
Sorry, Carrol, I'm going to get 'magical again. Ready?
Bill, you are flat out marxist and wrong about oil, gas, coal, and
diamonds having no 'value' at all if they stay in the ground. If it
is just too offensive to textbook marxists to use the word 'value' here
again (without labor being attached to make a commodity), then let me
use something I will call 'anti-value'. Is it OK?
Anti-value is the negative destruction of nature, as labor power takes
something out of the ground and commodifies it. The problem is that
capitalism is so good at producing value (in the only commodified sense
that traditional marxists are willing to except), that society has until
now overlooked its ability at producing anti-value. Have I lost any
of the comrades yet?
When labor is expended to extract minerals from the ground, nature is
destroyed, and anti-value is created. Anti-value arises from both
depletion of possible future commodity value, and the contamination that
destroys ecological balance. Accumulated anti-value destroys the
existence of what is taken for granted.
Until now, marxists have not paid any attention to what is taken for
granted, since that is not produced by labor, nor exchanged in
commodity markets. It is just taken for granted, hence the name
(let's keep it simple).
The problem with the high stockpiles of anti-value created by
capitalism, is that an incredible amount of labor and new
commodification will be needed to restore nature over the next
milleniums. We are reaching a point, where the existence of
anti-value is about to be discovered. We just didn't see it before,
scientists will have to exclaim. And a little to late......
We are now faced with the economic need to commodify and value
restoration, in the drive and need to deplete the stockpiles of
anti-value that have been accumulated. One can now say, that
capitalism has reached its first crisis of an oversupply of anti-value,
as opposed to its traditional crises of an oversupply of products.
However, neither capitalism nor marxism has any plan to deplete the
stockpiles of anti-value, since the fact of its existence continues to
be denied. What is taken for granted can change, is the consensus
within these two groups.
This is true to a certain extent, as increased anti-value does not
impact, in totally an incremental manner. The planet has a certain
carrying-capacity to accumulate anti-value, that has appeared elastic.
But just like a rubber band will eventually break, accumulated
anti-value will explode, and then create the destruction of the ability
to create more value.
The problem we face, is that anti-value is a lot more durable than
value. It is a lot easier to accumulate value, than to deplete
anti-value.
Marx and marxism have no theory in the concept of anti-value. All
their theory is based on how to defeat the dominant capitalist mode of
production, and then equalize distribution of value.
What is happening is that no answers are offered, to those in the
popuation interested in decreasing the accumulation of anti-value.
Except, of course, to chant ....Down With Capitalism, Down With
Capitalism.
As a marxist, I like that chant. Still, the fact that most comrades
don't recognize the problem of anti-value build-up, is quite disturbing.
It is just another side of the problem of capitalist over-production.
Capitalism is over-producing junk.
And the problem of junk is a serious problem. Marx didn't talk
about it. Capitalist economists don't talk about it. We have no
system to measure or qualify it. Junk is anti-value.
Comrades, you are looking idiotic and ridiculous when all that you ever
want to talk about is 'class-struggle'. You are not more
knowledgeable, or more scientific, when locked into only this framework.
In fact, if you find this style I have used to illustrate the problem to
be especially irritating, then maybe you can understand exactly how the
non-marxists on the list must see us?
Comradely, Tony Abdo
_______________________________________________
Crashlist resources: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
To change your options or unsubscribe go to:
http://lists.wwpublish.com/mailman/listinfo/crashlist
