"Marx was completely wrong" is quite a statement -- you must have read all 2000 or so pages to be able to say this? The labor theory of value is, indeed, rathe

"Marx was completely wrong" is quite a statement -- you must have read all 2000 or so pages to be able to say this? The labor theory of value is, indeed, rather silly. Marx did say a lot of other stuff, however. He was a crappy economist, but a great (IMHO) sociologist and philosopher. One of his many points was that (market and non market) economies are socially embedded and created, generally to support power grabs by certain classes. Market economies have the extra advantage that they allow class structure (the relation between groups of people who are powerful and groups who are screwed-over) to appear scientifically necessary, as inevitable as the orbit of the planets once we know the differential equations and the initial conditions. But really, the economies mask a power struggle that was out in the open during feudal times (e.g. when the Norman lord showed up and said you will farm for us and give up your weapons, or we will kill you now). When a person can't see this social context for markets, Marx would say such a person was blinded by "commodity fetishism" and a misguided belief in powers of commodity relations (and that such a belief is no more rational than the belief that a blessed doll can inflict misery on your enemies.)