3 ms·

You’re describing the labor theory of value, which you present as undeniable fact, but which of course is the subject of one of the most salient and contentious

• metabagel 3y ago
  No, they are saying that labor generates profit. That’s different than saying that the value of something is the labor value.
  • randomdata 3y ago
    Except, the return on capital input is what generates the profit. Labour extracts the entire return on labour input for itself. Of course it does. Why would labour settle for anything less than every last cent (within some reasonable margin of error) of value that it produces? Labour is highly mobile and holds all the power. Labour is able to produce value even without capital. Capital, on the other hand, doesn't function without labour. You are simply not going to keep labour around to maintain capital operation if you don't give back all the labour value it produces. In practice, we can also demonstrate that this is the case as even when unions roll into town – which really reenforces how much power labour wields – you never see the needle move more than small percentages that are within the margin of error. A $10 per hour job might be able to push for $11 per hour, but never does a $10 per hour job suddenly jump to a $100 per hour job.