Law of Value 5: Contradiction 1 of 2

[Dagfari]

I just gotta say, I doubt Marx was concerned very much with violence against women, hate groups, or racial tensions. His philosophy was rooted entirely in physical inequalities, as a result of the structure of capitalism. Certainly, bank-owned "abandoned" buildings amidst great homelessness would be one very important modern example of his theories -- as would be the overwork/unemployment/"efficie­ncy" paradigm you talk about. Good video series so far!

[shorryukenctw]

I like your videos why do you think socialism did not catch on ?

[seigneurvoland666]

lol "or military intelligence"

[pulsatingremedy]

Is it me or does the sound stop at around 6:50?

[brendanmcooney]

@pulsatingremedy

it's just you.

[pulsatingremedy]

@brendanmcooney

6:42 Is the exact spot where it stops for me. :(

[Jpom22]

@pulsatingremedy - sounds shifts between speakers.

[pulsatingremedy]

@Jpom22

Ah thank you. I just tried it out with my headphone and it works.

The reason why I didn't hear sound with my speakers is because one of my speakers is broken.

Again: thank you.

[bluntpunk83]

@pulsatingremedy left channel cuts out

[seigneurvoland666]

surplus today for working people can be translated into " good credit" and "saved money" of their wages

[Ilikenuman]

whats stopping you from growing your own crops and making your own things today?

[brendanmcooney]

@Ilikenuman. Private ownership of the means of production and subsistence.

[sum1else83]

@Ilikenuman greed, in the form of taxes/personal wants if you spend your time making/gathering your own food, water, argumentivly electricity were do you get the money to pay the taxes on the land that you"own"

[busybuzzbuzz]

@Ilikenuman

Private property of lack therof.

No, really, I think this is what some on the left call the disintegration of local economies. FOr example,. I can no longer purchase raw milk from a certain dairy farmer in Pennsylvania becuase the County and State authorities at the behest of Big Food and Agribus are cracking down on small farmers under the guise of public health concerns. The local health dept. and media both join in to instill fear about drinking raw milk.

[trout1996302]

@Ilikenuman

Absolutely nothing. Go live in the forest or other unclaimed land, grow your own food, hunt your own food, make your own clothing etc. You can still do everything yourself, but it would be so incredibly time consuming and hard on people that it is just more logical to work for a more efficient company and produce items that way. If we all made only our own subsistence, then we would be so incredibly technologically inadvanced today (which may not necessarily be a bad thing)

[isedairi]

You say in 4:05 that "labor cannot be really sold", hence labor-power. My understanding is that yes, labor can be sold, only that under capitalism that is not what you are getting your money for. In other words, if i sold my labor, it would imply that i get back the full value of what I produced. The distinction between labor and labor power then is neccessary to specify why i get only back a fraction of what the value of that which I produced.

[brendanmcooney]

@isedairi. No, quite literally you can't sell labor. You sell the product of labor or you sell your ability to labor-your labor power- a definite amount of working time. But the labor itself you can't sell. It is only by realizing this that we see the source of exploitation. I would challenge you to give an example of selling labor and not labor power or the product of labor. The closest I can think of is the service industry where the product is the labor process, not a physical object.

[okayillgonow]

Dude you've gotta tell me the BGM. It's awesome.

[brendanmcooney]

@okayillgonow. I wrote it all. Though one of the themes is just a slowed down version of one of my other themes that another viewer was a big fan of. He recorded the music off of law of value 1, slowed it down, and then sent it back to me. Maybe one day I'll release a Law of Value soundtrack!

[CajunCommie]

@brendanmcooney also you could put these on DVD, id buy the series for hosting discussion groups at the local library

[LeftPolitiko]

"i dream of jeannie" theme @ 5:27?

[patbuck2]

Hurray, a new video. Been waiting for this one. I just started Capital yesterday and I must say that after watching these videos beforehand, it is much easier for me to understand than I originally thought. I will probably be re-watching a few lessons when I'm done to better grasp some ideas.

[royallthefourth]

A new Cooney vid; my day is made!

[AntiCapitalistPig]

I love how you explained that, yes, exchange IS in fact a zero-sum game, despite the contrary wailings of pro-capitalists.

[busybuzzbuzz]

@AntiCapitalistPig

So is he saying that my dentist is not creating aggregate profit because he only has one employee? He uses materials that exploited labor power in the past and overcharges for his skills and his "holistic dentistry" appeal. Or what about the Bistro down the street? Is the owners profits just from ripping people off? She has 25 employees. I'm confused about this zero sum thing.

[brendanmcooney]

@busybuzzbuzz. in the aggregate, across the total economy, exchange is zero-sum. No value is created just by moving products around. The value is created in production and that these commodities are exchanged against each other.

[mauroprovatos]

Great work as usual!