In the text, Karl Marx illustrates that the capitalist society considers commodities as items with the ability to satisfy their needs. It is this process that attributes a use value to the objects. When humans are employed, they are remunerated with a commodity - money. Although they never come in direct contact with each other, all humans in this capitalist society work together. This is because their individual work efforts are exchanged in the form of commodities without the parties being directly involved. The employee labour-time does not affect the exchange-value of their products, and neither do their physical properties and material relations. Their exchange value is affected by their perceived usefulness for consumers. It is then that the monetary value of the product inflates.
Marx chooses to eliminate factors such as competition within his analysis because his solution promotes equality among the needs of the members of society. It is possible to relate Marx's theory to an ant community. Classes are created where everyone is grouped into different strata with a specific duty/job to accomplish for the benefit of the colony. Another point we discussed was the process of supply and demand. Presently, the United States are going through a mortgage crisis. Lack of demand, created by unmanageable debt, has brought the prices of homes to a new high. As well, the internet has become a massive community where individuals often provide their time for free. Collectively, they ask questions and find answers efficiently. Each user is part of a niche that has its own expertise. The open source community is one of the most prominent examples where everyone contributes to its expansion. They exchange time as a commodity and benefit from the outcome of the project. Marx theorises that money is the curtain hiding the process of creation of the item and the destruction of competition by multinational corporations. This may be one of the reasons for outsourcing and unfair labour.
Considering the current north-american situation, where people believe that constantly acquiring new posession will satisfy their constantly growing needs, is the proposed model well-structured to the point of solving capitalist issues?
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