He earlier makes a dichotomy between use-value and exchange-value.
In this passage Marx is effectively directly refuting (preemptively at that) the infamous "mud pie" argument conservatives like to bandy about pretending it proves Marx and LVT wrong. That being that plenty of labor-time can be invested in making a mud pie, but it can't make the mud pie any less worthless.
the infamous “mud pie” argument conservatives like to bandy about pretending it proves Marx and LVT wrong
The bigger problem with this argument is that the premise is nonsensical. It assumes that mud pies are obviously worthless and that people would actually spend time manufacturing them. You can make exactly the same argument against the subjective theory of value: "hey, imagine if people started buying mud pies for a million dollars each, then the subjective theory of value would imply that they are actually worth a million dollars, which is obviously ridiculous". Clearly there is no theory of value that can make sense out of a hypothetical situation in which people place great value on something that is universally agreed to be worthless.
In my experience neoliberal economics is full of these incredibly lazy arguments that attempt to dismiss the basic foundations of any alternative points of view so that they don't have to actually think about them (the "economic calculation problem" argument against planned economies is another very silly one). It's very weird how the field of economics became so narrow-minded despite there being so little empirical support for many of its accepted theories. Pretty much every other field seems to be more open-minded, even ones like climate science that constantly have to deal with cranks and well-funded campaigns to discredit them.
It is exactly like arguing about Divine Right to Rule with regards to monarchy, or arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin with regards to the infallibility of Church doctrine.
Like, it's an argument designed to waste your time. No one making it cares as long as things continue to benefit them. Anyone who isn't benefiting from it who is supporting it in good faith is just a gigantic fucking moron.
He earlier makes a dichotomy between use-value and exchange-value.
In this passage Marx is effectively directly refuting (preemptively at that) the infamous "mud pie" argument conservatives like to bandy about pretending it proves Marx and LVT wrong. That being that plenty of labor-time can be invested in making a mud pie, but it can't make the mud pie any less worthless.
The bigger problem with this argument is that the premise is nonsensical. It assumes that mud pies are obviously worthless and that people would actually spend time manufacturing them. You can make exactly the same argument against the subjective theory of value: "hey, imagine if people started buying mud pies for a million dollars each, then the subjective theory of value would imply that they are actually worth a million dollars, which is obviously ridiculous". Clearly there is no theory of value that can make sense out of a hypothetical situation in which people place great value on something that is universally agreed to be worthless.
In my experience neoliberal economics is full of these incredibly lazy arguments that attempt to dismiss the basic foundations of any alternative points of view so that they don't have to actually think about them (the "economic calculation problem" argument against planned economies is another very silly one). It's very weird how the field of economics became so narrow-minded despite there being so little empirical support for many of its accepted theories. Pretty much every other field seems to be more open-minded, even ones like climate science that constantly have to deal with cranks and well-funded campaigns to discredit them.
It is exactly like arguing about Divine Right to Rule with regards to monarchy, or arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin with regards to the infallibility of Church doctrine.
Like, it's an argument designed to waste your time. No one making it cares as long as things continue to benefit them. Anyone who isn't benefiting from it who is supporting it in good faith is just a gigantic fucking moron.