Exchange Value

Looking at it this way, humanity as a whole currently has the production capacity to meet the demand for "food, clothing, and shelter." In fact, there is an overproduction and oversupply. Where there seems to be a shortage, there is an excess, and the problem is not quantity but distribution.

As science and technology develop, production capacity increases, so this situation is likely to have existed for a long time. So,

If we were satisfied and said 

"I'm full,"

that is, if we "knew enough," the cycle of profit and investment that capitalism aims for would stop. If humans were satisfied, money would not increase. This is very inconvenient for our ruler, "His Majesty Money." He must stimulates our desire at all costs. That's why 

"exchange value"

was invented. It is a way of "fabricating" value to things that have no actual use value, in contrast to the use value that is given to things that are actually used, such as food, clothing, and shelter. For example, jewels. Jewelry is of no use for human survival. It can't be eaten or used. Even so, they set a very high price just because it is 

"sparkly" 

and make it look valuable. Then, just because it is 

"expensive" 

we are mistaken into thinking it is "valuable" and jump on it. It is the creation of new value. Or rather, a fabrication. Isn't this the true nature of "exchange value"? In the case of a proper "use value," it is "valuable" because it is edible, usable, and useful for human survival. And it is "expensive" because it has value. However, in the case of exchange value, it is "valuable" because it is "expensive." In other words, value is upside down. A typical example of this is money. For example, a $100 note is just a piece of paper and has no value as it is. They forcefully write "$100" on it and forcefully claim that it is "worth $100." Then, as long as the issuing government is trusted, people will say "Oh, I see," and it will pass. It's actually a fabrication. Isn't the most obvious example of this principle "virtual currency"? When a creator of a fictitious currency concept that has no value, or rather does not even have a substance, asserts without any basis that "it has value" or "it will increase in value later," more and more people believe it, thinking "Oh, really?", and as a result, an apparent "value" is "created." It's literally creating value from nothing. Well, it's a fabrication. Once trust is lost, it's inevitable that it will crash.

More than that, exchange values ​​that have existed for a long time are luxury goods and brands. For example, bags. In terms of use value, such as carrying things in them, a 1cent plastic bag and a luxury brand bag are the same. In fact, plastic bags are lighter and can hold more. But those luxury brand bags are priced at $100, $1,000, and even $10,000 (what? They can go up to $100,000?). In any case, the higher the price, the better. Then it becomes valuable because it's 

"expensive. "

It's not expensive because it has value, but it's valuable because it's expensive. It serves the purpose of showing off to the people around you that you can own something so expensive. It has exchange value as a display of economic power. It's a status symbol.

It's the same with watches. Even though watches are attached to smartphones and can be found anywhere at stations and people don't need them, they are priced at $100, $1,000, and even $10,000 (Huh? $100,000? Maybe $1,000,000?). Since watches are tools, they still have a use value. They say they are waterproof to 100 meters. But the person who wears them has never dived in the ocean. The time on the watch is extremely accurate. But the person who wears it is often late.

And then there's real estate. If it's just a use value to live in, a little bit of the countryside is enough, but a "prime location" is "expensive". And it has value just because it "seems to rise in price". Even if you don't intend to live there, you buy it because it's "expensive". And because everyone buys it, it "rises in price". And it becomes even more "expensive". So everyone buys more. It rises in price even more. But land has existed for millions, tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of years, before humans were born. It wasn't created by humans. It's value created from nothing. Or rather, value delusion.

By the way, the value delusion of real estate is a problem. People who really need to live there will find it difficult to live there because the rent is too high, or they will be unable to afford to pay a mortgage for the rest of their lives even if they buy. Or rather, they can't live there anymore. It's clear that real estate bubbles hinder human happiness, so some kind of regulation needs to be put into place on land ownership. In fact, I think private ownership of land should be prohibited. As I said before, I think socialism is 100 times better than capitalism.

And the place you live has to be a "high-end residential area." Otherwise it won't be a "show of economic power."

There are many more. For example, cars. On public roads, even on the highway, you can only go up to 120 km/h, but they make cars that can go up to 300 km/h and sell them as luxury cars. After all, they have to be expensive. Otherwise it won't be a "show of economic power".

The food you eat must also be "high-quality ingredients". Of course, when you eat out, it must be at a "high-end restaurant". And the higher the price, the better. Otherwise, you won't be envied even if you post it on social media.(As I said before, in reality, we are being given precious lives, so all of them are "precious food.")

In summary, our lord, "His Majesty Money", doesn't want humans to be satisfied, so he forcibly created differences and invented something called "exchange value". By putting a price on something that actually has no value (and the higher that price, the better), and providing a means to "show off economic power", he stimulated people's desires and vanity, perpetuating the cycle of capitalist profit and investment, and multiplying himself.

Ah, what a fool.