Labour Theory of Value Debunked: Subjective vs Objective—Viki 1999 Debunked

The labour theory of value is something grossly misunderstood by Marxists, @Viki 1999 perfectly illustrates this by trying to correlate Marxist labour theory of value with subjective value. The truth is, when it comes to contrasting subjective theory of value to the labour theory of value it is subjective vs objective.

Karl Marx viewed prices as something endogenous rather than exogenous, meaning that the price could be determined simply by internal factors like labour time and quantity. Therefore, thinking that price was something knowable. Truth is, prices are exogenous, meaning that they are determined by the external factors from consumer demand. As I have explained numerous times before on the labour theory of value debunked, value is subjective, it is down to consumer preference.

Viki 1999 concedes later in this video that to oppose the subjective theory would be irrational, which is a concession to say that Marxism itself is irrational without her realising it. This is because Karl Marx labour theory of value was based on objective value. This was addressed by Ludwig Von Mises, he destroyed Karl Marx argument on the labour theory of value by asking more nuanced questions, such as: who is it valuable to; at what time is it valuable and in relation to what other given products.

Karl Marx did not take time preference into consideration, just because you want something now, doesn't mean to say your mind won't change.

Due to the length of Viki's argument, I left much of what I felt was less important out, in short, time preference was addressed but misunderstood by Viki 1999. She also fails to comprehend how businesses make profits and the basis of her entire argument on exploitation is deeply flawed, given the fact there is nothing more exploitative than the theory of communism being moneyless which would force workers to work for nothing and there are many difficult jobs out there in the economy.

As mentioned, if they are to have a price system and use money, where they getting the money from? There lies the problem, the only place they can turn to is the printing press, because without the private sector there is no other place they can turn to.

Her example of diamonds and tables proves she has no understanding of what determines value, it's not down to labour time or quantity, but in her concession on sand, it's down to the laws of supply and demand. Also, it's an overly simplistic view of not just resources, that she has, but of the products like tables, she doesn't comprehend there are many different types of wood to take into consideration, as well as, different colours of the products, styles, etc.

As I explained before in my video on the economic calculation problem, how then do you determine how much to produce of each and every single option you could think of?

Ben Shapiro hit the nail in the head which emphasises socialists don't understand economics, they don't understand their own ideology. Anyone who tells you that Karl Marx viewed value as something subjective are lying to you, unless of course they wish to tell you that Ludwig Von Mises didn't understand Karl Marx, but that's the problem, he more than understood his arguments, he tore them apart.