Money

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Money is abstracted Labour Time. Money is used instead of barter as a way of efficiently exchanging the labour of one person for another in economic exchange.[1] Formally we may say that Money = Labour Time.

Related LP Terms

money > Regime of Accumulation

Non-LP Related Terms

money >

Notes

The value of all money in an economy is ideally determined by the amount of Labour Time that needs to be exchanged.[2]

Money can be "contained" in many forms. Gold bars, silver earrings, printed paper, and even tulips[3] can be used as a container abstracted human labour.

The amount of money contained in a specific container, like a gold bar, or a printed piece of paper, is its monetary value. A thousand-dollar bill has a monetary value of one thousand dollars. A gold bar with $2,500 has a monetary value of $2,500.

The labour-exchange value (or simply exchange value) of money is the amount of labour contained and exchanged in the specific monetary container. If a ten dollar bill gets me one hour of your labour, the exchange value of that bill is exactly one hour of labour.

As noted in Rocket Scientists' Guide to Money and the Economy, the monetary value of a container is a question of concordance.

"The value of money, or more accurately the total value of all money in a given economy, should be determined in relation to the total amount of labour being exchanged in an economy. That is, all the money in a society should be approximately equal to all the labour that is available to exchange."[4]

Money is a way to lubricate [social] exchange, so money is not inherently evil, it is inherently social—I would even say inherently good.[5]


Footnotes

  1. Sosteric, Mike. Rocket Scientists’ Guide to Money and the Economy: Accumulation and Debt. St Albert, Alberta: Lightning Path Press., 2016.
  2. Sosteric, Mike. Rocket Scientists’ Guide to Money and the Economy: Accumulation and Debt. St Albert, Alberta: Lightning Path Press., 2016.
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania
  4. Sosteric, Mike. Rocket Scientists’ Guide to Money and the Economy: Accumulation and Debt. St Albert, Alberta: Lightning Path Press., 2016.
  5. Sosteric, Mike. Rocket Scientists’ Guide to Money and the Economy: Accumulation and Debt. St Albert, Alberta: Lightning Path Press. 2016.