Nobody worked to become a billionaire. It is mathematically impossible to work hard enough to become a billionaire. To make a billion dollars, one must buy something from someone for less than it’s worth, often their labor, and then sell it for more than it’s worth. The money always comes from somewhere, some value that was taken from others.
I’m not sure how that’s related to my post, since I didn’t claim that billionaires necessarily earn the money they have, just that many of them work hard. Look at Elon Musk - he’s so busy that he barely sleeps. He’s doing a lot of stupid stuff now, but he’s putting much more time and effort into that than almost anyone else puts into his job, despite the fact that he never has to worry about having his needs (basic or otherwise) met.
But I’ll take the bait - Marx was wrong. Knowing what to buy, how to transform it, and who to sell it to is in itself valuable. Carrying the risk of loss is also in itself valuable. Putting together the money to do all that is in itself valuable.
This isn’t what Marx thought about buying and selling. Buying and selling involves labor like any other work, so of it’d have value according to Marx.
The other points here simply beg the question. It’s only in the context of capitalism that carrying personal risk of loss or putting together personal money for productive ventures are valuable economic contributions an individual can make.
Nobody worked to become a billionaire. It is mathematically impossible to work hard enough to become a billionaire. To make a billion dollars, one must buy something from someone for less than it’s worth, often their labor, and then sell it for more than it’s worth. The money always comes from somewhere, some value that was taken from others.
I’m not sure how that’s related to my post, since I didn’t claim that billionaires necessarily earn the money they have, just that many of them work hard. Look at Elon Musk - he’s so busy that he barely sleeps. He’s doing a lot of stupid stuff now, but he’s putting much more time and effort into that than almost anyone else puts into his job, despite the fact that he never has to worry about having his needs (basic or otherwise) met.
But I’ll take the bait - Marx was wrong. Knowing what to buy, how to transform it, and who to sell it to is in itself valuable. Carrying the risk of loss is also in itself valuable. Putting together the money to do all that is in itself valuable.
This isn’t what Marx thought about buying and selling. Buying and selling involves labor like any other work, so of it’d have value according to Marx.
The other points here simply beg the question. It’s only in the context of capitalism that carrying personal risk of loss or putting together personal money for productive ventures are valuable economic contributions an individual can make.