1) https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2020/08/how_marx_failed.html

An ok article, but fails at a key point:

"Marx’s economic model might be credible when applied to a peasant or artisan subsistence economy, but it is hideously inapplicable to a free-market industrial economy."

NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO.

2) He's writing about the Labor Theory of Value (LTV) & this is wrong, wrong, wrong.

3) To review, LTV says that only physical labor makes value. Adam Smith's capitalism has the Market Theory of Value (MTV).

4) The Market Theory says that other people decide what is valuable to them (demand). If you don't serve someone else FIRST, you don't get rewarded.

5) I always point this out: intention is irrelevant. It doesn't matter WHY you serve others. You can be totally selfish.

5) contd . . . "I wanna get really rich. So I'll make a computer app that shortens drive times by finding the quickest routes anywhere."

Or you could be totally altruistic: "I wanna invent an app that will tell people changes in their blood sugar levels."

6) The point is, in capitalism you are FORCED to serve others first.

You are forced to practice selflessness first.

You are forced to think first of others' wants & needs, not your own.

7) Marxism with the LTV says that you put yourself first.

If only work makes value, then all work is valuable.

NOT.

Only work that serves others is valuable--but neither you nor the state can be sure what that is, hence we have things called "Prices" and "Money".

8) Others tell you what is valuable based on what they are willing to give of themselves to acquire it, because after all . . .

"money" is merely the physical manifestation of a person's time, talent, and energy.

9) When you pay someone, you are literally giving them a piece of paper or plastic that has your past time, talent, & energy imbedded in it. Sometimes it's not much ($1), sometimes it's a lot (a downpayment on a house). But each dollar bill is a little physical representation . .

9) contd . . . or service via your time, talent, & energy that you have performed for other people in the past.

10) This will sound weird, but when you take out your wallet or purse & pull money out . . .

YOU SHOULD BE PROUD, because you are pulling out . . .

10) contd . . . little testimonies to your service to other people.

11) And there is no question you served them. How do I know?

They gave YOU some of their own lives, their own time, talent & energy in the form of that money.

12) Those dollar bills or checks talk. They say
"Hey Cheryl, great job doing my hair last week--which I couldn't have done this well myself."

"Hey Craig! Thank you for finding me the right tires."

"Hey Antonio, thank you for inventing this product in your lab."

13) No one should EVER be ashamed of legally-received money, no matter how much. In fact, the more you have (yes, Bill Gates) the more--and more often--you have served others.

14) Think of every time you turn on a computer, (creepy but) Bill Gates's voice says, "Hi Amanda. How can I serve you? Help you with an email? Do some graphics? Surf Twitter?"

Now imagine how many times a day you turn that computer on or use a Gates app/service.

14) contd . . . Now imagine how many people in the world do this every single day, multiple times. Sometimes, hundreds of times a day.

NOW imagine that you had to put in a penny every time you did this--like a vending machine.

14) contd. . . Try a billion times, say, 3-4 times a day, times a penny per time.

Sadly, Bill Gates probably isn't getting as much money as he dishes out in service.

And we're NOT here to talk about his "vaccines."
I'm making a point and you know it.

15) Ok, back to LTV & stupid Marx.

With LTV, all labor is valuable whether it serves anyone or not. In fact, under Marxism you are entitled to a "wage" even if you do no work.

Cuz, ya know, ya might be "oppressed."

16) So let's do my fave example: We'll drop you from a helicopter in the middle of the Sahara Desert. You have a pick & shovel.

You start digging a hole. (That's work, right?) So according to Marxism you should be generating value.

16) contd.
At the end of the day you should stick your hand out and get paid.

Why won't you get paid in a sane world?

Because you created NO VALUE FOR ANYONE. No one wanted the hole, asked for the hole, needed the hole.

17) However, under Marxism/LTV, a gubment should pay you a "minimum wage."

So da gubment should put money in your hands.

Wait! Who just benefited from you digging a hole that served no one & which no one wanted or needed?

YOU DID.

18) It's the exact opposite of the selfless capitalist MTV system where you are forced to serve others before you are rewarded.

Under Marxism/LTV you get a reward whether you make anyone else's life better or not.

We call that "selfishness."

19) So back to the article. No, the LTV/Marxism was NOT "suited" to pre-industrial societies because no system based on selfishness can ever work. It will not create wealth because it only seeks to reward people for what they themselves want, not for what others want or need.

20) Or, to sum up:

Capitalism is fundamentally unselfish.

Marxism/Communism is fundamentally selfish.

These are iron rules, not subject to change.