Intro thoughts go into millions of directions.

Trying to
capture at least some.
OR
Bon Voyage (yes, in this French accent)))
The key sentence of what our handsome lecturer said was that the
capitalist society is a collection of commodities. As a starting point
we dance from. Moreover, as we dance, we see its about
commodities in action or motion, which he also mentions.
Commodities (as if strangely existing mythical creatures) are
moving around small communities, countries, markets... Travelers
of the world, in a nutshell (kinda like this expression, as youve
noticed)). What immediately appears in my mind is the image of a
circle. It never ends and God knows when and from which point it
started running around.
It would have been a rather materialistic perception of the way
inter-human relations function (in a global sense) if not for one
thing commodities seem to be a broader notion than simply
objects. We sell services (should we also name them commodities?)
Also should it not be phrased as sell better exchange, in Marxs
terms, assumingly.
The key and the best question ever why? The driving force that
moves commodities in the world is humans who need them to
survive or want them for any possibly invented reason. People want
(or need, in this context it kind of coincides) THINGS. Objects,
services cars, yogurts, massages, airplane flights Some create,
some consume. In any way, they make constant exchanges.
How? Simple Its in most cases nice to keep difficult things
simple, so not to betray this tradition: Lets assume in a simplified
way: You want a book, you go to a shop (or an open-air market)),
you exchange money for that object of your interest, you have it.
Seems to be it. But no you get the book which may afterwards
become a mobile thing too you give presents, you pass it down to
next generations, etc. And from the opposite side the money you
paid it goes to the hands of the previous owner (in quotes cause
we cant really speak about owners of commodities, we better
speak about their holders temporary or permanent, it seems to

me) of the book. From there it moves on. Lets assume a very
probable situation: the previous owner wants a meat chop. He
goes to the supermarket and buys the meat. He gives the money he
got from you and as a result of this exchange gets another
commodity to enter the never-ending process of exchange.
How? No. 2 Not simple. First of all, the commodity is not just
the object. It was created by someone, it took someones labor,
time, resources, invested money (which most probably had
traveled there via some other previous chains of economic
interactions) and so on. A book (as a commodity = as a mythic
creature) has its past or background, as well as its origin. So, its
not a linear economic relation btw the book seller and the book
buyer. Its more like a tree with many branches.
Moreover, depending on the previous life of this mythic creature
(meaning its production, human labor etc) it is granted some
value. HOWEVER, as far as I got this, this is not the final value as
yet. The final value of a commodity is this + the assessment of how
useful the thing is. In economic terms, its called demand and
supply. If a demand is high for a particular commodity (lets say its
an ABC book for kids studying their native language)), the
previous holders can easily make use of it by rising the price.
More-moreover, if its something rare (like an ABC book for
Ukrainians wanting to master Georgian you know at least one
such person. I reassure you, a really interested one but not so good
at managing her time))), which means the supply is not sufficient
since its already a rarity, and the demand is high, the price goes
up.
Well, Im not in a position (sorry for this, but just remembered
your record position, preposition. I appreciate all of them a lot a
lot a lot and still keep repeating sounds after you <3 ) now to
enumerate all the rest of existing reasons for setting prices in the
modern world but the main idea is not about the price here, its
about the value. Use value the usefulness of things which
dictates their value.
The example with meat wasnt accidental (as opposed to most of
those thumbs-up I sent to you over the time we have known each
other))). A meat chop is a specific commodity that embraces a lot.
It could even become the focus of another ASK gathering in Kyiv.)))

First (in a random order, Id like to stress), its about making a

chop out of a cows meet human labor, process, production,
transportation Second, the way this cow was raised to become a
meat chop in the end we could bring up the problem of GM, cruel
animal treatment and so many others. Third, the way the meat of
the cow entered the market and became a commodity What I
mean is that there can be a ridiculously long list of things that had
happened before the book seller guy actually ate his meat chop at
home (which, btw, had to be prepared for/by him too)! And my
point is this voyage of our single commodity from being a cow to
becoming a freshly fried meat chop involved VERY MANY
agents/doers/conductors/mediators and processes. This is what
makes is not easy.
The conclusion, if youre still here by the end of this slightly
chaotic and very introductory message, is that taking into account
how complex Capital appears to be, K. M. would really be a PR
manager of everyones dreams :D !
Now, I wish us bon voyage into communism!