Instead of commenting, I'll posit an alternative view which I hope is useful: the exchange-value of non-commodity monies is based on state power.
For "token" or "fiat" money such as the Krona, the state is "forcing its circulation" (paraphrasing Marx). I read this as saying that the Krona is kept scarce by the state, so that its price or exchange-value does not fall to equal its value. The state's use of this money -- especially, as the Chartalists argue, requiring that taxes be paid in Krona -- is crucial, though the Bank of Sweden (Sveriges Riksbank) also plays a role. (I read "exchange-value" as the amount of labor commanded by an item, while "value" is the amount of labor needed to produce it.) Also, the Krona is convertible into the modern equivalent of gold (or world money), the US dollar. That has its exchange-value due to not only the US state's power within the country, but US hegemony in the world capitalist economy. (If that economic-financial-military hegemony ends, so does the role of the US$.) The Sveriges Riksbank has to keep the Krona scarce, so that the US$ won't replace it in domestic circulation. That paper monies have exchange-value gives the state that issues them the power to use seigniorage (or the inflation tax). On Sun, Aug 5, 2012 at 10:28 AM, Paul Cockshott <[email protected]> wrote: > > > I am cross posting this from Ope-l in the hope of getting an answer here > > I want to advance this argument > > The value of a state token money is based on something historically prior to > commodity production, something that goes right back to the earliest state > forms : the power of the state to command the labour of its inhabitants. The > value of the Swedish Krona is set by the fact that the Swedish state (Crown) > directly or indirectly appropriates more than half the labour in the > KingdomThis is a slight simplification, public expenditure is over 53% of > GNP, but a part of that is indirect appropriation of labour as social > protection, where individual citizens are paid social benefits in Krona.. The > sum in Krona paid out for that directly social labour has its value set by > this labour that the Crown directly commands. This rate of exchange between > royal tokens and labour sets the monetary equivalent of labour time in > Sweden, which then operates via the medium of commodity trade within the > remaining private part of the economy. The direct royal command over the > labour of his subjects! i! > s then symbolically appropriated by the capitalist class in the form of > Krona credits in the Svenska Handelsbanken etc to give them command over the > privately employed working class. > > > There is a theoretical ambiguity with arguing this. Is the value of the Krona > determined by the number of hours of labour done by state employees against > whose work it exchanges or should its value be set by the labour content of > the wage goods consumed by the state employees? > > Ie in determining the value of the Krona should we assume that the directly > social labour of say education and health workers is what is directly > commanded by the Krona, or does the Krona just equate to the value of the > labour power of the workers. Is this distinction still relevant since there > is no exploitation in the provision of free social services? > > The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401 > _______________________________________________ > ope mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/ope > > The University of Glasgow, charity number SC004401 > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l -- Jim Devine / If you're going to support the lesser of two evils, you should at least know the nature of that evil. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
