Supply vs. Demand does affect the exhange value of commodities, but capitalists steal from workers by taking a “surplus.”
For example, let’s say it costs $2 in ingredients to make a burrito and 15 minutes to cook those ingredients (made in batches) with another 5 minutes to actually prepare the thing. Each batch of cooked ingredients let’s say makes enough for 10 burritos. So ingredients for 40 burritos can be prepared per hour with 20 burritos being made in that same time frame by each worker.
The total numbers would be:
40 burritos made with $80 total for ingredients
1 hour of labor to cook
2 hours of labor to prep
Assuming a wage of $15 per hour (lol. lmao, even), three workers cost $45 to make burritos
Total profit is $125 per hour between materials and labor or $3.125 from each burrito.
Now, here’s the rub: Chipotle turns around and sells each burrito for $12. The workers have generated $480 in profit. But the three of them only made $45 combined. This means capitalists stole over $145 from each worker. The workers should be able to turn around and buy 100 burritos for themselves, with change left over.
But that’s not the case. They only got $15, which is enough for a single burrito. Now, do this for every industry. People working 8 hours per day should be able to afford to buy hundreds of burritos if they were being compensated for the full value of their labor. A Chipotle worker should be getting around $1,100 per day if burritos are being sold at $12. Instead, that thousand dollars gets kicked up to C-suite shitheads who do fuck all.
It’s why wages are a sham. Even if you produce excessive quantities of commodities, you’re still getting paid like shit, just like everyone else in your class.
Supply vs. Demand does affect the exhange value of commodities, but capitalists steal from workers by taking a “surplus.”
For example, let’s say it costs $2 in ingredients to make a burrito and 15 minutes to cook those ingredients (made in batches) with another 5 minutes to actually prepare the thing. Each batch of cooked ingredients let’s say makes enough for 10 burritos. So ingredients for 40 burritos can be prepared per hour with 20 burritos being made in that same time frame by each worker.
The total numbers would be:
Now, here’s the rub: Chipotle turns around and sells each burrito for $12. The workers have generated $480 in profit. But the three of them only made $45 combined. This means capitalists stole over $145 from each worker. The workers should be able to turn around and buy 100 burritos for themselves, with change left over.
But that’s not the case. They only got $15, which is enough for a single burrito. Now, do this for every industry. People working 8 hours per day should be able to afford to buy hundreds of burritos if they were being compensated for the full value of their labor. A Chipotle worker should be getting around $1,100 per day if burritos are being sold at $12. Instead, that thousand dollars gets kicked up to C-suite shitheads who do fuck all.
It’s why wages are a sham. Even if you produce excessive quantities of commodities, you’re still getting paid like shit, just like everyone else in your class.
you skipped fixed costs, but close enough.