【推文】James Lindsay - Communists are completely wrong about the most fundamental aspects of capitalism

PikachuEXE
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共產主義者在資本主義最基本的方面完全錯誤…

連結


原文及個人翻譯

Communists are completely wrong about the most fundamental aspects of capitalism. They argue that capitalism works off (and creates/maintains) scarcity, but it actually works from and maintains surplus. As usual, it's exactly the opposite, a complete inversion. 🧵

共產主義者在資本主義最基本的方面完全錯誤。他們主張資本主義是建立在(並創造/維持)稀缺之上,但實際上它建立在過剩之上並維持過剩。如常所料,這恰恰相反,是一個完全的倒置。🧵

The essence of capitalism is that one (an individual) can accrue and use one's capital as one will, including to increase one's capital. Capitalism intrinsically and practically creates value as a result, and the mechanism by which it does so is not scarcity but surplus.

At bottom, capitalism produces value by allowing an individual to produce whatever he wants with what he has and, if he wants, to sell it to another individual. This process intrinsically creates value. It doesn't move value around or redistribute value. It creates value.

資本主義的本質在於個人可以累積和隨意使用自己的資本,包括增加資本。從本質和實踐上講,資本主義從而創造了價值,而它這樣做機制不是通過稀缺而是通過過剩。

根本上講,資本主義通過允許個人用他擁有的東西生產他想要的任何東西,如果他願意,可以將其賣給另一個個人。這個過程本身就創造了價值。它並不轉移價值或重新分配價值,它創造價值。

The way capitalism creates value is by creating conditions under which one individual is incentivized to produce something that he can sell for a profit. What that means is that he produces something that is of some value to him and greater value to someone else.

The idea in capitalism is that you can make something that you have less need or desire for than someone else in the market, and that person will part with some form of payment (barter or money) to obtain it. You get something you value more as do they in voluntary exchange.

資本主義創造價值的方式是創造條件,讓個人有動力生產可以獲利的商品。這意味著他生產的東西對他自己有一定的價值,但對其他人有更大的價值。

資本主義的理念是,你可以生產市場上別人比你更需要或更想要的東西,而那個人會用某種形式的支付(易貨或金錢)來購買。在自願交換中,你得到自己更珍視的東西,對方也是如此。

A voluntary exchange between two free people can only take place if both perceive there's some advantage for them to engage in that exchange, so each one leaves the exchange believing they have increased the net value to their lives, needs, and wants through the exchange.

While value and perceived value are not identical, all value is ultimately based on perceived value: it's what people think something is worth based on how much utility or joy it can bring them compared against the difficulty of getting it (supply and demand).

Without getting into the weeds of the economics, what this means is the voluntary exchange basis of capitalism, which utterly depends upon the freedom and property rights of the individuals involved, creates value. Value that didn't exist comes into existence for both.

兩個自由人之間的自願交換只能在雙方都認為從交換中獲得優勢時才會發生,因此他們在交換後都相信自己的生活、需求和渴望的淨價值通過交換而增加。

雖然價值和心目中的價值不完全相同,但所有價值最終都基於心目中的價值:人們根據其能帶來的效用或快樂與獲得它的難度(供需)相比,來判斷某物價值幾何。

不深入經濟細節來說,這意味著資本主義的自願交換基礎,完全依賴於參與個人的自由和財產權,創造了價值。對雙方來說,原本不存在的價值由此產生。

This whole process only works on a principle of surplus, though, not scarcity. Scarcity is related to supply and demand, thus perceived value, but value creation is related to surplus. This is extremely important to understand because it explains why capitalism produces.

If you are the one producing something, you will not easily part with it if you need it, if you want it, or if it has some sentimental value to you. You could sell it for a great enough sum, in principle, but you'll rightly prioritize yourself over a potential buyer.

If you are good at producing something, though, you'll produce more of that thing than you need, in which case you're incentivized to sell it (law of comparative advantage applies here). It has value but not as much to you as it does to someone who can't produce it!

You are therefore incentivized to produce more than you need of something that you are good at producing because then you can profit under capitalism, and in the process of profiting you are also creating value through the mechanism of voluntary exchange.

這個整個過程僅在過剩的原則下運作,而不是稀缺。稀缺與供需和心目中的價值有關,但價值創造與過剩有關。理解這一點至關重要,因為它解釋了資本主義為什麼能生產。

如果你是生產某物的人,你不會輕易放棄它,如果你需要它,想要它,或它對你有情感價值。你可以原則上以很大的高價賣掉它,但你會正確地優先考慮自己而不是潛在買家。

然而,如果你擅長生產某物,你會生產比你需要的多,在這種情況下,你有動力去賣掉它(比較優勢法則在此適用)。它有價值,但對你來說沒有對無法生產它的人那麼有價值!

因此,你有動力生產比你需要的多,而且你擅長生產的東西,因為這樣你可以在資本主義下獲利,在獲利的同時,你也通過自願交換的機制創造了價值。

Capitalism therefore incentivizes and operates upon a principle of surplus, not scarcity, and scarcity is merely its inverse, which is utilized to (a) determine prices and (b) protect the fundamental mechanisms of voluntary exchange (the market) itself.

The market depends upon a form of scarcity that's the kind Communists not only oppose but see as the fundamental Sin at the heart of the Fall of Man: the fundamental right to exclude under private property rights. That is, it's a form of legal scarcity that markets depend on.

Because this scarcity is a legal artifact of property rights being protected, Communists are able to manipulate people into believing that capitalists rig the system itself so they can maintain property rights to exclude people and thus produce scarcity for profit.

因此,資本主義在過剩的原則下激勵和運作,而不是稀缺,而稀缺只是它的反面,用於(a)確定價格和(b)保護自願交換的基本機制(市場)本身。

市場依賴於一種稀缺形式,即共產主義者不僅反對,而且認為它是人類墮落核心的根本罪惡:私人財產權下的排除權。換句話說,市場依賴於一種法律上的稀缺形式,即保護財產權。

由於這種稀缺是法律上保護財產權的產物,共產主義者能夠操縱人們,讓他們相信資本家操縱整個系統,以維持財產權來排除他人,從而為獲利製造稀缺。

The fact is, though, the market itself depends on the concept of private property, including the fundamental right to exclude, in order to enable the value creation process. Being able to guard a surplus outside of a voluntary trade or exchange turns the economic wheel.

Only under protected private property rights with the fundamental right to exclude do you have the conditions under which there's an incentive to produce a surplus and to sell it at a profit, which are the underlying foundations of abundance, prosperity, and wealth.

So capitalism operates on the principle of surplus through the mechanism of incentivized voluntary exchange, and this truly produces abundance (surplus) and creates wealth (value). It depends on a secured right to private property at the most fundamental levels, though.

事實是,市場本身依賴於私人財產的概念,包括排除權,以使價值創造過程得以進行。能夠在自願交易或交換之外保護過剩,讓經濟輪轉起來。

只有在受保護的私人財產權和排除權下,才有激勵生產過剩並以獲利出售的條件,這是豐富、繁榮和財富的基礎。

因此,資本主義通過自願交換的激勵機制在過剩的原則下運作,這真正產生了過剩並創造了財富(價值)。然而,它依賴於在最根本層面上保障私人財產權。

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