In reply to Michael William's ope-l 2159:
No, I don't think the whole question of commodities' commonality can be
solved in terms of the market. I think the question really boils down to
your category of "successful commodities." I suppose you mean by this
commodities that are sold. Now, I certainly recognize the distinction
between commodities that are sold and those that aren't, but firms do
record the values of commodities produced before they are sold. So do
GDP accounts. Many firms "sell" commodities later to be used as inputs
to themselves. If value were a market phenomenon, all this would be
impossible. Capitalist business accounting would be impossible.
Moreover, not only do firms record these figures, they think of them and
act on this basis) as sums of value as real as values "realized"
through sale.
Now all this requires a system in which things (as well as labor-power)
are exchangeable in general. I don't think the issue of valuation
can be *reduced* to that, however, as Michael seemed to be saying with
the word "only" (written twice).
Andrew Kliman