What is the money-commodity now?

[Questionable]

I've been studying up on the LTV after a long time of neglecting it, and of course all the older works from Marx and others reference gold as the money-commodity.

So I'm wondering, what is the money-commodity today? How does credit factor into it? While we're on the subject, what exactly is credit?

[The Jay]

Credit is a transferable debt which is measured in money. The money commodity is now either paper or an arbitrary unit of debt, depending on how you look at it.

[Ostrinski]

We use a monetary exchange of printed money. I think Rosa Luxemburg wrote some on credit.

[Let's Get Free]

The price of gold is still expressed in dollars but, today, rather than a change in the price of gold leading to a change in the value of the dollar, it’s the other way around.

[Noa Rodman]

Gold is still the money-commodity (it is traded as a currency, central banks hold it). The question becomes then in what ways is the value of the dollar still determined by gold, but even before the suspension of convertibility this is a tricky issue (the amount of gold reserves does not seem to matter). Especially misleading (already in Marx's time) is the so-called price of gold, whereas gold expresses the price of other commodities in its own weight.

Sam William's blog (http://critiqueofcrisistheory.wordpress.com/) writes in an understandable manner on money-commodity. For more in depth theoretical discussion there are these texts: http://libcom.org/library/quantity-theory-money-s-legezo
http://libcom.org/library/measure-value-under-paper-money-currency-%E2%80%93-wolf-motylev
http://libcom.org/library/nominalism-problem-value-money-g-dashevsky
http://libcom.org/library/international-exchange-law-value-conclusion-isaak-dashkovskij
http://libcom.org/library/hilferding-or-marx-v-poznjakov
and especially on credit;
http://libcom.org/library/credit-romanticism-golden-pincers-zachary-atlas

[Avanti]

debt is the money commodity today

and debt is in control of human beings

so human beings are the commodity

gold will once again become the commodity

when machines replace our labour

and we will be told to crawl down in the gutter

and die

[Prof. Oblivion]

Gold is still the money-commodity

No it is not.

We don't have a money commodity.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Since the 70s most states have been detaching their currecies from any real equivalent in a specific commodity. Money is the money commodity, specifically US dollars.

This has allowed for financial speculation on speculation. It has led to the giant bubbles of the stock market and derivitives and so on. It all sort of works for the capitalists as long as money keeps circulating - but it's a giant bubble that could cause bank-run type situations for the whole financial sector if people actually try and call in the debts.

[Avanti]

that is not true

you are the money commodity

through debt

they own you

[Jimmie Higgins]

We use a monetary exchange of printed money. I think Rosa Luxemburg wrote some on credit.Economics is not my strong suit, so I'd be interested to hear about what kind of parallels there are between credit and financialization in the neoliberal era are - or are not.

Luxemburg talked about credit as allowing the capitalists more flexibility for growth, but causing worse contractions when that flexibility snaps back - it seems, from my superficial understanding of contemporary economics, that a very similar thing is the case now.

EDIT: except now, money is sort of more detached whereas with credit, it's still investment into actual production, not the potential for production and profit as with financialization.

[Jimmie Higgins]

that is not true

you are the money commodity

through debt

they own youThis has always been true though - this is how freed-slaves were pushed back into a subordinate position in the South, this is why there were endentured servants and debtors workhouses.

I think I was more interested in understanding some of the specific ways these things work right now.

[Avanti]

This has always been true though - this is how freed-slaves were pushed back into a subordinate position in the South, this is why there were endentured servants and debtors workhouses.

I think I was more interested in understanding some of the specific ways these things work right now.

mortgages

student loans

car loans

any kinds of loans

Babylon prospers

the slaves toil

we are slaves through interest

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I took out a loan once, about a couple of grand. Used one half to pay a few month's rent in advance, and had a whale of a time spending the other half. Didn't pay a penny of it back, and nobody seems to be pursuing me over the debt. I wonder what happened to it?