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Manga answers why machines do not create profit
(lemmygrad.ml)
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this post was submitted on 11 Oct 2024
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Is it because you can't underpay a machine?
The machine only outputs the value you put into it, since it's constant capital. 5G worth of raw materials produces 5G worth of transformed material. 10G produces 10G, etc. You can make your machines faster and more efficient but they will still output exactly what you put into them, hence the rate of profit falls because 5G for 1 item suddenly turns into 3G, then 2G, then 1G as technology progresses. But the machine will still output 3G of transformed material for 3G of raw material (constant capital).
The human worker on the other hand is paid the same for producing more. Hence if it costs 10G to produce one item, you might reasonably think "oh then if I double production, I will be paying 20G per item produced!" but no, it costs you only 19G -- the human is still paid 1G whether he produces one item, two items, or three items. Therein lies profit, the value created by human labour which we call surplus value.
I don't see how this could be the case, if a machine can perform the same type and amount of labour as a human what's the difference?
I forgot to mention wear and tear on the machine in my earlier explanation (fuel, repairs, depreciation and cost of acquiring the machine etc). It's in the panel (the 10G in constant capital) on top of the cost of raw materials.
With this wear and tear, the machine passes on a little bit of its own value to the item it produces. Because it was created by human labor, it transfers its own pre-existing value into the commodities it outputs -- transferring implies that it's lost from the machine and gained into the item.
Human labor, however, can generate more value than it consumes - the 1G paid to the worker to socially reproduce and come back to work the next day, with which he produces 2 or more chairs.