Exchange value

It seems that in the under-class parts of Reading one game is prevalent - exchanging things. It seems that every kid and adult is obsessed with swapping things so that they can get a "good deal" and raise their "wealth". Just the other day a kid calls over at me "want to swap bikes?" then realises my bike is not as good as his and say "na your bike's shit". What is the point i got to thinking is all this exchanging of things?

Most famously exchange is done via a middle man "money". This is the ball in this game and obsession. It really made me realise the limited nature of "exchange value".

If I have an apple and you have an pear and we exchange them then has anything changed?

We "own" different things. But "ownership" is not the issue under scrutiny here.

The point at issue is how we "value" these things. I may like pears and you may like apples. The exchange thus enables us to both get what we want; it enables things to find their way to places where they are valued.

It is not value itself. Thus the orchard farmer who has more apples than he can eat finds apples of very low value himself but move them to market and suddenly they have value.

Value is thus dependent upon location and environment. Money then measures the potential difference between places where value is low and where it is high. It is a relative measure and the "value" it measures is transient and conditional itself.

A sum of money however is a relatively solid thing. It equates to the "power" to move things. A large sum of money can shift things which are already in a place of high demand.

Money and exchange is a funny thing then more aligned to velocity and movement than to mass and substance.

The conflict then is between the more natural view of an apple measured as a "stuff" we can eat and an apple measured through its movement - its being a ball in the exchange game.

I'm reminded here of the old saying that an accountant is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.