1. The video was very informative about Karl Marx theory of capitalism. Capitalism can be broken down into two important parts: labor and the means of production. Labor is when a person trades their time and labor power for money to an employer or capitalist. Such as when a worker goes to work for Ford Motor Company and works on the assembly line. That person is working for a define pay and hopefully benefits as they work to build a car that will be sold for a profit. Capitalism also requires the means of production. That is the owner or capitalist who is paying the workers to work, to make a product or conduct a service that will make a profit for the owner. The means of production is the factory that is owned by Ford Motor Company. In this example the owners are the shareholders but in a private business the owner is/ are individuals or a group of people.

2. The video also describes what Marx understood as value. Value is how long it takes to make something under normal conditions. An example would be that an employee is expected to put a bumper on a car in 1 hour. Or that it will take an electrician 3 hours to wire a room for 2 electrical sockets. In both examples the employees have been hired to by an owner or capitalist to give value to a product, which will be sold for a profit. But the profit is not how Marx defines the value of the labor, rather the labor is valued by how long it takes to conduct the work. This view to me put more emphasis on the labor without needing the validation of money.

3. The connection between labor and value is found in the need for labor to create value. Yes, it takes the electrician x hours to wire a one-bedroom apartment but how much is that worth? And who gets to decide the value added. In capitalist nations the market or the owner does. The labor theory of value says that a product is worth the amount of labor it takes to make it. This is a abnormal way of thinking about value in America because we are so profit driven. However, this view gives a tremendous amount of value to the laborer and his labor. In this theory of labor who can see why the emphasis may be on wants and needs of the laborer.

4. Labor is the time it takes to create something or complete a service. The worker in the Ford Motor Company or the Electrician. They labor in their given field to create something which adds value to the product. Labor power is the ability to work which is the laborer’s ability to work on the assembly line at Ford or electrician’s ability to wire the apartment. They in their labor are adding value or improving on what is already there. Therefore, without the ability of the electrician the wire and sockets and other materials are of no true value. When the electrician has connected and fastened the material to conduct electricity safely, they have improved to a greater value. The labor power is the ability to improve upon or add value by ones labor. A final example is that labor power is such that the laborer has the power to withdraw it by striking, which is to not labor for the owner.

5. Surplus value is profit. It is the value that is given to the finished product that has been created with the labor of the assembly line worker or the electrician. The electrician is paid and has benefits which cost a defined amount or has a range amount, but his services are sold to a customer at a profit. This is important to the very system of capitalism. The right to own property and the laws that ensure an owner can be confident that their property will not be taken is important in capitalism. However, the reward of a profit is an incentive for the capitalist to invest in the means of production which employs others and creates products and services. the surplus value is the end goal of the capitalist and gives them more value or in this case profit than the laborer.