Why I don't value value.

There are many words in the English language that are confusing and in my opinion, 'value' is a prime example.  Here are some definitions of value as a noun:

1. Importance, worth, usefulness.

1.1 Material or monetary worth.

1.2 The worth compared to the price paid, e.g. 'good value'.

2. Principles or standards of behaviour.

Value and worth, particularly monetary worth, are, in my opinion, disconnected and often contradictory.  This is particularly relevant in the context of 'adding value'.  Let's take the example of a construction project.  A builder buys a dilapidated property for £100,000.  He spends a further £100,000 renovating it and then sells it for £300,000.  So he has 'added value' to the tune of £300,000 - £200,000 = £100,000.  The monetary value of the property has increased by £100,000.  But I don't see that as an increase in value, I just view it as a price someone is prepared to pay, which provides the builder with £100,000 profit.

The builder's profit, which he might call 'added value', of £100,000, equates to $166,000.  Why have I done that conversion?  Because 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.  So if it took the builder, say, six months to complete his project, he will have earned (if that's the right word!) almost $1,000 per day, 100 times more than the highest paid in 80% of the world's population.  So what 'value' is the builder's 'added value' to society.  I would suggest very little because it will probably be ploughed back into more construction projects, with similar out-turns, which only privileged members of society can afford to purchase, certainly not 80% of the global population.

It might appear that I am just knocking the capitalist economy, which for centuries has widened the gap between the haves and have-nots and continues to do so.  But other forms of economic management, like that employed by the former Soviet Union, have also failed miserably.  No I am not knocking economic management systems per se, I am merely pissed off with the flowery rhetoric.  In the example of the building project, for 'added value' read 'excessive profit'.  The commercial businesses that might advertise their capabilities as providing 'value propositions' should really be described as offering products and services at 'rip off prices'.

So there we have it.  I've had my say.  I certainly do not value value!