Editing Marxist Political Economy (section)

== <span style="color: #FFFFFF;">Understanding</span> ==
Marxist political economy is understood through '''Exploitation''' and '''Structure'''.

'''1. The Secret of Profit (Surplus Value)''':
Marx asked: "Where does profit come from?"
* If a worker makes a chair in 1 hour, and the wood costs $10 and the chair sells for $100, where does the extra $90 go?
* The worker gets $20 (The Wage). The owner keeps $70 (The Surplus Value).
* Marx argued that since the "Owner" didn't make the chair, that $70 is "Stolen" from the worker's life.

'''2. Base and Superstructure''':
Marxists believe the "Economy" is the "Base" of a building.
* Everything else—Government, Art, Religion, Family—is the "Superstructure."
* The Superstructure's job is to "Protect" the Base.
* Laws aren't "Neutral"—they are designed to protect the "Property" of the owners. Religion is the "Opium of the People"—it keeps them quiet by promising a reward in the next life.

'''3. The "Inherent" Crisis''':
Capitalism is "Unstable" by design.
* Companies must compete to survive. To compete, they must cut costs. To cut costs, they replace workers with machines.
* But if everyone is replaced by machines, nobody has money to buy the products.
* This leads to "Overproduction" and the inevitable "Crash."

'''The 'Reserve Army of Labor'''': Marx's term for "Unemployment." He argued that capitalism **needs** some people to be unemployed so that those who *do* have jobs are "Afraid" of being replaced, which keeps wages low.
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