As we continue to turn over stones just to catch glimpses of scurrying creatures, it is time to draw some of these threads together and see where this line of enquiry takes us. This blank page page was earmarked for our visions of the future, a place we can share reflections on where we are going. In time, forward looking items will appear here. What they need is time to manifest.
While we are waiting, here is a question for you…
Is the retail price of`something a measure of its value in the eyes of as yet undecided purchasers or is it the median cost of its constituent parts?
This is a trick question of sorts: does a comparison between two values mean anything in any other context?? There will always be a degree of subjectivity when assigning an abstract value. Theoretically, it shouldn’t exist, but don’t stay awake at night trying to square the circle.
Follow the tag “profit or loss” to gather the scattered fragments of my investigation, which surfaces during the French revolution. It was the apogee of Napoleon Bonaparte’s politcal political career. In a decisive break with the past, Napoleon cleared out every pre-revolutionary law, replacing them with a set of fresh laws, later referred to as the codes civiles napoéoniques.. Bonaparte had influence on the tone and structure of the codes, but less control of the administrative detail. One such example was the commercial laws: The “Codes Civiles napoléoniques” included a set of rules and regulations that set out the procedures and obligations of buyers and sellers. It also outlawed selling at a loss, which assumes that a retail price is no more than a total of the numbers we first thought of, expressed in units of currency with no meaningful concessions to the value of a product. A product could be put on the retail market for fifty pounds, which might represent the total cost of production on its way out of the factory gate or some other formula. But the price of something cannot be used to assign it a value. A litre of diesel can be used to drive an ambulance on its way to a hosoital; or it could be used to power a tank rumbling across a battlefield; or a lorry driving down a motorway to deliver or collect goods. While there may only be a single price marked on the pump, it is easy to see that value can be a deeply personal response to the world we live in. It is an emotive component in our relations with those around us, alive or dead.
Price and cost can both be calculated in units of currency, which some people believe gives them validity and power. Judge the value and worth of something by what it has used for in the global economy. Don’t be surprised if you find the process painful.
