The general fact of surplus value, namely that the workmen does not get the full value of his labours, and that he is taken advantage of by the capitalist, is obvious.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
People value and spend their money more wisely when they acquire it by their own efforts - also known as work.
Bourgeois class domination is undoubtedly an historical necessity, but, so too, the rising of the working class against it. Capital is an historical necessity, but, so too, its grave digger, the socialist proletariat.
Moreover, there is an unearned increment on capital and on labor, due to the presence, around the capitalist and the laborer, of a great, industrious, and prosperous society.
A man with a surplus can control circumstances, but a man without a surplus is controlled by them, and often has no opportunity to exercise judgment.
The value of a man is in his intrinsic qualities: in that of which power cannot strip him and which adverse fortune cannot take away. That for which he is indebted to circumstances is mere trapping and tinsel.
Capitalism is a system for determining objective value.
All wealth is the product of labor.
Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community.
The key thing about wealth in a capitalist economy is that it reproduces itself and usually earns a positive net return.
There is no real wealth but the labor of man.