Medical Surgery: If a heart surgery takes a surgeon 4 hours, an anesthesiologist 6 hours, and two nurses 8 hours each - is that 26 total labor hours? But the surgeon trained for 12 years while the nurses trained for 4. Do you multiply the surgeon's time by some skill factor
Movie Production: How do you measure the labor time in a Marvel movie? The director works 2 years, actors work 6 months, CGI artists work 18 months, and hundreds of crew work varying schedules. Do you just add up all the hours? How do you weigh A-list actor time versus grip time?
Smartphone Production: How do you compare the labor time of a silicon chip designer in California, a rare earth miner in Congo, a factory assembly worker in China, and a software developer in India? Do you average their hourly wages? Use raw time? How do you account for the designer's 8 years of education versus the miner's physical labor?
Movie Theater Popcorn: Movie theater popcorn costs $8 when the corn, oil, salt, and labor might only represent $0.50 in labor value. Meanwhile, a complex electronic device with hundreds of hours of R&D and manufacturing labor might sell at a loss during clearance sales. How does this align with labor determining value?
Restaurant Meals: A simple pasta dish at a fancy restaurant costs $25, while an identical pasta dish at a diner costs $8. Same ingredients, same cooking time, same labor - but completely different prices based on ambiance, location, and brand. Which one reflects the "true"" labor value?
Designer vs Generic Clothing: A plain white t-shirt from Target costs $5, while an identical white t-shirt from Supreme costs $200. Same cotton, same manufacturing labor, same sewing time. The only difference is a logo. How does labor theory explain this 4000% price difference?
Clearance Sales: During clearance, stores sell complex manufactured goods - cars, electronics, furniture - at 50-70% off. These items didn't suddenly require less labor to produce. Why would they sell below their labor value?
Raw diamonds found on the ground - Someone walks across a field, picks up a diamond, and sells it for $10,000. What labor created that value?
Aged whiskey - A bottle of 30-year-old Macallan costs $5,000. Most of that value came from time passing, not labor. The "aging" happened automatically.
Antique furniture - A 200-year-old chair sells for $20,000. The original labor was centuries ago and minimal compared to the current price.
Natural springs/water sources - Companies buy land with natural springs for millions. What labor created the value of the water source itself?
Rationalism vs. Empiricism: If value is objective and labor-determined, why does your theory require eliminating the very market processes through which humans actually demonstrate what they value?
Primacy of Existence: You claim value exists independent of human consciousness and choice - that goods possess "true value" based on labor content regardless of whether anyone wants them. Isn't this placing your theory above the observable facts of human action and preference?
Concept Formation: What is your definition of "labor"? Does it include mental work, creative work, entrepreneurial planning? If a composer spends 10 minutes writing a melody that sells millions of copies, versus a ditch-digger working 10 hours, which labor creates more value and why?
The Stolen Concept: You argue that capitalists extract "surplus value" from workers - but the very concept of "surplus" requires a standard of measurement. What standard are you using to determine the "correct" amount workers should receive, and by what right do you impose this standard on voluntary exchanges?
Arbitrary Authority/Subjectivism: You claim workers are "exploited" when paid less than the "full value" they create - but who determines this 'full value' other than the voluntary choices of market participants?
The Foundational Challenge: By what standard do you judge the current distribution of wealth as unjust?
The Authority Question: Who will determine "socially necessary labor time" in your system, and by what right? You've rejected individual choice through markets - so some human mind must decide what counts as "necessary."
The Concept of Value: What does it mean for something to have value if no conscious being values it?
The Trader Principle: If both parties benefit from voluntary exchange, where is the exploitation?
The Choice Challenge: If your system is truly better for workers, why does it require force to implement rather than voluntary adoption?
Various:
What is your definition of exploitation?
By what right do you declare some exchanges "unfair"?
What gives you the authority to override individual judgment about value?
How do you know what workers "should" be paid?
By what standard do you determine what is "good"?
Who owns the product of a mind?