/lit/ - Literature

>>14551045
Supply and demand are contingent on labor. You don't have to assume labor as absolute, you can assume physical material, which still requires labor to bring to market. Individual prices don't matter because in aggregate they follow the law of value. There is only so much iron for steel to make cars in the world. If your friend sells you a car for $1, this does not suddenly change the amount of metal that exists.
In order for the metal to get to the car to be in your possession in the first place it requires economies of scale and the education production and reproduction of a whole workforce. The relative material costs in actual goods and products to sustain such an economy is entirely calculable and does exactly follow the law of value.
All cars across the economy take a required amount of material resources from humanity in aggregate. This is readily obvious when buying in wholesale or bulk, the base price is directly proportional to the material costs + labor + transport. You won't get steel as cheap as wood because it costs more to make.