Many actions have a negative value. If I give two toddlers ball-peen hammers, release them into a window store, and then close the front door while I wait in the parking lot, was my action likely to create value or likely to destroy value?

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jagged-chisel 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

For whom? The employees will get more paid hours as they clean up. You have created value for them!

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evan_ 2 hours ago | parent [-]

ok Zorg https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119116/quotes/?item=qt0544361&...

	▲	jagged-chisel 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		“…by creating a little destruction, I am in fact creating [value.]” Indeed, the capitalist’s creed!

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edm0nd 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

is it not both?

create value because the windows have to be replaced and employees are paid for their labor in doing that.

destroy value bc they -1 inventory each time a window is broken

	▲	lbreakjai 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		It's a net value loss. This is literally the parable of the broken window https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_broken_window The fallacy is to think value was created by buying someone's labour to fix the window. This is value that's been displaced from something productive to something unproductive. Instead of going from 0 to 1 (invest the money and create value), you went from -1 to 0 (spend money to fix the window to get back to where you were) and, overall, the value of a perfectly good window got lost.