Nice post @jaredhowe : ) I can't agree with you though... Your argument assumes we're rational actors. But humans aren't rational, they are incredibly irrational. I'm not sure you can judge someone based on their actions, because actions are so easily manipulated.
Let's take your example of spending 5 bucks. If it's Ok with you we'll say our case study picked up a piece of crap plastic toy at the counter of a big supermarket. ..
Did they spend the money on that toy because they valued it more than any other thing they could have spent that money on? I doubt it.
I doubt they valued it more than other things in that very supermarket. In my opinion it's more likely that spent it because humans are stupid and it was there, brightly coloured and a sign told them it was discounted by 75% and lots of people are motivated to buy when they "find a bargain".
Supermarkets put things like this at the till because they know people are easily manipulated, not because they genuinely believe that these products will be chosen by people who can see that they are worth more than other items in the shop.
What do you think?
As an aside, I haven't seen any Socialists say they don't believe "that internet-connected devices and human hands aren't means of production/production capital", could you point me towards where I can read that argument? It seems obviously stupid to me, and I'd like to try to find out why anyone would think that!
RE: Demonstrated Preference, Socialism, and Steemit