What's Your Use-Value?

I found Ken’s example of money to be extremely helpful when contemplating Baudrillard. The fact that we can purchase items imperative to our lives such as food and clothing simply by swiping a piece of plastic seems ludicrous when he breaks it down in such a way. Especially since this card is representing money, which essentially has absolutely no value except that which we assign to it. It seems ridiculous to assign value to something which has absolutely no use-value. So when we then use credit cards to represent this exchange-value, we are representing something with no use-value. This concept does however enforce Derrida’s point that language is nothing but signifiers and the signified. Just as how money would have absolutely no value unless we assign value to it, words have no value unless we assign meanings to them.

I like the concept of the simulacra. Since we are merely using a piece of plastic representing something with no use-value to buy important items, it seems as if they are almost free. I play online poker a lot, and when I make money it never seems to occur to me. I’ll just play for the enjoyment and to win. After I win and decide to cash out some of the money, they send me a check. Even when I knew I won the money, it does not seem real until I actually cash the check. I guess the concept that I can make money while playing a game on the computer just isn’t in my realm of reality. Therefore I can assign value to money and the check but not to my online account. I don’t think I am alone in this thinking, which is why our debt is at 4.7 trillion. We spend more money than we have because we do not assign the proper value to it.