W/R to the water/diamonds assertion that my gold/iron is a straw-man, have another go. Gold is not valuable because it takes alot of effort to produce it. It takes a tremendous effort to produce it only because of its scarcity. You are relying on a marxian valuation theory, here. Gold is valued because people want more of it than is readily available. If nobody desired to obtain gold, then it would be worthless as a commodity or medium of exchange.

It has also been suggested that : “AS you work more you value the additional income less (because of diminishing marginal utility)” … I am left to assume that this proves the theory of DMU. Note that I did not deny the existence of such a principle, I am asserting only a refusal to accept what I identify as a misapplication of said principle. But the inference in the above, in either case, is incorrect.

I similarly refute this argument:

You do not simply start to devalue the money you have earned. Rather it is a question of relativity. You value the income less than the time required to produce it. (because as the supply of available time decreases, its value must increase.) If you did not value the income, you would not expend effort and time in order to obtain it