The idle lives of a minority ruling class can only be maintained by products, needless to say. So the only method to bring about this state of affair… - Itsurō Sakisaka

Once the means of production have become capital, a certain quantity of value is augmented through the exploitation of labor. And this valorizing value is capital.

Marx refers to the value invested on the means of production as constant capital.

Since the labor-power could be the labor of four, eight, or even twelve hours, the amount of labor expended can be augmented. The value of the labor-power is decided by the consumption goods necessary to maintain the life of the worker, making it possible for that person to exist as a human being who expends the same labor today as yesterday.