[ExI] the formerly rich and their larvae...

[Stathis Papaioannou]

On 12/02/2008, Lee Corbin <lcorbin at rawbw.com> wrote:

> "How can this possibly be equitable?", ask the socialists on this
> list. For although admittedly everyone is doing very, very well
> by early century standards, the top dog, after all, owns everything!
> Everything, that is, but a mere insignificant one-millionth or so
> of all the wealth.

How did the top dog acquire all his wealth? Did he work a million
times harder than the next person down? Let's be generous and say that
he actually worked ten times as hard as that guy, but the market in
its wisdom valued the hourly pay rate for his work 10^5 times as high.
Well, good for him, you might say. In that case, your moral position
on work is not that a person should be rewarded in proportion to his
effort, but that he should be rewarded in proportion to what the
market will give for his effort. A very lazy person could work half an
hour a week and earn more than a very industrious person who works 70
hours a week, and that would be fine if the market can stand it.

I disagree that this is a fair situation, but I don't really have an
argument to present. It boils down to an irreducible value judgement.





-- 
Stathis Papaioannou