[ExI] retrainability of plebeians

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 1:52 AM, Emlyn <emlynoregan at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2009/4/29 Rafal Smigrodzki <rafal.smigrodzki at gmail.com>:
>> On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 4:54 AM, BillK <pharos at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> No, that's not how the world works.
>>> The level of reward does not equal the 'value' of the work.
>>>
>>> (Now you need to get into a complex discussion about how to 'value' the work).
>>>
>>> Compare the rewards of different jobs and you will quickly notice
>>> strange anomalies.
>>>
>>> High rewards are in the entertainment industry and anything to do with
>>> celebrity. Pop stars, sports stars, hairdressers, chefs, interior
>>> designers, etc.
>>>
>>> The other big rewards are for the crooks in the financial industry,
>>> whose reward is as much as they can get away with, without actually
>>> being charged with fraud.
>>>
>>> So, if your argument is based on the theoretical law of supply and
>>> demand it fails in the real world that the rest of us live in.
>>> (Or, the corollary, that if it is correct, then the law of supply and
>>> demand produces a very poor quality of world).
>>>
>> ### Acceptance of certain basic economic knowledge is indispensable
>> for any discussion of economics. Since you seem to be playfully
>> rejecting the basics, I see no reason to continue.
>>
>> Rafal
>
> Not so. I think BillK is pointing out that our intuitive notion of
> value, and the word value from the economics lexicon, are two
> different things. In the economics discourse the idea that the level
> of reward and the "value" diverge is wrong, because they are exactly
> the same thing, whereas I think intuition says otherwise. I agree with
> BillK, that value and reward are related but separate. Thus all my
> banging on about voluntary vs paid activity, yada yada.

### Let's wait for Bill to take umbrage at being characterized as an
anti-free-marketeer and a supply-and-demand denialist..... this could
be a long wait ... but I'd be glad to be surprised on this count.

BTW, "voluntary" means for me that no threat of an attack against you
is used to induce a behavior which also implies that in real life
almost all paid behaviors are a subset a voluntary behaviors.

Rafal