Subject:
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Re: Preaching to the Choir
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Tue, 10 Aug 2004 18:21:50 GMT
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Viewed:
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2148 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler wrote:
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek wrote:
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OK, can I run a thought experiment here for a sec? Suppose I’m a brain
surgeon and a darn good one. Save lots of lives every day I go in to work.
But one day I decide my real calling is digging holes. So I go out in my
yard and put in a 40 hour week digging holes.
They’re very nice holes, really, but they serve no useful purpose, in fact
they detract from the value of my yard. However I worked really really hard
at it, I wasn’t goofing off at all, I put in 40 hours fair and square.
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This sounds to me like a strong statement in support of Chris’ thesis that
one person’s workhour is not inherently worth more than another’s. If my
brain is working just fine (let’s say that it is), and the brains of my
friends and family members are likewise working just fine, then your services
as a brain surgeon are irrelevant to me. But if I live next door to you and
I hate the fact that the local landscape is degraded by your hole-less yard,
then I’d probably be greatly appreciative of your hole-digging efforts. And
if your holeful yard increases the value of my property, then perhaps
(hypothetically) I’d be willing to compensate you for your diggery.
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But suppose you’re not? What I’m driving at here is that it is difficult to take
worth as stated by the person doing the task... and that further, some
activities are indeed worth less. It rather seems to me that even in Chris’s
scheme he’s still relying on the market, or a Soviet, to determine what things
are worth, even if he’s imposed price control on what you get paid for them.
It’s not INHERENT worth here, it’s EXTRINSIC worth that matters. I posit that
some work is worth more than others because it’s judged useful by more people. I
further posit that it’s more efficient to let the market determine worth than it
is to have a Soviet do it.
If that point’s not coming across it’s the fault of the example rather than the
idea. This idea is explored in some depth in the Hayek book I referenced
upthread.
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The very desire to have more than others is a sickness that we probably
can’t help.
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How so? How is wanting to have a Lexus instead of a Tercel a “sickness”?
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To answer this, perhaps it would be useful for you to identify why you want
to have a Lexus instead of a Tercel.
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Because by just about any (non market)(1) standard of merit it’s a better car?
Do not get me wrong, I chose Tercel on purpose, as I consider Toyota about the
finest car company extant in terms of reliability and suitability to purpose.
But their higher end products are better than their lower end ones... Better
fit, better finish, more thoughful design, more accessories, more power, etc
etc.
And surely you’d agree that if I had a Lexus and you had a Tercel, I had “more”
than you did?
++Lar
1 - Oh, and the market thinks so too since they sell for more and sell quite
well.
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: Preaching to the Choir
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| (...) In a market-ruled society the same would be true of any essential task that no one wanted to perform. (...) Knowing your preference for "outcome" versus "intent," I would speculate that the years of training are, in the end, irrelevant to your (...) (20 years ago, 10-Aug-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
| | | Re: Preaching to the Choir
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| I actually agree with an awful lot of what Larry says in this thread. But not all of it. And I think he's misread me in a couple of places. I'm not talking about eliminating market mechanisms from the determination of what work can be rewarded. Only (...) (20 years ago, 11-Aug-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Preaching to the Choir
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| (...) This sounds to me like a strong statement in support of Chris' thesis that one person's workhour is not inherently worth more than another's. If my brain is working just fine (let's say that it is), and the brains of my friends and family (...) (20 years ago, 10-Aug-04, to lugnet.off-topic.debate, FTX)
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