[thechat] A balance of opinion. - Iran

deacon b. web at master.gen.in.us
Wed Mar 26 15:19:35 CST 2003


> And in terms of equal pay for equal work, The United States!

At a dollar a pound for work, that would mean a coal 
miner would get paid $32,000 a day, and a secretary 
would get about $2 a day.

I think "equal pay for equal time" makes more 
sense. I always figured that I sold 40 hours of week 
to my boss, and he could do pretty much anything 
with those 40 hours he wanted to do.

But in practice, people get paid more for work that 
makes you dirty, work that makes you sweat, work 
that drives you crazy, work that endangers your life 
or health. I think firemen, having a much more 
dangerous job, should get paid more than police 
officers, and garbage men, having a yet higher 
morbidity rate, should get more than firemen.

But the *real* answer is to let the free market 
decide. The average person in this economy 
switches jobs every 4 years, switches employers 
every 7. If employees are sticking around longer 
than that, they are probably overpaid. If there is a 
revolving door on the HR office, they are probably 
underpaid. 

And given that the average fast-food restaurant runs 
200-300% annual turnover, they probably need to 
pay people more to say "yew wunt fries wid dat?"

deke
--

RIP Adam Osborne, 1939-2003
And 23 pounds of thanks!




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