Stefan MolyneuxVerified account

Very few people even want that life. Only a handful of males are crazy enough to work as much as it takes to get to CEO. The rest of the world might be ditch diggers, but they usually have several more children who know them and have enjoyed , even devoured life.

Problem is the apparent disjuncture between value produced and reward given. Salaries are like stocks /assets that rocket upwards regardless of fundamentals, P/E etc

I agree. There are CEOs and other executives that make way more than they should. Obviously they need to be paid more than a burger flipper. The repayment for their education alone demands higher remuneration. But all too often they are paid too much.

this is why basics of economics should be taught to everyone in school.

I agree about flipping burgers. But I disagree with having this mindset across the board. Do you think that the manager or president of an mlb team should be making more than the players? Should a Steve Jobs make more than a Steve Wozniak?

Again, depends on the value. For MLB team. A president will make a lot. Less than the top paid player, but they're typically very elite and create value (production on the field and also by attracting fans). But the President will make more than their low tier players(low value)

Exactly. I brought it up because sports and entertainment are the exception to the rule. And it wasn’t determined by the free market. But, in general monetary compensation is not necessarily a faithful representation of a person’s value to society, or even to a corporation.

How is it not determined by the market?

Because the player’s union had to strike in order for them to get appropriate compensation. In a market absent of regulation they wouldn’t have had the right to strike...

It's not really "regulation" though. A strike only works if you have something the owners can't replace. Highly skilled athletes can't be replaced so they can withhold their labour easily. They could do it without even having a players union really.

It is regulation. The labor markets were regulated in the early 20th century when the government intervened and established the concept of workers’ rights. Namely, the rights to unionize and strike.