| This question <87|107> overall <90|92> Sarslc: <91|91>. |
| Question 167: Do you know of other phenomena in capitalism which seem to be the result of “magic”? |
| [91] Sarslc: Wages and salaries have an outwardly magical appearance. There isn't a rule saying if you are this age with this much schooling, and this much experience, you are going to earn this much. It is much more complicated than that. Just look at some of these internet companies. You have young entrepreneurs who are bringing home six digit salaries and have never been to college. Granted some of these people have had extensive schooling and training and are most likely making what they deserve. These other people are good at what they do, but so is a manual laborer and he only brings home around $30,000 a year. This is a magical phenomena of Capitalism. |
| People have talked about trying to get rid of this phenomena by proposing a living wage. This so called living wage would replace the minimum wage by paying someone based on their skill and experience. Smith and Ricardo tried to put a number on labor units and were unable to. If they couldn't when laborers were working at subsistence level how could anyone imagine that today. Marx was able to break it down when they couldn't but later dropped the labor theory of value because it was a magical phenomena of capitalism. |
| Hans: Marx didn't drop the labor theory of value, although many modern Marxists have. |
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