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The reductionist reply to this is that the employment offer didn't meet your friend's threshold for "pays enough". Theoretically, if they offered your friend $1

The reductionist reply to this is that the employment offer didn't meet your friend's threshold for "pays enough". Theoretically, if they offered your friend $1,000,000 USD per year, he would have accepted the job. The economic viability of that pay is a different topic.

noodlesUK 3y ago
I'm not sure about this. I think it easily met the threshold for "pays enough" in an absolute sense, but so often the whole sentiment of "pays enough for what they're asking from me" goes unsaid. And sometimes people value whatever personal thing they might be giving up (like being able to live with their loved ones) more than even a very large amount of money.
ndriscoll 3y ago
I'm sure there are plenty of people who would not take $1M/yr in blood money to work for companies they see as immoral (Google, Facebook, Raytheon, Philip Morris, etc.). Obviously you can find plenty of people who will, but money isn't everything to everyone. Especially people with in-demand skills who can find good jobs elsewhere.
- shiroiuma 3y ago
  What about $1B/day? Surely people will take jobs at immoral companies for that much money. After a short time, they can simply take ownership of the whole company and run it in a more moral manner.
  - TheCleric 3y ago
    Nope. As I would always question what immorality I participated in that funded the initial pay.
    - shiroiuma 3y ago
      So you'd rather let immorality continue indefinitely, rather than work for a day (or should I say, "work" for a day), take your billion in pay, and then buy the company? That seems like extremely short-sighted thinking.
PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
Some years ago, when my name and association with amzn were still sort of hot, a wall st. company offered me "7 figures+" to go work for them for a year or so. I lived in Philadelphia at the time, was just starting up a new relationship, was raising my daughter as a stay-at-home parent by choice ... I said no. I think there was no amount of money you could have offered me at that point in time which would have been enough to make me say yes. To generalize: I think there are situations where no amount of compensation will make the offer worth taking. How common they are ... that's a different story.
- layer8 3y ago
  I think the argument is that there is a salary at which there would be someone taking the job, assuming the market is large enough. That someone doesn’t need to be specifically you in your situation. Of course, it’s still conditioned on the mentioned assumption.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
    That is one of the arguments here, certainly. But there's another also being discussed that concerns whether there is always a salary level high enough to get a particular individual to take any job.
    - shiroiuma 3y ago
      A particular individual? Definitely not. Not everyone can be motivated by money. But there's no way that a position cannot be filled with high-enough pay, provided the position isn't extremely unsafe or something like that. If you offer $1 billion per day for a job, someone will take it. This doesn't guarantee competency though, or that they'll come back the next day.

noodlesUK 3y ago

I'm not sure about this. I think it easily met the threshold for "pays enough" in an absolute sense, but so often the whole sentiment of "pays enough for what they're asking from me" goes unsaid. And sometimes people value whatever personal thing they might be giving up (like being able to live with their loved ones) more than even a very large amount of money.

ndriscoll 3y ago

I'm sure there are plenty of people who would not take $1M/yr in blood money to work for companies they see as immoral (Google, Facebook, Raytheon, Philip Morris, etc.). Obviously you can find plenty of people who will, but money isn't everything to everyone. Especially people with in-demand skills who can find good jobs elsewhere.

shiroiuma 3y ago
What about $1B/day? Surely people will take jobs at immoral companies for that much money. After a short time, they can simply take ownership of the whole company and run it in a more moral manner.
- TheCleric 3y ago
  Nope. As I would always question what immorality I participated in that funded the initial pay.
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    So you'd rather let immorality continue indefinitely, rather than work for a day (or should I say, "work" for a day), take your billion in pay, and then buy the company? That seems like extremely short-sighted thinking.

PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago

Some years ago, when my name and association with amzn were still sort of hot, a wall st. company offered me "7 figures+" to go work for them for a year or so. I lived in Philadelphia at the time, was just starting up a new relationship, was raising my daughter as a stay-at-home parent by choice ... I said no. I think there was no amount of money you could have offered me at that point in time which would have been enough to make me say yes. To generalize: I think there are situations where no amount of compensation will make the offer worth taking. How common they are ... that's a different story.

layer8 3y ago
I think the argument is that there is a salary at which there would be someone taking the job, assuming the market is large enough. That someone doesn’t need to be specifically you in your situation. Of course, it’s still conditioned on the mentioned assumption.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  That is one of the arguments here, certainly. But there's another also being discussed that concerns whether there is always a salary level high enough to get a particular individual to take any job.
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    A particular individual? Definitely not. Not everyone can be motivated by money. But there's no way that a position cannot be filled with high-enough pay, provided the position isn't extremely unsafe or something like that. If you offer $1 billion per day for a job, someone will take it. This doesn't guarantee competency though, or that they'll come back the next day.