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I think the biggest problem of incentives can be summed up as: It's much more profitable to do a mediocre job in banking than to do a world-changing job of act

by jbooth 14y ago

I think the biggest problem of incentives can be summed up as: It's much more profitable to do a mediocre job in banking than to do a world-changing job of actually building things. Proximity to money is worth more than actual ingenuity.

platz 14y ago
The job of actually building things belongs to the lower and middle classes. It has most always been a point of distinction for the upper class that they aren't concerned with utility. Part of the point of being upper class is freeing yourself from having to do utilitarian work.
twoodfin 14y ago
Then why doesn't every income-motivated mediocre person try to get a job in banking? The banks would have their pick of candidates, and they'd save on employment costs.
- jbooth 14y ago
  Have you ever met people who work on Wall St? :) I'm not saying they're not smart, I'm saying that the proximity to money has a lot more to do with their earnings than the value they're creating for the economy.
CapitalistCartr 14y ago
"Proximity to money" Imagine a city on the confluence of two rivers, with a series of locks making it a major trade center. The leaders of the lock operators union come to the city fathers requesting they be paid a percentage of the trade passing through the locks rather than a regular wage. The city leaders ask why, since they didn't build the locks or create any of the system that makes it all happen, they should share in the wealth above others, and above the work they do. The Union leaders reply that the small percentage they're asking for will pay total about the same as they're getting now, and it better aligns the interests of both sides. Of course the city leaders eventually agree. And of course, the "modest percentage" steadily grows over time, with a multitude of clever, more complex shipping arrangements. That's the financial system we have. They didn't build it; their brain power goes to make it more opaque, and siphon more to them. And with regulatory capture, the federal gov't abets it all.
- bicknergseng 14y ago
  You also described the situation in Sudan/South Sudan. But without the genocide.

by jbooth 14y ago

platz 14y ago

The job of actually building things belongs to the lower and middle classes. It has most always been a point of distinction for the upper class that they aren't concerned with utility. Part of the point of being upper class is freeing yourself from having to do utilitarian work.

twoodfin 14y ago

Then why doesn't every income-motivated mediocre person try to get a job in banking? The banks would have their pick of candidates, and they'd save on employment costs.

jbooth 14y ago
Have you ever met people who work on Wall St? :) I'm not saying they're not smart, I'm saying that the proximity to money has a lot more to do with their earnings than the value they're creating for the economy.

CapitalistCartr 14y ago

"Proximity to money" Imagine a city on the confluence of two rivers, with a series of locks making it a major trade center. The leaders of the lock operators union come to the city fathers requesting they be paid a percentage of the trade passing through the locks rather than a regular wage. The city leaders ask why, since they didn't build the locks or create any of the system that makes it all happen, they should share in the wealth above others, and above the work they do. The Union leaders reply that the small percentage they're asking for will pay total about the same as they're getting now, and it better aligns the interests of both sides. Of course the city leaders eventually agree. And of course, the "modest percentage" steadily grows over time, with a multitude of clever, more complex shipping arrangements. That's the financial system we have. They didn't build it; their brain power goes to make it more opaque, and siphon more to them. And with regulatory capture, the federal gov't abets it all.

bicknergseng 14y ago
You also described the situation in Sudan/South Sudan. But without the genocide.