The "Totally More Random Comments, Questions, and Thoughts" Thread [R]

not sure...

here is the link

 

I reckon the author doesn't know either. Both measure are averages.

I'll wager that this average (as in mean) earnings are massively skewed by the multi-millionaire incomes of footballers and higher-- wherever you are.

The median-- which is less influenced by outliers and a more credible average than the mean-- would be a better measure.

 

That is absolutely true from a humanities standpoint. The worth in your example is the value of human health, which is of course not something one can easily assign a monetary value to (in my opinion that's impossible - although some economists do so by projecting the productivity/income of said person into his life expectancy).

The problem I think is that while the value of the doctor, in a humanities context is higher than that of a footballer, in a financial context it would be not. Since both individuals would be viewed by The Business (emphasis on capital 'B') as means of production, with specific revenue streams. Since the revenue streams produced by top footballers are obviously higher than those of doctors they are thus considered more valuable.

So the shrewd capitalist, who will obviously only consider value in a financial context will probably contest what you're saying. And I in turn would contest what he is saying.

 

It's just markets, simple as. Nobody would ever be charged hundreds of thousands to go to a football game, but could be for some very serious surgeries. But doctors can only deal with one patient at a time; if there was a way for a doctor to simultaneously cure (or at least see to) millions of people at 3pm every Saturday for a two hour span, that doctor would be one of the richest people in the world.

 

BOOM!

That's the example I like to give myself.

I'm not a communist or a Marxist but I am also categorically opposed to the idiotic "cowboy capitalism" witnessed since the 80s. Fcuking reagan and that cvnt thatcher made such a mess of economics... Them and their mentors/followers/other loonies.

 

let's say that a top cardiac surgeon performs 500 operations per year and of the 500, 300 survive and average 250K in earnings. that represents 75M in earnings. over the span of a 25 year career, that's nearly 2 billion in (saved) earnings. that's assuming that the 300 that survived the operations would have died otherwise but lived another 8 years and earned 30K per year. my estimates are low.

viewed from that perspective, no football player would generate an equal amount of revenue.

 

You're preaching the the choir homie.

 

Partly true. Teachers, though, are able to teach more than one person per hour but get paid significantly less than their marginal contribution to value. It has also to do with the structure of the markets. There is invariably one buyer (payer) for the services of a teacher/doctor/nurse, i.e. some government or private provider while there are potentially many for a footballer (and top bankers).

 

Well, this is true also - and I don't think anyone in their right mind would argue that most teachers are underpaid, despite it being the time of the year where we all hate and envy them.

 

Spoiler...!!!!
That's not on here until next Monday

 

Now this is a turn up for the books.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/man-created-own-credit-card-164106734.html

 

Actually Poo meant the "First US" manned flight.
The worlds first manned flight comes from down under in NZ. Controlled by ailerons and rudder. (not from bendy wings and duct tape) and using a proper undercarriage with wheels, not rails and skids. Richard Pearce built the engine to go with the plane himself, a flat 4 cylinder. It could be used as 2 cycle or 4. supercharged or natural aspiration. Rumour has it that he used cast iron drain pipe bored out. He just didn't have a press director..

http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/pearse1.html

 

Last week: Ft. Lauderdale Strikers at New York Cosmos. Tonight: New York Cosmos at Tampa Bay Rowdies. I know they're just names, otherwise unconnected to their historical antecedents, but they still call up some pretty powerful memories--old loyalties and loathings.​