I have survived my second annual thinning of the herd

[VetLegion]

5% is relatively gentle.

Well here in Europe (I think it's the same in most of Europe), firing
a percentage of people annually is very rare, as is firing itself. I hate rigid
labor markets. Employers here are very hesitant about hiring people
because they are so hard to fire. It's one of the reasons we're lagging
behind US I think.

[KrazyHorse]

So somebody who has the incentive to make a good decision as well as specific knowledge about the requirements of the job is no more likely to be right than a legislator sitting hundreds of miles away with no skin in the game?

[KrazyHorse]

Well here in Europe (I think it's the same in most of Europe), firing
a percentage of people annually is very rare, as is firing itself. I hate rigid
labor markets. Employers here are very hesitant about hiring people
because they are so hard to fire. It's one of the reasons we're lagging
behind US I think.

I like the feeling of having to run faster than the competition...

[Aeson]

... because you were born with most of the advantages

[DaShi]

So somebody who has the incentive to make a good decision as well as specific knowledge about the requirements of the job is no more likely to be right than a legislator sitting hundreds of miles away with no skin in the game?

Considering that since the government expects to collect taxes on both the profits of the company as well as the income of the employee, yes.

[VetLegion]

Defending minimum wage laws is so 1917.

[KrazyHorse]

... because you were born with most of the advantages

The people I'm running against were born with similar advantages...

[KrazyHorse]

Considering that since the government expects to collect taxes on both the profits of the company as well as the income of the employee, yes.

???

This is an extraordinarily weak incentive. Not to mention that it does not address the information problem.

[DaShi]

Not much weaker than an HR department.

[Aeson]

The people I'm running against were born with similar advantages...

You're narrowing the definition of "running against" in a way that doesn't apply to the topic. You're happy enough to compete* with an extremely limited subset of the world population. This is because you aren't actually competing against anyone who is in such dire straights that they would reduce your compensation to something not absurdly high if you won. Also, even if you lost that particular race, there are still any number of still very highly compensated careers where the competition is even less able to compete with you.

Anyway you cut it, you were born a front-runner with natural advantages that the vast, vast majority of the world's population were not given. So no surprise, you like a "race" that lets you make six figures while it leaves others in abject poverty, almost entirely on the basis of birthright. It offends you that someone not so advantaged as you would want to use what few advantages they do have (such as voting privileges) to not be one of those living in abject poverty... because they are actually the ones in a race that matters.

Your own race is just about how much unnecessary fluff you can fit into your life.

*Also, from what you've said of your IQ and that of your compatriots in your department (you said 135 average IIRC), you likely have a standard deviation+ over the majority of them. That's a pretty decent inborn advantage as is.

[Kuciwalker]

1. I believe you are misreading him: he prefers the race against people of equal level even to not having to race and getting the same pay.

2. His department is WAY over 135 average. You are probably well over a standard deviation short.

[Aeson]

1. I believe you are misreading him: he prefers the race against people of equal level even to not having to race and getting the same pay.

I'm simply pointing out that his race is actually not against just people of equal level, but everyone. The vast majority simply don't have any chance in that race. The lower you go on the totem pole, the more at risk a position is, since we're pretty much a giant pyramid scheme at this point.

2. His department is WAY over 135 average. You are probably well over a standard deviation short.

I may have misremembered. I do recall he said something about his department and a 135 average, and I recall it precisely because it was much lower than I expected. Search is useless though

[Aeson]

1. I believe you are misreading him: he prefers the race against people of equal level even to not having to race and getting the same pay.

I'm simply pointing out that his race is actually not against just people of equal level, but everyone. The vast majority simply don't have any chance in that race. The lower you go on the totem pole, the more at risk a position is, since we're pretty much a giant pyramid scheme at this point.

2. His department is WAY over 135 average. You are probably well over a standard deviation short.

I may have misremembered. I do recall he said something about his department and a 135 average, and I recall it precisely because it was much lower than I expected. Search is useless though

[Aeson]

It may have been he said it was above 135.

[Aeson]

Ok, found the post. It was 145 average for physics professors, which admittedly isn't a different subject. (I must not have been paying very good attention to the thread, and got thrown off by "cohorts".)