Arvind! You've got it!

[Sanjeev Sabhlok <sabhlok@almaak.usc.edu>]

Just saw Charu vs. Arvind. My comment at the end.

---Charu datt <charu@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
>
> To reiterate, my response was: set a minimum wage at 
> a level that makes it possible for someone working 8 
> to 10 hours a day to be able to buy the minimum of
> food and clothing and shelter needed for survival 
> and to continue working. Anything less, IMO,
> is exploitation and sends the working poor down the 
> "road to serfdom".

You've hit the nail right on the head! What reasons 
could one have for paying less than what one needs
for the basic needs? If the employer makes enough 
money to be able to afford paying for the basic needs
but still does not, it is clearly exploitation.
If the employer himself cannot afford paying such sums,
it means that the output of his activity is less than
the input. We would all be better off without such
activities with negative benefits. Such people would
do better to shut down their businesses and plough the
fields. We would all benefit. [Arvind]

My comment
----------

What is happening here is that Charu has stopped reading, stopped
learning since he passed his engineering courses in the university ages
ago. He has clearly not opened a single book on the principles of
economics despite my recommending that he open a few books and try to
understand how the world functions.

Arvind, on the other hand, has read much, thought much since he last
spoke on this topic. His response is 100% correct. He gets an A. Charu
flunks out. It is this arrogance of folk like Charu that is ruining
India. We are steeped with ignorant folk who pretend to be the
well-wishers of the poor. I know that knowledge is at a serious discount
in India. I know for sure that people would prefer a total illiterate to
become our PM simply because he /she chants things like garibi hatao.
That is our bane. Complete absence of rigor.

Charu: you have NOT given an answer with any analytical content in it.
It is just a statement of wishes. It is a waste of everyone's time. You
have to show how this is to be determined, how it is to be enforced,
what is to do be done to those who are kicked out of any employment
simply because there is a min. wage law, what is to be done to
businesses which close down because there is a min. wage law. 

If you cannot answer, say so. But do not display ignorance at rapid
intervals of time, particularly on this topic. I am not impressed. On
issues related to electrical engineering I am willing to listen to you.
On economic logic, you better listen to me, or come out with something
effective. 

This issue was debated earlier and CLOSED. We said that we will NOT have
a min. wage law. We will have a statement that govt. might make of a
'desired' min. wage law which will be completely fictitious and
NON-ENFORCEABLE. That "desired" level was meant to assuage people who
THINK that they know how to set it, but who really don't know anything
about the economy. These well-wishers of India who specialize in
ignorance [the guy who knows nothing is a specialist, after all, but a
specialist in ignorance!], are the worst enemies of India.

SHOW using a complete proof how this system of min. wage can be
unequivocally designed, keeping in mind that knowledge is limited in the
world (read Hayek again and again till you understand it and keeping in
mind all kinds of constraints that exist (bounded rationality,
opportunism, corruption of bureaucracies, competition faced by
companies, etc.). I have told you once earlier that a Nobel Prize awaits
you if you can polish up your thinking.

Simply repeating what you said 6 months ago, to me, is a sign that I
have failed as a teacher. But I am a persistent character. So I will
motivate you to read some more again, and will grade your arguments
again, at a later date, if you can send us, on IPI, a complete proof of
how this imaginary system of your will ever work. Please, also, do not
misuse Hayeks term 'road to serfdom' when you have clearly not either
bothered to read Hayek or to understand the level of logic expected on
this forum.

The road to serfdom is lined with wishful thinking and shoddy logic. I
don't claim that I know the logic of an integrated ciruit board, but I
do know the logic of a min. wage. And now, Arvind knows it too! Great
job, Arvind!!! 3 cheers!!

Sanjeev


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