tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925765946042638459.post8336930568013420506..comments2024-03-18T02:22:56.392-04:00Comments on Disgusted Beyond Belief: Last one for today... Salary Transparency...DBBhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17805375811782552873noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925765946042638459.post-39343057820992125272007-06-11T09:13:00.000-04:002007-06-11T09:13:00.000-04:00Kip - how can you have market wages when wages are...Kip - how can you have market wages when wages are secret? <BR/><BR/>I am libertarian leaning - which means I favor markets over mandates wherever practical. Markets require transparency. Without that, then a select few have an information monopoly that vastly favors them over those without it. <BR/><BR/>That's why I favor transparent accounting standards for public companies. You can't hold a company accountable (and make the decision to buy or hold the stock) without having a full picture about what the company is doing and its actual financial health. <BR/><BR/>And tell me - how exactly can you determine if your pay is market-appropriate if the market is invisible to you? How is it fair, exactly, for management to use its inside information about what EVERYONE makes to underpay employees (and perhaps overpay a few select ones, like the one the manager is sleeping with). <BR/><BR/>What if all markets worked that way? Say you make a product, then you go to sell it, and the buyer offers you X dollars, but tells you you aren't allowed to ask what they paid any other buyer, and to trust them, it is a good price. <BR/><BR/>Markets don't work very well when there are massive monopolies. Salary information is an information monopoly - those at the top know everyone's salary, or can get it. The rest just have to guess. <BR/><BR/>You seem to think this is all about voyeurism - it isn't. It is about freeing markets to flow at maximum efficiency. <BR/><BR/>Shelly - I'll have to check that site out.DBBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17805375811782552873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925765946042638459.post-77589825382440740322007-06-11T08:34:00.000-04:002007-06-11T08:34:00.000-04:00"And finally, it is not like it is ultimatley a se...<I>"And finally, it is not like it is ultimatley a secret - you have to report every single dime you earn to the government anyway. So this is not information that isn't floating around out there already anyway."</I><BR/><BR/>Are you suggesting that your coworkers should also be allowed to see your tax returns?<BR/><BR/>Since when is there a "right to financial voyeurism," which is, bottom line, what this is all about?<BR/><BR/><I>"That's why, ultimately, I think transparency is the way to go."</I><BR/><BR/>If you want to call yourself " libertarian-leaning," then you need to get your arms around the notion that what you "think is the way to go" is irrelevant.<BR/><BR/>The only question is what rights people have and what powers government has. What you or I or anyone else considers neat-o has nothing to do with it.KipEsquirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02326513032807027956noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2925765946042638459.post-43121771568812172292007-06-11T00:22:00.000-04:002007-06-11T00:22:00.000-04:00full heartedly agree with the notion that more tra...full heartedly agree with the notion that more transparency is needed in most modern workplaces. Have you seen the grassroots SalaryBase project(<A HREF="http://www.salarybase.com" REL="nofollow">www.SalaryBase.com</A>) - seems very much along your lines. Might be a bit simplistic but worked out nicely for me getting a better grip on my (not that good) situationAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com