econ-o-mix

[libertango]

Dilbert is odd today. Well, odder. There are times when I think Scott Adams is spot on, and there are others where I'm just not sure what he's thinking.

The key quote is, "Are you aware that all jobs require you to do things you'd rather not do? That's why they have to pay you."

I see his basic point, but by this logic salaries should be directly proportional to the degree people won't do a job. That is, the more resistant people are to doing a job, the more an employer would have to pay, and vice versa.

In my observation, it's directly the opposite. Janitors aren't paid a whole heckuva lot. Overrated players for overrated baseball teams are paid truckloads of cash. And the whole gamut in-between, of course.

Mr. Adams himself is a cartoonist, and an electrical engineer "...a project manager and pseudo-engineer." He's been fairly well compensated on both paths, near as I can tell. Was that truly because those two jobs are so unattractive?

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/little_e_/]

um... I believe Adams doesn't actually write Dilbert... There's a team of folks who do it for him, or something.

The Front

[hal-obrien.livejournal.com]

I've heard similar things about different cartoonists (Charles Schulz, T.K. Ryan, and Jim Davis come to mind). This is the first time I've heard this about Adams, though.

I suppose it's possible, but it seems unlikely. Take Jim Davis, and Garfield. Hard as it is to imagine now, Garfield was once actually funny. But the art was much more crude, and Garfield as a character was much more ornery. So the smoothing of the edges -- both in content and in drawing style -- would seem to support Garfield moving to a team.

Dilbert, on the other hand, is still the same style, both art and content, as in the beginning. According to Adams' official bio, he stayed at his day job at PacBell for six years after Dilbert was syndicated. That doesn't strike me as the kind of person, or the kind of results, one would see.

OTOH, post-Matt Groening and The Simpsons, I suppose it's possible (sample Groening quasi-quote: 'It floors me all these people spend their time drawing as badly as I do.'). But then, Simpsons or not, I'm pretty sure Groening still does Life In Hell himself, and it shows (again, both in art and voice).

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I don't get it either, about how salaries are determined vs. the desirabilty of the job.

K. [also doesn't get it about professional sports]