The Prices of Labour.

[Claudeake]

Forthnight ago, I sat down under a mango tree whose blossoming flowers are promising to humanity and birds. It gave a complete relaxation to me which enhanced a moment of reflections over events and nature around.
Barely an hour, two birds most probably male and female arrived to have their launch on the nectar of the flowers. Their arrival was heralded with a peculiar song that seemed esoteric, but it's lyrics was a lullaby to me.
Suddenly, there appeared in the scene a dramatic event. Three men were pushing an unkempt brand old Passat car towards me to be kept under the mango tree. It broke down complete while it was on it's way to the city. It is a property of a university Professor of Political science. In fact, the Professor was among the three men who were pushing the car.
Then, my reflection moved to the circumstances around the Professor. How much is the monthly salary of a Professor and other related allowances as are accrued to them in the midst of plenty. In fact, there monthly take home is meagre and is better imagined than experienced.
Is there Prices determined by the market mechanisms of demand and supply or by an authocratic Fiat of the government, thus what must be done to effect justice on this serious matter.
I would want the public in this forum to contribute.

[franky1]

if you think someone's income is measured by the car they drive, you would be incorrect

many people with flashy cars are in debt to the car dealerships lease agreement. they dont have positive net-worth

the smart people realise they should not waste money on a car because car value depreciates minutes after driving out of the dealership, and every 6 months there after

the smart people buy a rust-bucket that is of no consequence, that just gets them to work and home..
where by they can just buy another rust-bucket of a car for just the equivalent of a few months of what would have been a lease agreement..
the smart people saving by not having lease agreements, then throw that extra money into investing = positive net-worth

math
us minimum wage $2600 a month
us minimum new car lease $520 a month

meaning a leased new car is like 20%+ of someones wage at minimum.. for like $18k in 3 years
people are locked into DEBT lease for 3 years

yet they can buy outright a basic 'get to work' rust-bucket using just 6 months equivalent of lease($3k), but as cash where it should last 3 years, where they then have saved 6x the cost of getting to work, and having no debt

paying ~$3120 for a car for 3 years instead of $18k for 3 years. means $15k then goes to investing instead of some dealerships pocket
smart people(like professors) dont waste money on depreciating assets like flashy cars or flashy dress/suits

so dont base someones income/wealth on what they drive or wear.. reality is those being flashy are flushing their wealth away


its also worth noting the education system has a tier of income/salary
someone working in kindergardens would be recipients of minwage
primary/k-12 would be in receipt of a level higher
secondary/highschool (public funded/state funded) next level up
college next level up
university next level up

so a university professor is not on min wage but several levels higher of income compared to a toddlers nursery/kindergarden

[Apocollapse]

if you think someone's income is measured by the car they drive, you would be incorrect

many people with flashy cars are in debt to the car dealerships lease agreement. they dont have positive net-worth

You can't really judge like that, what if the professor gets huge inheritance from his parents? what if he has many businesses and working in the university is just like a part time job?

The real rich will spend their money to buy everything they like because they know their income is way more higher than their spending.

Why did Elon Musk spent $72 Million to buy a big house? he can live comfortable in small house because the purpose of house is same, only the size is different.

Let's imagine someone has $100 Million net worth, he's rich right? he can afford to buy lambo, but he keep thinking it's better for him to invest the money. While Elon Musk has $188 Billion net worth, buying one lambo won't hurt him.

[Hatchy]

Is there Prices determined by the market mechanisms of demand and supply or by an authocratic Fiat of the government, thus what must be done to effect justice on this serious matter.
I would want the public in this forum to contribute.

The varying pay rates and fixed allowances for professors across different countries underscore the importance of considering the context in which someone works. Well, you shouldn't make assumptions about someone's financial situation without understanding the full picture. Factors such as family obligations, lifestyle choices, and current circumstances can significantly impact an individual's financial well-being.Moreover, many individuals face challenges early in life that set them on a difficult financial path. Whether it's unexpected expenses or accumulated debts, these obstacles can shape how someone manages their finances and strives to attain assets.

As a person, when viewing life sometimes, there are moments when prioritizing social harmony over personal status can lead to valuable opportunities for learning and support from others. For instance, the willingness of the professor to seek assistance with his car exemplifies the humility necessary for genuine connection and cooperation.It's not uncommon for individuals to struggle with maintaining humility and empathy once they achieve a certain level of success or status. 

[Hewlet]

The information that led to your conclusion is too small to be debated upon. It's possible that's his car or not his. it's also possible that his income is high but his responsibility is too much and he can't possibly meet up with those responsibilities and still get a luxurious car.

Some persons are too business minded that they often don't take things like fancy cars seriously and although there car might not be all that fashionable, there investment and savings can save your flat ass from that shitty situation that brought you under that mango tree. But again, we can't deny the fact that most lecturers are under paid and the ones that have high moral standard and that wouldn't want to extort money from student would normally not leave the kind of life you would normally expect someone of their caliber to live but i still feel that anyone that has that mental capacity that will put him in a position to become a prof should have figured his financially life out such that basic things wont necessarily be his problem.

[Uruhara]

Forthnight ago, I sat down under a mango tree whose blossoming flowers are promising to humanity and birds. It gave a complete relaxation to me which enhanced a moment of reflections over events and nature around.
Barely an hour, two birds most probably male and female arrived to have their launch on the nectar of the flowers. Their arrival was heralded with a peculiar song that seemed esoteric, but it's lyrics was a lullaby to me.
Suddenly, there appeared in the scene a dramatic event. Three men were pushing an unkempt brand old Passat car towards me to be kept under the mango tree. It broke down complete while it was on it's way to the city. It is a property of a university Professor of Political science. In fact, the Professor was among the three men who were pushing the car.
Then, my reflection moved to the circumstances around the Professor. How much is the monthly salary of a Professor and other related allowances as are accrued to them in the midst of plenty. In fact, there monthly take home is meagre and is better imagined than experienced.
Is there Prices determined by the market mechanisms of demand and supply or by an authocratic Fiat of the government, thus what must be done to effect justice on this serious matter.
I would want the public in this forum to contribute.

I don't know about other countries, but in Indonesia a professor seems to have a decent life thanks to the fairly large salary and allowances they receive. Because a professor is quite respected in my country. But maybe it will also depend on what professor the person is in. Because different areas of expertise also allow for different salaries to be set.
So maybe there are some fields that have low salaries, even for professors. But what I see in my country is that professors always have a decent life and many even have quite high wealth. Because professorships in some fields may also be quite rare in Indonesia, the value can be seen from there.

[Jawhead999]

I mean, you can check how much professor get paid in your country, then check the car price, you can calculate how long it takes for him to acquire that car. There's 20/4/10 rule if you want to buy car, so if he can't met this rule, I'd say he don't have a good money management.

To be honest I don't understand why you need to care with other people life? I don't care with what people have in their life because there's no point to know that. What you need to look is yourself, try to beat yourself and become better.

[passwordnow]

You can't really judge people with what cars they own. If you'd take a look with the wealthiest people, they have fancy cars for sure but many of them are keeping their old cars too because what matters with that is the sentimental value that they'd kept and the struggle on their early journey which keeps them reminded on what they've gone through before. As for the salary of the professor, it is being determined by the university he's teaching and also the experience and probably certificates that he's taken along his professional teaching career. To be honest, I like to see most of the teachers earn more than what they're receiving now because they are the key of honing the next generation.

[Spaceman1000$]

Forthnight ago, I sat down under a mango tree whose blossoming flowers are promising to humanity and birds. It gave a complete relaxation to me which enhanced a moment of reflections over events and nature around.
Barely an hour, two birds most probably male and female arrived to have their launch on the nectar of the flowers. Their arrival was heralded with a peculiar song that seemed esoteric, but it's lyrics was a lullaby to me.
Suddenly, there appeared in the scene a dramatic event. Three men were pushing an unkempt brand old Passat car towards me to be kept under the mango tree. It broke down complete while it was on it's way to the city. It is a property of a university Professor of Political science. In fact, the Professor was among the three men who were pushing the car.
Then, my reflection moved to the circumstances around the Professor. How much is the monthly salary of a Professor and other related allowances as are accrued to them in the midst of plenty. In fact, there monthly take home is meagre and is better imagined than experienced.
Is there Prices determined by the market mechanisms of demand and supply or by an authocratic Fiat of the government, thus what must be done to effect justice on this serious matter.
I would want the public in this forum to contribute.

Don't get it wrong OP, Most professor's and academicians are paid handsomely, for the fact that you saw an old car of a professor been pushed doesn't mean he doesn't have a newer car at home or cannot afford a newer car. Don't forget that intellectuals don't always give value to materialism, they tend to leave a very modest lifestyle. To you it might seem that their basic salary is small, but don't forget that they are entitled to allowances another incentives and grants that allows them to afford the basics life can give.

Because from your semantics and story narration, it seems you want to compare professors to business owners and large investors with millions of dollars in The society which to me is incomparable, Because a professor renders service to the society and is paid by the government, The university that the profession is lecturing is not owned by him.

[Reatim]

An assumption can be made depending on a lot of things. Firstly, which country are we talking about?
In my country, it is well-known that professors have a hard time teaching because of the system. A lot of
them are underpaid compared to the hours they spend in work. Sometimes, your educational attainment and
work experiences will not land you a high-paying job. I know plenty of professors that quit their jobs due to the lack
of proper salary.

Even then, sometimes with a high paying salary it’s still not enough to be able to buy luxurious stuff. Maybe they’re
bad at handling finances or maybe they are the breadwinner of the family and things like that. It’s not
our business to speculate about other people’s salaries and financial situation as we never know what they
might be going through.

[Dickiy]

Here we can only speculate because we don't know the professor's background so there will be various assumptions about his salary. But if he is a university teacher at a college, of course he has legal status and will definitely receive a standard salary allocation and allowances. Well, if you still say you feel inadequate or perhaps the professor is actually teaching at a private lecture. Furthermore, there is clarity regarding government programs, we also don't know what is happening there, economic growth, etc., it will be very difficult to determine the total average monthly salary of a teaching staff.

[tabas]

Then, my reflection moved to the circumstances around the Professor. How much is the monthly salary of a Professor and other related allowances as are accrued to them in the midst of plenty. In fact, there monthly take home is meagre and is better imagined than experienced.
Is there Prices determined by the market mechanisms of demand and supply or by an authocratic Fiat of the government, thus what must be done to effect justice on this serious matter.
I would want the public in this forum to contribute.

It varies and I've known professors and actual professors of mine in college that they've been teaching not just in one university or schools but they've been doing a lot of part time from other schools and institutions too. Upon hearing that, I guess that they don't get pay decently and that's why they have to take every opportunity from other universities to teach and that adds up to their working experience but I can't imagine the time management that they've been dedicating to their profession just to give proper and better education to their students.

[Kelward]

We shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, sometimes looks can be deceptive because you can see a person that is shabbily dressed or driving a rickety car and you'd think that it's because they're very poor, you wouldn't know whether they have money but they're denying themselves of certain luxuries inorder to save enough to start a business or investment. On the other hand, you can see a person that is living a luxurious lifestyle, without any savings, in their old age you'll see them living in poverty , then you'll be wondering if it's not the same person that lived in riches years back.

As far as labor goes, if a worker's salary is not enough for them, then let them think outside the box, either get a better paying job or learn a skill to earn money by the side, then invest in a valuable asset like Bitcoin.

[Fiatless]

I would want the public in this forum to contribute.

I know some professors who own very old vehicles not because they cannot afford modern cars but because of their philosophy of life. Some of them believe that spending on new cars when the old ones are still functional is a waste of funds. Some of them are just weird that you can hardly understand them.

Most academics in my country are also underpaid. And the reason is purely because of corruption, fiat money has nothing to do with it. Most of these professors earn less than the lowest political office holders making them live in poverty. In some countries, teachers are one of the highest paid staff because of their importance to the sustainability of the society.

The standard is that if there is inflation, the government is supposed to review the minimum wage to suit current realities. But in many developing countries only politicians enjoy increased pay while others will have to struggle to survive. I restate that the problem is not fiat money but corrupt leadership and poor management of the national economy.

[franky1]

if you think someone's income is measured by the car they drive, you would be incorrect

many people with flashy cars are in debt to the car dealerships lease agreement. they dont have positive net-worth

You can't really judge like that, what if the professor gets huge inheritance from his parents? what if he has many businesses and working in the university is just like a part time job?

The real rich will spend their money to buy everything they like because they know their income is way more higher than their spending.

Why did Elon Musk spent $72 Million to buy a big house? he can live comfortable in small house because the purpose of house is same, only the size is different.

Let's imagine someone has $100 Million net worth, he's rich right? he can afford to buy lambo, but he keep thinking it's better for him to invest the money. While Elon Musk has $188 Billion net worth, buying one lambo won't hurt him.

i didnt say all rich people are not flashy
i said SMART PEOPLE dont waste their cash so dont flash it around and instead invest it

elon musk is not cash rich, he is paper rich. he is on paper a near trillionaire so his house was ~0.0072% of his wealth
for him $72m is not flashy nor getting him in debt

this topic is about the OP thinking that his professor is poor due to driving an old car.. yet logic, math and economics show that you cant base someones wealth on their car/house.. as many people might be owning that home/car on some DEBT agreement to appear flashy.. but have costs that bite into their income deeply..
where as smart people would buy cars/homes in full using a small amount of income(that is the professor and even elon)

hardly anyone buys a lambo out-right using a suitcase of cash or a debit card, the majority(stats) finance their cars when getting them new from dealerships.. so dont assume in the rare case of the super rich paying small percentage to buy things, to then assume the working/middleclass are super rich because they have a flashy car(which majority of cases is on finance)
and like i said dont assume a professors of a university is poor/earning min wage because he has a tweed jacket and a old car

[EarnOnVictor]

-snip-
Then, my reflection moved to the circumstances around the Professor. How much is the monthly salary of a Professor and other related allowances as are accrued to them in the midst of plenty. In fact, there monthly take home is meagre and is better imagined than experienced.
Is there Prices determined by the market mechanisms of demand and supply or by an authocratic Fiat of the government, thus what must be done to effect justice on this serious matter.
I would want the public in this forum to contribute.

Well, I would like you to look at it from different angles, however, it would have been better explained if you had added the country you are living in. In my country, labourers are being cheated and they are voiceless even as the government is busy with their politics and corruption. The labour/work has never been commensurate with the wages/rewards in most cases.

This is so disheartening and what aggravates it is the fact that people do not have a choice. You will hardly get a job in my country not to talk of a befitting job, just for you to know that the rate of unemployment is high. Invariably, this means that the supply is high and the demand is low, so they pay workers peanuts in most cases. If you want to leave the job due to anger and other reasons like the lack of satisfaction, there are millions waiting to take your place, so people do not joke with their jobs despite the poor pay. They'd protested and done all sorts of things to show their dissatisfaction but to no avail. In this condition, you would see a worse situation than that of the professor, because these people have commitments and dependents and it can't be easy, but to continue to management.

In another view, some people are practical "economists," they may have more but still do not spend on themselves. Their good earnings are not commensurate with their living standard. They could prioritise savings, investment and other future benefits to living well. For this, we need to know the kind of persons and the conditions we are dealing with before we conclude.

[Pi-network314159]

Then, my reflection moved to the circumstances around the Professor. How much is the monthly salary of a Professor and other related allowances as are accrued to them in the midst of plenty. In fact, there monthly take home is meagre and is better imagined than experienced.

The worth of a man is not measured by material things or how they leave their lives, but by the there thinking faculty and what they have upstairs. Wealthy people always hide there identity and behave like a poor who doesn't have anything, but the poor remain poor because they pretend to be rich. And that will eventually make people not help them. So in my point of view peoples appearance is not determined by their aperance but what the have internally. That's why they said that you can not judge a book by its Cover.

[Gormicsta]

Forthnight ago, I sat down under a mango tree whose blossoming flowers are promising to humanity and birds. It gave a complete relaxation to me which enhanced a moment of reflections over events and nature around.
Barely an hour, two birds most probably male and female arrived to have their launch on the nectar of the flowers. Their arrival was heralded with a peculiar song that seemed esoteric, but it's lyrics was a lullaby to me.
Suddenly, there appeared in the scene a dramatic event. Three men were pushing an unkempt brand old Passat car towards me to be kept under the mango tree. It broke down complete while it was on it's way to the city. It is a property of a university Professor of Political science. In fact, the Professor was among the three men who were pushing the car.
Then, my reflection moved to the circumstances around the Professor. How much is the monthly salary of a Professor and other related allowances as are accrued to them in the midst of plenty. In fact, there monthly take home is meagre and is better imagined than experienced.
Is there Prices determined by the market mechanisms of demand and supply or by an authocratic Fiat of the government, thus what must be done to effect justice on this serious matter.
I would want the public in this forum to contribute.

However, there are certain possible issues with the driven by markets approach. A possible drawback is that it might lead to poverty, as people with popular skills or degree may be able to fetch greater incomes, but those with less useful abilities might be unable to find employment that pays well. Another challenge is that the market is mainly self-monitoring making it challenging for authorities to act to solve concerns such as hunger or injustice. Some opponents believe that this approach promotes an inappropriate preference for profits over people and the environment. Earnings may vary as well in response to economic situations and other variables such as technological advancements or worldwide occurrences.

[Bananington]

Wise investors know that the car one drives isn't a  true measure of their wealth, because pension for one is a future investment as much as other bonuses and special privileges  that may added to the salary of the professor in this story.
Am sure there are some places he would grace with his presence that you won't dare enter, because he has a wealth of knowledge that he has invested in that you can't begin to comprehend.
He should be worth more, but shouldn't everyone who has a job and takes risk for money also be worth more too?

The economy of your country has to get better and well, everyone has to know that wealth varies and more than a source of income should be the goal to be financially independent and free and be wealthy.

[Gozie51]

I understand where you are coming from. You are trying to look at the take home pay for a professor or probably for those working in certain areas of the sectors or civil servants compared to what the politicians take home for themselves and those at the corridors of power. Yes the difference is very wide and clear to everyone living in countries where politics have been monitized and other sectors more or less fight for what they will be paid. They usually constitutes groups and union who advocate salary increments for time to time. Perhaps if the professor is placed in same salary scale of the politicians then he would of certainty be driving same exotic cars just like the politicians are cruising.

It is actually a misplaced priority that a professor who have spent most of his time studying and researching to better the sector he finds himself is living a life below standard.