To the Editor:
Re “How to Get Paid to Do Nothing,” by Tom Hodgkinson (Sunday Review, July 10): Waiting in line is an inevitable part of living in a civilized society (unless you are a celebrity). But for us ordinary citizens, it is reality.
The global trend of rich people paying someone to wait in line for them appears harmless. Who cares? You could get paid to do essentially nothing, just “shuffle forward” occasionally.
Let’s make one thing clear: You are not being paid to do nothing. You are being paid for your time. Apparently, a rich person’s time is more valuable than your time. That is what this trend means.
It’s indicative of an increasingly isolated global elite. And it’s indicative of a crumbling civil society, one in which value is determined by capital alone.
ELEANOR MORSE
Washington
Note from KBJ: To an economist, the only cost is opportunity cost. The cost of a given activity is the amount one would earn in the next-highest-paying activity. So yes, a rich person's time is more valuable than a poor person's time, because the rich person can do more with his or her time than a poor person can. Is the letter writer advocating that poor people not be allowed to work? It wouldn't be the first time a progressive has advocated a policy that hurts the poor. Sometimes, as in the case of the minimum wage, they even know that what they advocate will hurt the poor, but they don't care. It's all about virtue signaling. "I care. I'm well-intentioned. I mean well. That my policies don't actually help (and sometimes hurt) the very people I'm trying to help doesn't matter. It's the thought that counts."
