Lurker Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 but just like people once said that newspapers would never go digital the same is being said about books. Bad analogy. The newspaper profit model is driven by ad revenue, not purchase price. With ad revenue migrating to other media, the newspaper cost structure no longer works. Not too many publishers sell books at below cost, however... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 How do you rank professions in society? That's a pretty difficult exercise if you are going to bother to go beyond knee-jerk populist nonsense. Who's to say what's important in society and frankly, because most people have little understanding of what most others do (particularly people who do things more complex than themselves), figuring out who is providing value is quite difficult. Where do you rank the guy toiling away in the science lab when his work might lead to something significant two generations from now? I think the free market does a pretty good job of valuing professions when left alone to do so. And yes, that includes all those poor, so-called underpaid teachers that everyone loves to throw out as example #1 of out of whack priorities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted March 30, 2009 Share Posted March 30, 2009 That's a pretty difficult exercise if you are going to bother to go beyond knee-jerk populist nonsense. Who's to say what's important in society and frankly, because most people have little understanding of what most others do (particularly people who do things more complex than themselves), figuring out who is providing value is quite difficult. Where do you rank the guy toiling away in the science lab when his work might lead to something significant two generations from now? I think the free market does a pretty good job of valuing professions when left alone to do so. And yes, that includes all those poor, so-called underpaid teachers that everyone loves to throw out as example #1 of out of whack priorities. True... BUT, everyone needs resources... Maybe not the run of the mill public library. Heck even in the stucture of what I do there is technical assistance with resources through a district "librarian." I am using term "librarian" loosely. Edit: Oh, IMO... That value is independent of monetary worth. That should play no factor in determining the value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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