If the free market rewarded hard work or talent per se, one would see a magnitude effect. As it is, the falling price commanded by, say, Louisiana shrimp farmers for their product indicates not their slacking off of hard work, but an excess of supply of shrimp relative to present market demand. Meanwhile, no doubt Tom Cruise works hard, but his income relative to that of aforesaid shrimp farmers isn’t proportional to how much harder he works than they do. As for innovation, it too is also not necessarily rewarded by the free market – the list of failed inventions and product modifications (e.g. the Edsel car, ‘Pepsi Free’) is a long one.

Meanwhile, tipping is inconsistent with the free market system, for tipping amounts do not float on the open market, the way prices and wages do. There is rarely any agreement, in the form of a contracted price between seller and buyer, for what should be tipped. This is why threads like this one come up as often, and generate as much debate, as they do - not because there is any such agreement but because there is not. Sonofliberty, if you don’t believe in government-regulated businesses, one wonders why you would support any non-elected entity undertaking to tell the rest of us what constitutes ‘tipping regulations’ for the hospitality business.

You began this thread by declaring that tipping amounts should reflect, not an increase in demand for a service relative to its supply, as would be the case if tipping followed the laws of the free market, but because the reverse has occurred: hard times have fallen upon the hospitality industry, and demand has shrunk. I agree it’s important to redress the hardships that can befall those who fall between the cracks of the free market, such that we apply, within reason, the dictum “from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.” However, this is a social principle not a free market one. Ergo, if I lack faith in my ability to manage a restaurant payroll, you can bet I don’t have any faith in using tipping as a kind of self-administered social program! Better I should require my elected representative to administer my tax dollars in a fashion that will have a better chance of addressing those in greatest need, which in this case is most likely not your teary-eyed doorman, but those such as his former work colleagues who have been laid off entirely.


[This message has been edited by simpleflyer (edited 06-05-2003).]