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Comment by wturner | Hacker News Reader

I never said Oprah Doesn't provide more value than one garbage man. I am saying that I don't understand how a task that is literally needed for society to function is less valuable than one that is negligible for society to function and I don't understand why the person who does the more needed task is paid less than the person who does the negligible task. It's really a philosophical question about values but I think entertaining it is more elaborate than a simple catch phrase. Also hierarchy of needs vs wants etc all come into play.

And you are guessing wrong. From what I've read she is probably one of the better people I would like to see in the role if "Billionaire"

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I'm late here, but it's simple supply and demand. How much are you willing to pay to have your trash taken out? I'm guessing you won't pay 100k a year for yours. Someone will come and do it for far less. If nobody was willing to do it for less than 100k per house, you know what would happen? No, society wouldn't cease to function. People would take their own trash out. It's not hard, so it simply isn't worth billions of dollars.

I live in the middle of nowhere, don't have trash service, so I used to take it to the dump myself. Then my dad retired, and now I pay him a few bucks a month to take mine when he takes his. If this wasn't an option, I'd go back to doing it myself. This is why your local garbage man doesn't make as much money as Oprah. It's simple math and econ 101 supply and demand.

> I don't understand why the person who does the more needed task is paid less than the person who does the negligible task.

If your garbage man cost the community $80k per year, there would probably be 100 other dudes, all just as good at collecting refuse, offering to take his job and only charge $50k. That doesn't mean the disposal of all that waste disposal is not worth $80k (or $250k) to the community, but competition allows the community to pay less than the value it places on the service.

I bet there are also 1000 people lining up to underbid Oprah on whatever deals it is she is making with her partners(broadcast networks? advertisers?). But none of those people will attract nearly as many eyeballs. From the partner's perspective, it's simply a matter of choosing which TV personality will bring the most revenue (over and above their fee), and that's Oprah.

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