That\u2019s very, very wrong. For the vast majority of U.S. workers, the quality of their work is not among the Top 10 factors determining their pay. If you\u2019re Mike Trout or Mookie Betts or Jacob deGrom, then maybe your quality of work is a major factor in what you\u2019re paid. But for most American workers, it really really<\/em> isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Part of the reason for this confused response to Rosenfeld\u2019s study was the framing of his survey question. He writes:<\/p>\n I presented respondents with a number of factors that might influence pay, including seniority, experience, education and individual performance. Two-thirds of the workers said individual performance was a very important determinant of pay \u2014 a far higher percentage than for any other factor \u2014 and another 19% said it was somewhat important.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Those are among the possible \u201cfactors that might influence pay,\u201d but they\u2019re only a tiny subset of such factors. Some other factors that survey respondents were not asked about:<\/p>\n Include options like that and you might get different answers. Exclude options like that and the survey isn\u2019t so much a measurement as it is a tool for reinforcing harmful myths and for stunting imagination.<\/p>\n For the vast majority of American workers doing quality individual work, that quality work is done despite<\/em> the level of pay, not because of it.<\/p>\n See earlier: \u201cPlayoffs and rocking chairs<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2022 The greatest obstacle to offshore wind in America is that it is frequently opposed by obscenely wealthy, litigious people who fear that it will ruin the binocular-aided views from the windows of their coastal summer homes<\/a>.<\/p>\n The bad news is that these opponents of renewable energy products have a great deal of money and, therefore, a disproportionate amount of political power. The good news is that they\u2019re odious super-wealthy people and no one likes them. They may be extremely well-funded, but they\u2019re incapable of winning public sympathy or hiding the many ways their extravagant wealth makes them clueless about real life. They can write huge checks hiring an army of lawyers and PR professionals to spin this for them, but at the end of the day they always come across like this:<\/p>\n \u2022 Jonathan Krohn and Sarah Pulliam Bailey explore some of the unhealthy aspects of white evangelical culture that shaped the mass-shooter who killed eight people near Atlanta this week, \u201cAtlanta shooting suspect was a patient at evangelical treatment center close to first targeted spa<\/a>\u201d (WaPo<\/em> article, paywall\/story limit, etc.<\/em>). This includes a look at the \u201ctreatment center\u201d where the apparent shooter went for his alleged \u201csex addiction.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to its work with patients on \u201csex addiction,\u201d HopeQuest was once a hot spot for what some call \u201cconversion therapy\u201d and \u201cex-gay\u201d rehabilitation. The founder and creator of HopeQuest, Roy Blankenship, was once considered one of the nation\u2019s foremost conversion therapists.<\/p>\n Blankenship considered himself \u201cex-gay\u201d and served on the board of the \u201cex-gay\u201d Exodus International group, which was disbanded in 2013. After 22 years, Blankenship retired as chair of the board at HopeQuest in December 2018. He renounced conversion therapy and publicly came out as gay the following year.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The only difference between Blankenship\u2019s story and that of every other now ex-ex-gay counselor pushing \u201cconversion therapy\u201d is that it took him 22 years<\/em> to admit it was a hurtful sham. He put himself through a lot of pain over those two decades, but our sympathy for that is constrained by the horrifying amount of unnecessary pain he put other<\/em> people through during those many years.<\/p>\n \u2022 This is a doozy of a story: \u201cThe Arrest of an Ex\u2013Florida State Senator Hints at a Broader Dark-Money Scheme<\/a>.\u201d Sleazy rat-f\u2013king, shadowy shell companies with untraceable money, digital blackface, cynical contempt for voters, and a lawmaker who \u201chired a Hooters calendar girl and a\u00a0Playboy\u00a0model to work as consultants.\u201d<\/p>\n You know, Republicans<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u2022 That top item had me humming this Mark Heard classic<\/a>, which also provides the title for this post.<\/p>\n\n
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