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Comment by satvikpendem | Hacker News Reader

> CoL isn't really related to the market value of labour for remote-capable jobs

I mean, it is. Wages are a market, thus supply and demand applies. We are not in a socialist society where there is some inherent "exploitation" which is basically what you're talking about.

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Yes, I misspoke, the market value is different, but the actual, objectively measurable value to the company is not.

That we're not in a socialist society is exactly the reason for any inherent exploitation.

And like, I'm saying this as a pretty gung-ho capitalist.

Exploitation has a specific definition in socialist circles, one that many capitalists reject as being misleading at best and malicious at worst. Since we are not in a socialist society, we cannot use their definition of the term, which is what I'm saying you're using. Yes, there can be other types of exploitation in a capitalist society, but the one you're talking about is getting paid "unfair" wages when the only "fair" wage is what one can get via supply and demand. That you or others who live in different cost of living areas might feel slighted does not mean it is exploitation in the capitalist sense; people in a LCoL area may be happy to take a lower wage than a HCoL person, they would not feel exploited due to that.

"people in a LCoL area may be happy to take a lower wage than a HCoL person, they would not feel exploited due to that."

good to know

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