Baker's Defense

 

Mr Davies, it's less than a 60% reduction because Able and I do useful work around ABCD Farms!

Mr Baker, tell me what you provide, please do.

Firstly, we maintain the tracks around the farm, so Charlie and David don't have to. That would save them time, and enable them to produce more.

But I heard from David that he doesn't need that, because he and Charlie fix pot-holes the same day they appear, as soon as they are spotted, while out on the farm doing other work. You guys check on the tracks twice a year, so your repairs are poorer and more expensive, yet he must pay for them anyway. Right?

Still, we do them, and on the objective theory of value, our labor is worth what we charge. And we do other things too, like we run a school for everyone's children. So the wives could work on the farm and produce more, if they weren't so idle!

That too is a service the other parents do not want. They tried it for a while, since they had to pay for it anyway, but say you do a rotten job; you take five times as long as needed, and don't even teach the vital things that the children need to know. So the wives' time is better spent continuing to home-school them.

Most importantly, we provide defense services, all free of charge! - so if some neighbors were to raid for cattle, or just to hold Charlie and David at gunpoint and demand protection money, we can step in and keep them away. This is very valuable!

The way I've heard it, nobody is threatening ABCD Farms except you, and the gunmen you hire to provide your "defense" are actually sent out to intimidate LMNO Acres over in the next county, so aggravating them and bringing a danger to your one-time friends that would otherwise never have arisen. Isn't that the case?

Not at all. Freedom isn't free, you know!

Charlie and his wife Cathy would certainly agree with that. Wasn't their eldest son, Christopher, forced to join your army and killed in one of your raids?

No, he volunteered, he wasn't forced at all. And it's most unfortunate that he laid down his life for his clan, fighting those murderous terrorists. We erected a monument to him at the crossroads.

"Volunteered"... yes. That's when you offered him a free University place if he's sign up in your army?

Higher education is very valuable. Jobs pay graduates twice as much, on average.

That's if you can get them. But you'll understand that Charlie and Cathy don't share your view about the objective value of labor. They have a highly subjective feeling about Christopher.

Our former so-called friends just don't appreciate all the hard work we do. We'll have to pay them a visit.

Make sure you knock first. The way I hear it, Charlie and David reckon that far from costing them less than 60% of their former earnings, because of their subjective evaluation you've hit them with more than 60%.