Minimum recommended rates for translators to be referenced on ProZ.com

Radovan Pletka wrote:
1 I can imagine somebody, who is just starting in translation and does not know how much to charge.
2 But do we really want to encourage such person to charge those rates, especially if he/she is starting with zero experience?
3 Rates also differ substantially from country to country, but in the Internet age you can have your business address in a very expensive country, live and translate in the cheapest country in the world, and benefit from much higher rates in that country. So if we tie the rates to location, we will only encourage more abuse of the published rates system.
4 In some countries the translation and/or interpreting is an open business. If you can do it, you do it and that's it. Publishing minimum rates there is usually the first step toward trying to limit easy entry into translation/interpreting business, together with calls for testing and licensing.
5 In other countries they have two tiered system, licensed and not licensed people. People, who have the government issued “stamp” or permission or license, charge much more, and often use services of non licensed people to do the work, then they stamp it and sell at the government rates. So the system is immediately abused and people, who are not it, are exploited.
6 I personally love competition and cheap translators and I have great respect for them. They work very hard every day to educate my future clients about the simple truth. Buying translation is like buying a car; you usually get what you pay for.