Even pay across the board, would that finally make people happy?

No.
You’d have people bitching that they worked way harder and are educated way more, but still earn the same as some dimvit with no school and knowledge whatsoever.

If we all had free health care, and education. Many wage gaps wouldn’t matter as much.

To me,those are more realistic, and achievable.

@Hypocrisy_Central Never, ever EVER! It is not what a person makes it is all about what a person spends. And when spendy person sees thrifty person 5 years later who has a color TV when spendy person only has UHF black and white TV….spendy person will undoubtedly cry foul. So it goes. Ear plugs are mans greatest invention.

Why does it have to be one extreme or another? Answer: it doesn’t.

I can’t think of one person who I know or have heard on TV ask for the same pay for everyone. I watch the “liberal” news stations when I watch the news, and I have many liberal friends. The inability for the so many people in the right to listen to what so many democrats say is mind boggling. Everyone goes for the extreme. Not even Bernie Sandra is suggesting such a thing, and he was pretty extreme.

“Bernie Sandra” hihihihi nice typo.

5:00am here. That’s my excuse.

I think we should hear more from people that believe in this perspective. For every extreme radical regressive or flat tax proponent on the right fringe, we would have someone championing total equality of condition (instead of equality of opportunity). If we heard from both sides, then people like @JLeslie would realize that Bernie isn’t “extreme” at all. He’s center-left on the political spectrum which is where I and most other working-class Americans are. FDR wasn’t an extremist or a radical. Most Americans love what he did for the middle class and the protections put in place for workers.

No, everyone likes to be rewarded for their efforts through pay incentives and better paid promotions. It is when salaries become disconnected from actual work done that there is a problem. This can be when wages are too low, and this is why there is a need for a minimum wage, or when salaries are too high as is the case when individuals ‘earn’ tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

I’d love nothing more than to abolish the concept of fiat currency entirely. Let people work in ways they find fulfilling in accordance with their desires and abilities and the need of the community. Take your value from providing value.

But I’m a dreamer. This world will continue to kowtow to fiscal greed until it destroys us all.

I’ve never heard anything about everyone making the same pay across the board, like the maintenance man should make the same as a scientist or doctor, for example. However, that a CEO of a company that filed for bankruptcy or was bailed out by the government makes 40 mil while the average Joe who serves customers makes 8 dollars an hour and can’t pay his rent without working three job`at people have issue with, I think.

No. If that was done, no one would have the incentive to go to college, or to strive for more value in the workplace. Everything would languish, civilization included.

^Or, people would start doing what they are interested in and not what they are convinced would bring them wealth. Just thinking about all the possibilities.

@Sneki95 Sure, but to what end? People don’t want to work themselves into a bottomless pit. (Well, not everybody…)

Hmm. Yes. I think equal pay would hurt ambition.

I always try to be the best at what I do. And I expect to be compensated accordingly.

Nope, but it would highlight just how much difference behavior makes in why people are rich or poor.

@ARE_you_kidding_me Out of curiosity, what percent of the poor are poor because they’re lazy or don’t work hard? What percent of the investment-class are there because they had more opportunities and in some cases got very lucky?

Likely 40–50% I know many people I grew up with that had every opportunity you could ever want or need yet they are poor. We are talking about good parents, a fully funded college ride, high intelligence, good looks…everything. I also know enough who had none of these advantages and are now wealthy. Behavior is a massive factor but not the only factor. It’s very naive to think behavior is not one of the main reasons. Circumstance still trumps that though, don’t get the wrong idea about what I’m saying.

No.

Here is a social engineering idea that I’ve been mulling over. Have two different currencies one for necessities and one for luxuries. Every one gets the necessities as much as they need and they have to work extra for luxuries. Just an idea that I came up in grade 9 economics class. Dr. Phil has an idea for raising kids: Your life style is based on your grades; straight A+ gets a sweet life and a D- gets a bare bones lifestyle.

That’s pretty much how welfare works, @RedDeerGuy1, albeit badly. They don’t consider toilet paper and soap as necessities, though.

No. That’s communism and it only works on paper.

@Blondesjon @Dutchess_III Thanks I learned something new today. : )

@Cruiser It is not what a person makes it is all about what a person spends. And when spendy person sees thrifty person 5 years later who has a color TV when spendy person only has UHF black and white TV….spendy person will undoubtedly cry foul.
That is the reason some are upset, they want to be able to spend like those who were thrifty or those who made an effort to earn more, when they can’t spend as much they feel those who did cheated somehow.

@flutherother No, everyone likes to be rewarded for their efforts through pay incentives and better paid promotions. It is when salaries become disconnected from actual work done that there is a problem.
The earnings of a person should show that more than not? If a person is doing precision work or something highly skilled what they earn for that job or work should reflect that fact. Why would people believe someone doing, say something like a six hour brain surgery is not worth what is charged for it?

@RedDeerGuy1 Your idea of income based on grades or lack of them is flawed. Both Bill Gates and Zuckerberg dropped out of school and they together are richer than you or I could imagine. Even stupid people can get rich if they work at it. Hell I did.

@Blondesjon – to be fair, capitalism only works on paper, too. We’re hardly in an ideal scenario right now.

Damn it @Hypocrisy_Central. “We” didn’t want to be able to spend like someone who is thrifty. I JUST WANTED TO BE ABLE TO BUY TOILET PAPER AND TAMPAX, SHAMPOO AND SOAP.

^ I JUST WANTED TO BE ABLE TO BUY TOILET PAPER AND TAMPAX, SHAMPOO AND SOAP.
Do you eat out, go to Starbuck, shop at JCP, have a pleasure craft, use the vehicle for other than working, have cable, a Smartphone, go to the show, etc.? If many Yankees lived without those things and stuck with the basics, they would find they can afford more and not be in 10s of thousands of dollars in credit card debt.

No. Didn’t have cable or any TV at all, no internet access. My kids couldn’t go to the pool for the first 2 years during the summer because we didn’t have the money. I drove a 10 year old Aerostar van with no heater because I didn’t have the money to fix it.
I never bought trash bags, and foil was like gold.
Pleasure craft? Well, we had a baby pool we could have put on the lake and floated around in, I supposed.
No, didn’t go to the show. On Friday nights I’d send the kids to the local grocery store where they had kid’s movies for $.50, IF we had the money. Sometimes we didn’t. The library had some free movies you could check out.

What was your question?

The cost of living goes up every year. More often than not ,increase in salaries are outpaced by the inflation. Buying “the basics” costs more now than 10 years ago,and will continue to get more expensive.

That being said, we have to have something in life to enjoy,or what are we even living for. So, yes, some will go into debt to have some “luxuries.”

If credit companies weren’t so greedy, things would be different.

The American government owes trillions of dollars to other countries (mainly China. )
If I were as fiscally irresponsible as America, I’d be homeless, or worse…
I think that’s why there is so much anger about wage gaps. When you’re on the bottom, you don’t get bailouts, you sink or swim.

Well, you can find “luxury” in the smallest of things, @MrGrimm888. No need to go into debt.

I grew up with a tiny B&W tv. Parents had it up until the late 1980’s. Canned spaghetti and campbells soup were regular dinner items. We never had many toys either. Dad completed his college degree, then my mother and all that being poor stuff changed almost overnight. As a pre-teen I never realized we were even poor until I got older and put 2&2 together. My folks opened up to us as we got older about how raggety those edges were we lived on then. It’s amazing to me what they accomplished with so little. It left an impression, a college education, work ethic and a plan can make all the difference. I’m sure some would have put on the pity party and just continued being poor. Again…behavior.

Right? I think it’s important to shelter our kids from the ravages of struggling through our lives financially. Let them worry about kid things.

What about your pay as your age per hour? 12 year old $12 an hour and 65 years old $65 per hour. Just throwing out a social engineering hypothesis.

@MrGrimm888 That being said, we have to have something in life to enjoy,or what are we even living for.
Even if you had everything you wanted from the perspective of life you believe in how would that be more to live for? If this is all one will ever have, reason is to get as much out of it as possible even if it means shoving someone else out of the way.

If credit companies weren’t so greedy, things would be different
Who makes people use them? Credit card businesses cannot be greedy or do anything to anyone if they don’t use them unless those rare occasions where it makes sense to use plastic over cash.

I agree you with HC. OMG! OMG! I had the credit to get credit cards, but didn’t. I knew it would be suicide.

“Luxury” It’s not more to live for, HC. It’s just a nice break from the grind. But, luxury is relative. When I finally landed a job with a celluar company, and the first time they sent me out of town on business, which was all paid for, THAT was a luxury. You know what was really a luxury? Taking a shower at the hotel for the first time in 3 years. The house we were living it didn’t have a shower. Only a tub.

HC.Yes. Some put themselves in debt by trying to live beyond their means. But credit companies take advantage of people. They use adjustable interest rates,and fine print to lure people into borrowing.

When

^ They use adjustable interest rates,and fine print to lure people into borrowing.
I say again, whose responsibility is it to read the fine print before they sign their name to something? They would not let anyone borrow their vehicle without knowing all the details, does the person have a license, knowing where the person lives or works and knowing their name. the same due diligence is required before you add your signature. If a person cannot be bothered to read the entire contract, they have themselves to blame if they get caught in a situation they do not like.

Maybe every woman should write up a contract for her uterus. Include in the fine print that implantation is assumed to be consent to all medical decisions made by the mother. Then it’s the fetus’ own fault for not reading the fine print if it’s aborted.

CEO’s versus schmucks, there’s a division right there. Aren’t they both people?

^ Include in the fine print that implantation is assumed to be consent to all medical decisions made by the mother. Then it’s the fetus’ own fault for not reading the fine print if it’s aborted.
That was such a stupid comment, it defies even a silly answer, much less to be taken with any seriousness.

@flutherother I knew a guy in the Army whose name was Shmuck.