Should we create a maximum wage?

[piasabird]

This would be like making a maximum amount you can charge for rent based on Square foot of living space. I could see a maximum wage based on things like college degree and experience. As soon as it is implemented people will be paid in other ways like a free house and a rental car and stocks and bonds. I think if you back in history you will find this has been tried and that is why people get health insurance through their employer. Once you reach the maximum, then employers will find new ways of compensation, like a free lunch or limosines to and from work.

 

[spidey07]

This would be like making a maximum amount you can charge for rent based on Square foot of living space. I could see a maximum wage based on things like college degree and experience. As soon as it is implemented people will be paid in other ways like a free house and a rental car and stocks and bonds.

no, no, no, remember, in the progressive mind those things are evil and bad. You are to own nothing in the progressive world. Ownership and private property are "bad" for society as a whole. Make sure you do your part for the betterment of us all comrade.

 

[Darwin333]

Where did they get the money to invest? Probably we will have to tax that at near 100 % to encourage folk to go back to work. I see a big boon in spending as people get rid of their useless money.

I personally put my house up as collateral for the loan along with quite a bit of my personal savings to start my company.

 

[her209]

If we cap it at $10 dollars an hour we could hire 250! That would be 250 times as many people!

Pretty much the point of the other thread.

 

[ichy]

How about we create a maximum number of idiotic posts that retarded users can make instead?

 

[CPA]

Most people get rich not from wages but from "investing," a broad term meaning taking an ownership interest or being an owner of a business and/or property. Wage caps would not cap business profits. If you owned a business, the cap would apply to your employees, not to you. Accordingly, this idea would fail to achieve your objectives unless the government owned all businesses and hence the profit was eliminated from the process. That, of course, is full blown communism.

- Dave

I think you just stumbled on Moonie's ulterior motive.

 

[Apple Of Sodom]

I have an even better idea! Why don't we just do away with wages altogether and have the government provide everything for us. We all work (jobs assigned according to skills) and the government gives us food, clothing, shelter, and we get to pick from a list of "goodies" each year. For example, maybe I'll choose a 9" television and my wife can choose a transistor radio this year!

 

[TheDoc9]

There would be ways around any cap for the execs to make more, stock options at the very least. If you could cap exec pay and stock, and under the table deals, and favors, and golden parachutes. That might work.

 

[woolfe9999]

Where did they get the money to invest? Probably we will have to tax that at near 100 % to encourage folk to go back to work. I see a big boon in spending as people get rid of their useless money.

You'd have to get rid of all existing wealth over time, possibly by instituting a 100% estate tax for amounts over $100,000. But then who would open a business? No one would have the money to do so. Back to government ownership and full blown communism.

- wolf

 

[Apple Of Sodom]

Maybe if Moonbeam had any skills or talents and could join the ranks of those of us who make a good living he would see it the other way. Once you get a taste of working hard AND making several hundred grand you start realizing that hard work and sacrifice really can pay off.

 

[Moonbeam]

Maybe if Moonbeam had any skills or talents and could join the ranks of those of us who make a good living he would see it the other way. Once you get a taste of working hard AND making several hundred grand you start realizing that hard work and sacrifice really can pay off.

Same thing for all those new folk who will be making 50 an hour. They will be many more that way who find this out. They will start to push for a 50 dollar an hour minimum wage. Having money sounds like it must be really good. Why be stupid and limit the effects to fools who will work hard and sacrifice, eh? The more folk with money to spend the better for the economy. And by having a cap on income we will build the kind of stuff folk need instead of monster trucks and yachts.

 

[Throckmorton]

In this time of high unemployment we need more jobs for folk to do and we have millions of folk with tremendous skill sets out of work. If we cap the maximum anybody can earn at say 50 dollars an hour companies could put a lot more people to work. Instead of one CEO a company could hire 50 vastly increasing the chances they're being served with the best advise. This would swell the ranks of white collar workers and insure a huge middle class. Now instead of a small number of folk who can cat caviar every night there would be 50 times as many who could eat it once a week. The economy would take off and people would be happy. A huge new class would now be the nouveau rich.

Yes, as long as it doesn't affect ME.

 

[Moonbeam]

Yes, as long as it doesn't affect ME.

Not to worry. You seem to have a brain and some common sense. Nobody is going to pay you 50 dollars an hour. Be thankful you're not shot.

 

[CycloWizard]

The government will have to live within its means. Private enterprise will won't be paying so much taxes or wasting money on employees so they can hire to keep the country running. Lots of new business opportunities exist when rotten shit starts to crumble. We can always replace you, too, with somebody who will do science for the love of it.

As it is, I barely make enough to pay off my student loans that I accrued as an undergrad. Let me know when you can find someone who will spend 9 years after high school making virtually no salary, then serve as a volunteer when they're done putting themselves through the rigors of grad school. No one loves science that much except in your magical communist fantasy land.

 

[bamacre]

The more folk with money to spend the better for the economy.

Until people go to the grocery store with money only to find the shelves empty. Moonbeam, if the above were true, Zimbabwe would be a paradise.

 

[JSt0rm]

aint nothin wrong with 50 a hour but in my trade the top tier is $250 a hour up to 48 hours and then 1.5x with full medical and pension.

 

[Moonbeam]

As it is, I barely make enough to pay off my student loans that I accrued as an undergrad. Let me know when you can find someone who will spend 9 years after high school making virtually no salary, then serve as a volunteer when they're done putting themselves through the rigors of grad school. No one loves science that much except in your magical communist fantasy land.

I do but science labs never advertise for volunteers. They have no imagination, I guess. They assume that what motivates them motivates everybody. They are right but they don't know their real motivation.

 

[Moonbeam]

Also, CW, why did you have to go to school to get your education? Why, for example, if I wanted to learn biochemistry, can't I just go on line and download a self education course that would teach me all I need to know to reach degree level education. Why do I have to pay some huge bill and why does every university in the world who teaches it have their own program and teachers. Why not just have the information organized by one source and made available to the public, say by the government so lots of folk can learn a high demand skill? It wouldn't be that folk educate others for the money and also want to limit the numbers of folk in the know, eh? Funny how those who pay a price for something don't want others to have it cheap.

 

[Moonbeam]

Until people go to the grocery store with money only to find the shelves empty. Moonbeam, if the above were true, Zimbabwe would be a paradise.

I get a picture of Picard with his hand on his forehead shouting what is this Zimbabwe shit.

 

[bamacre]

I get a picture of Picard with his hand on his forehead shouting what is this Zimbabwe shit.

Sorry Moonbeam, but I couldn't let your statement go without a correction. What makes an economy good takes more than people with money. Money is worthless without purchasing power.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

For the most part (with a few exceptions) there is still potential for significant upward mobility in America. The majority of the lower class are there because they choose to be.

Like unemployed and underemployed people with college degrees, including those with advanced and professional degrees such as unemployed PhD scientists and lawyers? Did they really "choose" to be unable to find jobs in their fields, or is it possible that the supply of people with college degrees can often be much larger than the economy's need for those people?

In a time of 20+% unemployment and underemployment, did all of the unemployed and underemployed "choose" to be part of the lower class?

If all of the people in the world were to be dumped in a fresh society most of the rich would become rich again and most of the poor would become poor.

It sounds like you've swallowed the dogma of Meritocracy hook, line, and sinker. Some people would end up back in the place they were before and some wouldn't. Don't discount the importance of luck, the avoidance of bad luck, and family connections.

 

[DrPizza]

M: The rich aren't going to become rich again if there is a maximum wage now are they which is why I suggested we have one.

Are you aware that investments are a huge source of income for the rich. If you have $10 million in the bank, earning 3% interest, that's $304,159.57 in income just by sitting on your ass and doing nothing.

If this is the reason for your hair-brained idea, it's a pretty poor idea. Furthermore, if you look at a position like CEO making 10 million dollars a year, they're not going to pay him a fraction of that amount of money, then go out and hire 50 co-CEOs to compensate.

 

[Patranus]

Considering the fact that there shouldn't be a minimum wage, I would say no.

 

[bamacre]

If we did implement a $50/hour maximum wage, those who would otherwise receive more would most likely leave the USA and go somewhere less tyrannical. And when the rich leave, who is going to pay for other peoples' Medicare and Social Security?

 

[CycloWizard]

I do but science labs never advertise for volunteers. They have no imagination, I guess. They assume that what motivates them motivates everybody. They are right but they don't know their real motivation.

If everyone were true communists, your model would work perfectly. However, the people who pretend to be true communists have ulterior motives, usually involving the subjugation of those who are willing to work to better themselves.

Also, CW, why did you have to go to school to get your education? Why, for example, if I wanted to learn biochemistry, can't I just go on line and download a self education course that would teach me all I need to know to reach degree level education. Why do I have to pay some huge bill and why does every university in the world who teaches it have their own program and teachers. Why not just have the information organized by one source and made available to the public, say by the government so lots of folk can learn a high demand skill? It wouldn't be that folk educate others for the money and also want to limit the numbers of folk in the know, eh? Funny how those who pay a price for something don't want others to have it cheap.

Because in school, you learn how to learn. You're unlikely to find anyone who has achieved significant scientific achievement in the last 500 years without finishing a doctoral degree. You've also contradicted yourself in saying that people who charge to educate people do it for the money, but limit the number of degrees they grant, thereby limiting their own income. Funny how those who don't have an education don't value it very highly. If you knew much about higher education, you'd know that a student's tuition doesn't even pay for their education - it's heavily subsidized by those of us who bring in research dollars. You'd also know that college enrollment struggles to keep up with population growth because colleges try to keep costs low rather than simply building new dorms, bringing in more students, and devaluing their degrees by handing them out to every idiot who applies.