does it seem to you utterly mad that people allow people working in offices to rake billions while they?

Question

work hard for normal amounts of money? - does it seem utterly mad to you that people being paid $15 an hour are not bothered by people being paid $150 an hour, $1500 an hr, $15,000 an hr, $150,000 an hr, $1,500,000 an hr, $15,000,000 an hour?

[bill gates, 1998, paid $18,000,000,000, = $27 billion in 2006 dollars = average of $1 billion per fortnight = $10,000,000 an hr, means peaks up to circa $15 million - bill gates av income US$500,000, for every hr he has worked]

i would think that people's sense of justice and injustice would be activated and outraged by $150 an hr - after all, who can work 10 times harder per hr? - but people arent bothered by A MILLION TIMES AVERAGE PAY

how can this be?

plus the fact that money is power, so someone being paid a million times average has a million times as much political power - ie, undemocratic, above the law, corrupt [eg, buying judges, buying politicians, buying hitmen, 'enforcers']

the law: like spiders webs - th grt brk thru

Answer 1

Two of the many things my grandfather taught me:

1. You'll never get rich working for someone else.

2. People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up.

Answer 2

Dearest Nigelbestpeace,
First of all I truly look forward to your answers and your questions.In re: to this question, I think that people in general feel powerless. Powerless to do anything about the powers that be. If you are working making say $15 dollars an hour, you are working to live, that does not allow much time to be concerned with what the million and billionaires are doing with their millions and billions. When on the rare occasion one has the time to stop and ponder these facts; I do believe that most of us are outraged, but then we cannot stay outraged or we might merely become bitter people, in a world where far to many bitter and angry people are already coexisting. It is certainly an outrage, but does not human nature dictate that we will all pursue our own comfort, security, and pleasure? Those who have, will do all in their power to continue to be the "Haves" and as you mentioned money is power, and so they have the power to stay in power. It has historically been so. We have to put our outrage aside, and do what we can to make our world a better and kinder place for those living like us, and much worse than us. Traditionally and statistically the people making $15 dollars an hour, give proportionately more to charities, and to others, than do the billionaires who appear to be generous when in reality the charitable donations they make per ratio are really very, very little, like what, maybe? the cost of a couple nights out on the town?

Answer 3

There are two problems with your idea and one good observation. First the good observation. Money is power even in a democratic republic and that there is a danger that corruption will overtake the voting process. That was the whole reason for the Estate Tax in the first place, actually.

However, the other two are errors of thought.

First, people cannot earn more than their productive value. A simple example might suffice. Imagine you were a physician and you wanted to bill your services at $150 per hour, however the insurance company would only cover $75 per hour. The hospital could still pay you $150 per hour, but it would soon go out of business. No one, including Bill Gates can earn more than their production value. Bill Gates is a special case because he both owns the firm and was CEO. You may believe that he does not contribute that much money to the firm, but both his board of directors and his shareholder disagree with you. The CEO's who were taking in too much either ended up fired OR are currently awaiting prosecution for fraud.

A clearer example might be Warren Buffett. He took $10,000 in 1956 and became the world's second richest man. He earned in the neighborhood of Gates per hour. His shareholders bought one share in 1956 for $10. Each share now trades for around $90,000 per share. If you make $9000 x your money AND you paid a high salary, would you not continue paying that high salary so that that return can continue?

Your error is in thinking they are working harder, they are not, they are working smarter. They are doing things to keep their employees employed. They are doing things that others could do, but rarely want to do. The hours are terrible, the homelife is often a disaster and the stress enormous. Further, you have to have at least a master's degree to compete in that world just to be able to have a conversation with your managers below you.

A clerk at GEICO, which is owned by Mr. Buffett gets what the market will bear for that set of tasks. Very few clerks are actually qualified to manage a multibillion dollar company. When a talent is scarce its price rises to meet its scarcity. The same is true for baseball players. They are paid what they are paid because their level of talent is scarce and people want to see people play at that level.

Ben and Jerry from Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream took very modest wages. When they decided to step down they felt that the wage should hold. What they found was that the applicants were of too low of a quality to be hired, even though they were paid more than the President of the United States. They had to go up to market prices in order to find someone with the competance to keep their employees employed.

The second error is that all of this is occuring through voluntarily entered into contracts. No one is cheating anyone, or at least that is far from the norm. When cheating does happen it is often prosecuted or litigated. No one is making anyone do anything against their will.

My suggestion to you is go get a reputable MBA and join their ranks.

Answer 4

Don't worry i agree with you it is about time we put a cap on this rediculus concept... The rich put sanctions on the poor then incite huge amounts of propaghanda on us to tell us its a good thing...
There are hudreds of people i know personally that are outraged by this. A good thing you may wish to join (cost like nothing) is the international workers union.
It has to stop and everyone knows that capitalism is unsustainable and many feel that a new system will take its place soon enough.
Dont bring yourself down to thier level if you got spare change ... Make a difference...
We all die broke at the end of the day...
Money doesn't go with you whereever you are.

Answer 5

Are we experiencing a little "class envy" here? I don't mind what people make per hour. If their talents dictate it and the wage market can bear it, then fine. It is simple economics. If the $15/hour person's skills, talents, knowledge are worth more then they'd get paid more.
Besides, I never got a job from a poor man.

Answer 6

There's not necessarily any injustice here. Rather than focusing on what others have, focus on what they did to get it. You're apparently unhappy with your situation which is a bad thing, but the good thing is you control it and can change it. The key is to work smarter not harder.