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[Bobsonsirjonny]

I've just been listening to Radio 2, the Jeremey Vine show.

Mark Thomas - a stand up comic, and staunch left wing activist proposed that as we have a minimum wage, we should also have a maximum wage. He would like to cap peoples income at £200,000 per year.

[Speelgoedmannetje]

I can't imagine one who can work that hard to EARN that much money.
It must be someone who studied for decades and works app. 90 hours per week and has app. 2 weeks vacation per year.

[whabang]

Silly! :roll:

[Bobsonsirjonny]

Speelgoedmannetje wrote:
I can't imagine one who can work that hard to EARN that much money.
It must be someone who studied for decades and works app. 90 hours per week and has app. 2 weeks vacation per year.

How do you measure the value of someone's worth? Is it the time spent? is its skills? Is it because the took an oppertunity? Is it because of sacrifices made? Are those sacrifices worth it?

[Glaucus]

How do you measure the value of someone's worth? Is it the time spent? is its skills? Is it because the took an oppertunity? Is it because of sacrifices made? Are those sacrifices worth it?

If someone's willing to pay them that much, then obviously, it must be worth it, otherwise they'd find someone cheaper. Look at sports athletes. The good ones make millions, and that's because they draw in the crowdes.

- Mike

[Bobsonsirjonny]

But is the person earning that much actually getting the quality of life?

[Speelgoedmannetje]

Bobsonsirjonny wrote:

How do you measure the value of someone's worth? Is it the time spent? is its skills? Is it because the took an oppertunity? Is it because of sacrifices made? Are those sacrifices worth it?

Effort made, sacrifices made. Productivity that is. I think a nurse running his/her @ss of in midnight for nursing the sick should earn a hell of a lot more than some top-bussinessman.

[Wilse]

@Rob:

Mark Thomas - a stand up comic, and staunch left wing activist proposed that as we have a minimum wage, we should also have a maximum wage.

Interesting idea.
I've never really thought about that and I've had a few beers, so my initial opinion is liable to change.
My immediate reaction is that the basic premise is a good idea but I think I'd aim more at half a million.

Like I say, I'll probably think it's a daft idea in the morning. :-D

[KennyR]

I said it before, and I'll say it again - nobody can earn more than £80,000 a year through hard, honest work. I say this because a person can work sixteen hours a day on two jobs, seven days a week, and get paid no more than £12,000.

That said, maximum wage caps won't work. The people who have such atrocious wages would simply get around it via bonuses, trust funds, and pensions. The best ways to prevent people stealing from society like that are strong trade unions, openness of enterprise, and more shareholder rights.

[iamaboringperson]

Bobsonsirjonny wrote:
I've just been listening to Radio 2, the Jeremey Vine show.

Mark Thomas - a stand up comic, and staunch left wing activist proposed that as we have a minimum wage, we should also have a maximum wage. He would like to cap peoples income at £200,000 per year.

Why?

[iamaboringperson]

kenny wrote:

...atrocious wages...

[T_Bone]

[iamaboringperson]

[Fade]

@ KennyR
"I said it before, and I'll say it again - nobody can earn more than £80,000 a year through hard, honest work."
-------------------

Well Kenny, let me put this scenario to you.

I have an aunt who owns a farm about 60 miles from Tampa Florida. My uncle was a citrus farmer until his death about 20 years ago. Since then my aunt has rented out the trees, usually on a five year contract. The contract pays her over the 80 thousand dollars a year that is your maximum anybody is worth. Even at that, the renter also makes more than the amount you think he should. In fact, the renter will average about four times that amount after paying all his farm related expenses.

But there is a big aside to this situation. If the weather should be bad, the renter could actually lose money. In other words, he pays the rent, plows the fields, fertilizes the trees, sprays them for pests, trims the dead limbs, removes diseased trees and buys and plants new ones, and then a freeze comes along and the crop is lost. At this point the renter has probably paid in excess of 200,000 dollars for that years expenses but will receive nothing for his effort.

It could be ten years before this happens again, or it might happen for the next two or three years in a row.

In the US, there are hundreds of thousands of small companies and individuals that take comparable risks every year and you want to limit them to an income of $80,000.

Now just where does your $80,000 or even a $200,000 limit realistically fit in?

[iamaboringperson]

To kennyr:

I said it before, and I'll say it again - nobody can earn more than £80,000 a year through hard, honest work.

Bah, and who'd want to? An experienced property investor could earn more than that from town-houses located 10-15 minutes away from the CBD. And that's passive income! He (or she) wouldn't NEED to work hard! :-P