A maximum wage - good idea?

[nnmartin]

So you want to put people who make 100K on welfare?

That may sound strange, but this system actually operates today in the UK.

It is called Child Benefit.

Paid to everyone regardless of income (paid per child).

But when everyone is getting it, it does not have the same stigma as welfare - people are odd that way!

 

[blackout]

Basically you would not be allowed to do this.

Holiday quotas would be given, and you would be on a monthly salary as I've mentioned.

So the 100K would be paid on condition of a full year's work.

So in nnmartinsville there are no Self employed.

 

[nnmartin]

Self employed would have to register through the Administration board and would be checked up on.

 

[blackout]

Self employed would have to register through the Administration board and would be checked up on.

"checked up on" to what ends?

What exactly will they be "checking" for?

 

[nnmartin]

They'd have to be checked to see whether they were earning too much and not declaring it.

Some kind of affluence check could be made easily enough.

 

[nnmartin]

You do realise that most folks working at McDonalds don't pay federal income tax right? So who would be better off? The poor service worker who now has to pay the same taxes as someone making a 100K or would no one pay taxes now?

Do the math, the government would be broke and could no longer pay old folks pensions.

In this system everyone pays 25% income tax.

The government would get it's money through the profits of industry.

 

[nnmartin]

What other kinds of workers are there in nnmartinsville?

All workers will be in the same boat.

However those that have the drive to be doctors, soldiers, lawyers , managers or factory workers could still do so if they were interested in this kind of work.

If you really wanted to get involved in a certain profession then you would do it anyway as the job would interest you more , plus there would be the potential for greater earnings.

 

[nnmartin]

Beyond that your going to have to enforce
that they cannot leave
once they are there. :cover:

where would they leave to anyway?

I hardly see boatloads of people earning less than 100K emigrating - do you?

 

[Quintessence]

Maximum wage? Sounds good to me. Also sounds unrealistic in our culture obsessed with the "virtues" of capitalism and consumerism.

 

[nnmartin]

I'm glad someone agrees with me at last

I agree, it would be very hard to change over now that capitalism is firmly entrenched as the supposed 'best' system.

but much of this is due to the supposed failings of Communism/Socialism of the past.

Agreed, some of what I am proposing does sound a little Stalinesque but modifications can be made - We can surely have a form of Socialism that allows for great freedom and reasonable wealth at the same time.

Cut out the obscene earnings, the 10 Million dollar Beverley Hills mansions, 5 cars etc.. and strive for something more satisfactory.

Do we really need basketball and soccer players (in Europe) earning 100K a week! - surely not, and it's not as if we can all ever become stars like this.


Today it is just money,money, money for me, me, me!

Let's put a stop to this charade.

 

[tumbleweed41]

Personally, I would rather not live in the Totalitarianism Regime described in the OP's posts.

I prefer our Republic.

 

[Storm]

I have often thought that a form of maximum wage would be a good idea, but not the flat sort described in the op.

Rather, the sort where a given company's brass can only make so many times what the lowest paid workers receive. For a nice, round number, let's say 250.

 

[Reverend Rick]

You won't be punished.

You will be rewarded with the highest salary obtainable - this will be high relative to the average which will more than compensate for any perceived financial loss.

Do you really need 3 cars for instance?

One is sufficient in most cases.

I think I really need 4 cars in the driveway, but that is just me.

My daughter needs one to go to college. It is an SUV that is big and solid and might survive a crash if she got into one.

I drive a truck for work.

We have a 4 door sedan for riding around with the grand kids and such which my wife drives to work.

I have a sports car I drive on evening and weekends or when my wife wants to take it to work instead of the sedan.

What is wrong with having an extra car? It comes in handy. We could not function as a family with less than three cars. Three people need to be three different places at the same time.

 

[Storm]

I think I really need 4 cars in the driveway, but that is just me.

My daughter needs one to go to college. It is an SUV that is big and solid and might survive a crash if she got into one.

I drive a truck for work.

We have a 4 door sedan for riding around with the grand kids and such which my wife drives to work.

I have a sports car I drive on evening and weekends or when my wife wants to take it to work instead of the sedan.

What is wrong with having an extra car? It comes in handy. We could not function as a family with less than three cars. Three people need to be three different places at the same time.

I'm not condemning you, but you say yourself at least one is an extra, and you could probably make do with two. The question was whether you NEEDED them all, was it not?

 

[Reverend Rick]

I have way more than I need, no doubt about that. The thing is, when you have more cars, they last longer than if we just had two cars which we would wear out quickly. I could drive my daughter to school and then pick her up, but that would be twice as much gasoline than if she just drove there and back herself.

I truely could be an *** hat and tell my wife she does not need to work and stay home without a car and tell my daughter she can walk around campus and sleep in a dorm. The sports car is unnessessary, so it would go. We could just drive everywhere in a 4 door truck I guess. That would get expensive, it gets the worst economy but I need it for work.

 

[Storm]

I have way more than I need, no doubt about that. The thing is, when you have more cars, they last longer than if we just had two cars which we would wear out quickly. I could drive my daughter to school and then pick her up, but that would be twice as much gasoline than if she just drove there and back herself.

I truely could be an *** hat and tell my wife she does not need to work and stay home without a car and tell my daughter she can walk around campus and sleep in a dorm. The sports car is unnessessary, so it would go. We could just drive everywhere in a 4 door truck I guess. That would get expensive, it gets the worst economy but I need it for work.

I didn't mean that you should be an *** and take away THEIR cars.

I just meant that your family could probably get by with two, and as you say, the 4th pure luxury.

That said, I really don't care if you have a pure-luxury car or two. I'm far more interested in what you think of the maximum wage *I* favor... just above your post detailing the cars, if you missed it.

 

[tumbleweed41]

I would be much more in favor of a fair tax structure than restricting potential earnings.

 

[Storm]

I would be much more in favor of a fair tax structure than restricting potential earnings.

That's definitely more important.

The reason I support the percentage-based max wage is that I truly believe it will benefit everyone.

Think about it, you can still get as much as you can earn, but you can't go rampaging over the backs of those who make it possible.

 

[Reverend Rick]

Everyone has ignored that nnmartins plan would tax McDonalds employees 25% federal income tax. That is unfair I think. Lets cut the little guy a break.

I uppose a maximum wage. We have enough controls already. I like rich folks, I strive to be one some day. I want 100's of acres lined with a split rail fence and magnificent post and beam barns to keep race horses in. I would like to have a car collection, motorcycle collection and a few more fast boats too.

For a well to do guy, I think I live modestly. My kid wants a Comaro convertable. I'm afraid she might kill herself in it. By the time she can afford one, perhaps she will become a more responsible driver.

I could live in a much bigger home than I do, but I am not that wasteful or vain. I could drive a new truck each year, but it would just get tore up at work. That is wasteful as well.

My finacial advisor tells me I need two million for retirement. I'm no where close to that amount.

I figure I will down size when I retire and my children are completely raised. I will live within my means like I always have. Most likely a condo and a golf cart with just one car and no truck.

 

[sandandfoam]

I'm for maximum wages in the public sector but in the private sector I'd rather go for very high taxes on high incomes and wealth.