Why is there no maximum wage?

[Seshmeister]

It saddens me to see people pointing fingers at successful people and hating them because they get paid more than them. I look at them and think they worked harder than most people, they caught the right breaks in life, and put their god given talent in whatever to work. They deserve what they get paid - they worked hard to achieve what they made out of their lives.

This is what a lot of people still think but the statistics do not back you up. The US has one of the least socially mobile populations in the Western world nowadays. You can work as hard as you like but the chances are that if you are born poor you will not die rich.

http://www.economist.com/node/15908469

Also as an aside to (1) do you think it's a good thing if you as a taxpayer spend millions of dollars training soldiers so that they can then leave the military, join a security/mercenary company which then charges you the taxpayer 10 times as much to provide the same guy you already trained just so the government can claim less military involvement?

[BigBadBrian]

What is most disturbing to me is half the workers in this country pay no Federal taxes or get a full refund!

People, if you don't pay Federal taxes or YOU get a full refund,YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!

[tbone888]

Most americans dont approach life the way their parents or people did just 20-30 years ago...lots are living way beyond their means. Spending huge amounts of money, monthly, on unnecessary things like 300 channel cable tv, super hi speed internet and smart phones with 4g internet access, dont lend themselves to saving any money. My parents were born in the middle of the great depression in 1 room houses with dirt floors, no running water and no electricity. Neither had anyting but HS educations and worked retail or tech jobs all their lives. They put 2 kids thru college without taking any loan of any kind. At age 50ish (with both kids out of college), they lived off one of their saleries and saved/invested the other. By their early 60's, they had amassed quite a lot of money. Life is full of decisions...living way beyond your means/and/or living week to week, usually never turns out well. Yes, saving money every week/month isnt fun...but its very possible in any economy. It all depends if you want to do it.

[Nickdfresh]

Most americans dont approach life the way their parents or people did just 20-30 years ago...lots are living way beyond their means. Spending huge amounts of money, monthly, on unnecessary things like 300 channel cable tv, super hi speed internet and smart phones with 4g internet access, dont lend themselves to saving any money. My parents were born in the middle of the great depression in 1 room houses with dirt floors, no running water and no electricity. Neither had anyting but HS educations and worked retail or tech jobs all their lives. They put 2 kids thru college without taking any loan of any kind. At age 50ish (with both kids out of college), they lived off one of their saleries and saved/invested the other. By their early 60's, they had amassed quite a lot of money. Life is full of decisions...living way beyond your means/and/or living week to week, usually never turns out well. Yes, saving money every week/month isnt fun...but its very possible in any economy. It all depends if you want to do it.

I'd agree more with your points if it wasn't completely clear that middle class wages have remained stagnant (at best) since the 1970s while CEO salaries have skyrocketed and the disparity between the haves-and-the-have-nots has increased steadily. Not to mention the trend of the last forty years of privatizing pensions via 401K's, reduction of benefits, etc, despite record corporate profits...

[Nickdfresh]

What is most disturbing to me is half the workers in this country pay no Federal taxes or get a full refund!

People, if you don't pay Federal taxes or YOU get a full refund,YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!

Yeah, if only we had less money from the lower-middle classes in the economy, that would solve everything!

[Seshmeister]

Here use my diagram, I won't look...

[jhale667]

What is most disturbing to me is half the workers in this country pay no Federal taxes or get a full refund!

People, if you don't pay Federal taxes or YOU get a full refund,YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!

How many times do you have to be reminded that you're quoting a bullshit talking point? 48% of workers DON'T MAKE ENOUGH to incur federal tax, you moron...so that "part of the problem" is that they're TOO POOR??

[Nickdfresh]

What is most disturbing to me is half the workers in this country pay no Federal taxes or get a full refund!

People, if you don't pay Federal taxes or YOU get a full refund,YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!

Thirty Companies Paid NO Income Tax

[tbone888]

That's another problem with today's society...everyone worries about what someone has and they dont. That menatlity will drive you crazy. Worry about yourself....not about the neighbors new car and esp someone you dont even know on a yacht or in a penthouse. And, save save save...take it from me, it works.

oh, and btw, if your wages are stagnant, better yourself. Get an education. The days of escalating wages, pensions, etc, for basically non skilled labor, are gone.

[binnie]

Most americans dont approach life the way their parents or people did just 20-30 years ago...lots are living way beyond their means. Spending huge amounts of money, monthly, on unnecessary things like 300 channel cable tv, super hi speed internet and smart phones with 4g internet access, dont lend themselves to saving any money. My parents were born in the middle of the great depression in 1 room houses with dirt floors, no running water and no electricity. Neither had anyting but HS educations and worked retail or tech jobs all their lives. They put 2 kids thru college without taking any loan of any kind. At age 50ish (with both kids out of college), they lived off one of their saleries and saved/invested the other. By their early 60's, they had amassed quite a lot of money. Life is full of decisions...living way beyond your means/and/or living week to week, usually never turns out well. Yes, saving money every week/month isnt fun...but its very possible in any economy. It all depends if you want to do it.

There's a lot of truth here. The problem however is that in a modern western economy selling people shit they don't need it a big part of the market - people who work in sales sell things to other people who work in sales. Credit and things we don't really need are what sustain economies in an era where manufacture has moved elsewhere.

[FORD]

Most americans dont approach life the way their parents or people did just 20-30 years ago...lots are living way beyond their means. Spending huge amounts of money, monthly, on unnecessary things like 300 channel cable tv, super hi speed internet and smart phones with 4g internet access, dont lend themselves to saving any money.

OK, I'm with you on the 300 channels of cable TV. Especially during the summer months, when NOTHING is on, with the exception of the USA Channel, and maybe a couple shows on TNT or whatever.

But without either high speed internet or a 4G mobile connection, how the Hell would you get to this website?

Dial-up? Sorry... tried that from my technophobic parents' house. It ain't happening. (They don't use it for much other than e-mail, so it works for them, but even routine attachments are a pain in the ass.)

(Not to mention I need that broadband to download what little TV I watch without subscribing to 300 channels of bullshit)

[jhale667]

Seriously...how does anyone not living in a cave - or a VAN BY THE RIVER - function w/o internet access and a smart phone?

[DONNIEP]

Without the internet where would you get your pron??? Pay for it? No fuckin' way man...

[FORD]

Seriously...how does anyone not living in a cave - or a VAN BY THE RIVER - function w/o internet access and a smart phone?

Hell, even ELVIS has an IPhone, and he lives here.....

[jhale667]

Without the internet where would you get your pron??? Pay for it? No fuckin' way man...

I mean, besides that... emails from/for work, gps to find places on the fly...