| The Fury said: ... First of all @ soleron... You mentioned about a 22k wage person does not deserve the standard of living of a 40k wage person? I feel I deserve a better standard of living then a lot of people at my work for earning more then me because I do infact work harder then them. I'm a skilled labourer new(ish) to the job, does it mean I work less or not as hard as them? feck no looking at my overtime. They've just been here longer. But that is personal circumstances, there are many people out there that have worked hard in their life and earn wages that make sense to that. ... |
You are perhaps working more hours than others, but you are less valuable, more replaceable (greater percentage of population could do your job), your decisions count for less and affect less, you make more mistakes than them (on average, I mean, not specific to you. Newer people take more resources and make more mistakes when accomplishing tasks) and the company wants to keep them working for them more than you. So, yes, you deserve a lower standard of living than someone earrning more. Thinking otherwise is just envy because you're not as economically valuable as them but you want what they have.
The free market is the best tool we have found for improving human standard of living. Therefore if it values one person more highly they deserve a better standard of living as they are contributing more to the economy in general. There are cases of unfairness and imbalance, but that's mostly due to artificial restrictions on the free market (lack of transparency, existence of public sector workers, nepotism/corruption) all of which could be solved by removing regulation and forcing companies to be more accountable for poor decisions by not bailing them out.
That's what I believe, anyway. Too bad no party is free-market enough for me to vote for them. Not even the ultra-right-wingers.
--
@kowenicki
I agree. Everyone who is capable enough should have the opportunity (i.e. tuition paid if they absolutely can't afford it; current grants are far too high and give them a higher standard of uni living than the 30k+ earners, which is ridiculous.). But many people do not require a university education for the job they are capable of. These people should be found more appropriate education paths (e.g. apprenticeships instead of A-levels). That isn't discriminating against them because people are suited to different things, and you can earn more being a tradesman than a businessman or academic.
Pretending everyone is academically gifted enough to go to uni is ridiculous. Most of them take pointless degrees (Psychology or Media Studies*) and their final job ends up not even needing a degree or anything in that subject. They've just wasted 4 years where they could have been economically active, paying taxes and progressing in a career.
*It is possible to study these seriously of course. But most courses called this at low-tier universities are just jokes.
