Hard work = $250,000 ?
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| Fri, 10-24-2008 - 9:07am |
I’ve read repeatedly that the $250,000 is hard earned money that the government has no right to tax. Personally, I don’t believe that hard work consistently results in high salaries and I’m not convinced that people who make more money work harder or deserve more than most people. Most people, I believe, do work hard and most people are rewarded with 25,000 – 45,000 salary. Not all some hard workers make more and some make less. What do you think? Is the Just World view valid?
http://www.princeton.edu/~rbenabou/beliefs7csend.pdf
most people have a strong need to believe that they live in a world that is just, in the sense that people generally get what they deserve, and deserve what they get. When confronted with data that contradicts this view they try hard to ignore, reinterpret, distort, or forget it —for instance by finding imaginary merits to the recipients of fortuitous rewards, or assigning blame to innocent victims.
Because of their imperfect willpower, individuals constantly strive to motivate themselves (or their children) towards effort, educational investment, perseverance in the face of adversity, and away from the slippery slope of idleness, welfare dependency, crime, drugs, etc. This is another recurrent finding from the sociological evidence. In such circumstances, maintaining somewhat rosy beliefs about the fact that everyone will ultimately get their “just deserts” can be very valuable. Furthermore, if enough individuals end up with the view that economic success is highly dependent on effort, they will ultimately represent a pivotal voting block, and set a low tax rate. Conversely, when individuals anticipate that society will carry out little redistribution, the costs of a deficient motivation to effort or savings are much higher than with high taxes and
a generous safety net. Each individual thus has greater incentives to maintain his belief that effort ultimately pays, and consequently more voters end up with such a world view.
For instance, data from the World Values Survey shows that only 29% of Americans believe that the poor are trapped in poverty, and only 30% that luck, rather than effort or education, determines income. The figures for Europeans are nearly double: 60% and 54% respectively. Similarly, Americans are more than twice as likely as Europeans to think that the poor are lazy (60% versus 26%).
Indeed, 59% of Americans agree or strongly agree that “in the long run, hard work usually brings a better life”; this view commands much less support in Europe, ranging from 34% in Sweden to 43% in Germany.
Is the “American dream,” according to our theory, just a self-sustaining collective illusion?


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What I'm having trouble with is voters' lack of information about McCain helping those who do not work.
Actually, being a GOOD financial advisor is hard work - and incredibly stressful. I know, my DH
I think the more you
Thanks a lot for this!
I've been trying to make this point and you just made it even better. If you really believe its all just hard work that determines earning, then of course you will think of graduated tax scales and welfare programs as unfair and disrupting the "natural order". But that belief is faulty. Lots of different factors influence wealth. Hard work is one factor, but their are so many others that independently come into play, like gender, race, what college you attended, whether you inherited family wealth that could be used to invest or start a business, etc.
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REALLY!? someone ("repeatedly")said that the $250,000 should not be taxed at all!? outrageous! where?
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a while back, we had this discussion, and came to the conclusion, that maybe all hard work doesn't equate with high pay...however, if you flip it (which is actually more relevant), high pay came from hard work or high risks / sacrifices.
-Kristen
-Kristen
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-Kristen
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ok, that's fine and all, but we are discussing the presidential candidates....and thier proposals....
we can agree that not everyone is born into fortunate situations.....no one will ever fix that...
the issue that is more relevant is if you were to flip it, and say...those making $250K...did they get it with hard work / sacrifice / risk?.....that is the real question, and
-Kristen
Ok,
I'm going to go out on a limb here, maybe if you have an open mind you will see what I am trying to say.
Hard Work can mean many different things to many different people, but one other thing is that Hard Work and it's rewards can be many generations in the making.
Example:
A young Italian boy who comes from a family of sheep herders
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