Hard work = $250,000 ?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2006
Hard work = $250,000 ?
376
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?

http://www.princeton.edu/~rbenabou/beliefs7csend.pdf

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2006
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 8:09am

>>we all work hard no matter what we do. <<

Yes, that's my point.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2006
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 8:11am

>>I do know that there has never been harder working employees at the farm. there have been opportunities provided for US citizens to do this same job and not one (in our experience) has worked nearly has hard and as well. <<

Ah. Finally got a chance to re-read your post. Thumbs up!




Edited 10/29/2008 8:14 am ET by nisupulla
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-09-2007
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 8:15am

I work with doctors and nurses day in and day out.

Jess


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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-26-2007
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 8:49am

"Why does it strike me as totally unAmerican to suggest that people deserve their inherited wealth. Am I alone in that?"


I didn't say there was any inherited wealth.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2006
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 9:01am
Are you saying that there are Americans who are in the earlier generations of their family who don't deserve the same opportunities that later familial generations have because the family has done the prerequisite work yet?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-09-2006
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 9:15am

<>

exactly, lol! Without his family connections, he'd just be the creepy alcoholic neighbor.

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2006
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 9:26am
Thanks for the tips!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-26-2007
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 9:27am

No,


I am saying that the family's who have already done that "work" should not be penelized for it and that those families that are in their earlier generations might feel differently when they get to that same point.


iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2006
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 9:32am
BTW, if you bring in the concept of disposable income as I've suggested, a new doctor who has 100,000's in student loans and exorbitant malpractice insurance doesn't really have much.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 07-11-2006
Wed, 10-29-2008 - 9:40am

http://www.lcurve.org/index.html

At what point on the income curve does the concept of "outlier" come in?

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