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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It's very, very hard to know the truth about how much people donate to charity.
I couldn't find the original article I read on the Swiss tax system.
Then you'll love Obama and Republican Coburn's Google for America which addresses your concern for transparency reform in government spending.
I don't know if
<< you have no idea how hard i have worked to get here>>
And you have no idea what I went thru either to get my grad degree.
There is a huge difference between an annual income of 250K and a purchasing a 250K property.
>>Budgeting and sacrifice are just semantics IMO<<
Exactly. For a person with some disposable income "budgeting and sacrifice" is like rearranging or establishing priorities. For those who are scraping by (lets say the bottom fifth of the income bracket "budgeting and sacrifice" are not semantics - it's closer to surviving. When you can figure out a way to live off 8K a year, getting 250K IS like winning the lottery.
Whether an annual income qualifies someone for the label "rich" or "wealthy" has no relevance to me. As a pp said, the bottom line is anyone with an income of 250K is in the highest income level in the country and makes disproportionately more then the vast majority of other Americans.
I'd be more than happy if everyone paid the same amount in taxes.
Right now more than 1/3 of people pay no income taxes.
The very idea that "Budgeting and sacrifice are just semantics IMO" makes me so mad I can't express it.
I don't think we need to use the wealth tax as Trump proposed, but I do like how he thinks outside the box.
>>>>>"Cute and completely relevant.
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