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>There's a bunch of people who want a large income (wealth) disparity Apart form you of course, so I'm sure you'd be ok if the government would tax your higher

>There's a bunch of people who want a large income (wealth) disparity Apart form you of course, so I'm sure you'd be ok if the government would tax your higher than average tech wage till your take home pay would match that of a train conductor's or bus driver's, like in Western Europe, and therefore fix the wage gap you hate so much. Would you like that solution? Caption this: It's only a problem when the people who earn more than me are greedy, but my greed is fine, it's OK for me to out-earn others because "I've earned it", not like Zuckerberg, he didn't earn it.

DanHulton 1y ago
Unless you are yourself a robber baron the likes of Zuck, you should look up this little concept called "class solidarity."
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago
  I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy here of people seeing greed only in those with more income than them but never in themselves when they accept those generous big-tech, big-finance, big-ad-tech, big-4, big-pharma compensation packages from the evil robber barons they claim to hate. If you hate them so much why are you taking their blood money? Also, there is no class solidarity the way you imagine it in your fantasy, because to the average person on the street putting the fries in the bag ac McD, or stacking shelves at Walmart, or tearing down the roads with a jackhammer in the summer heat, the big-tech worker is closer to the robber baron Zuckerberg, than they are to them. So when you get laid off from your big-tech job, they won't have solidarity for you, they might even break a smile, as those spoiled pampered tech worker are brought down from their Kombucha sipping ivory towers. Class solidarity, as seen applied in Europe, means bringing the income of tech workers in line with unskilled labor till everyone is equally lower-middle class, not touching the super wealthy robber barons to contribute more to society, because no society does that, that's just fantasy. Look at the owner of IKEA's complex tax avoidance scheme: https://www.greens-efa.eu/legacy/fileadmin/dam/Documents/Studies/Taxation/Report_IKEA_tax_avoidance_Feb2016.pdf https://www.greens-efa.eu/legacy/fileadmin/dam/Documents/Stu... Do you think he has any class solidarity? He has more in common with Musk, Zuckerberg or XiJinping than with his average Swedish countrymen. The more class solidarity you wish and vote for, the higher the tax burdens will be on skilled and ambitious middle class workers and small businesses, not on Zuckerberg or the elites with inherited wealth. So be careful what you wish for. My country already went through communism once and everyone had enough of "class solidarity" for the next lifetime, but there's always some westerners out there who cling on that "this time it will be different". Sure buddy.
  - einszwei 1y ago
    > the big-tech worker is closer to the robber baron Zuckerberg A big tech worker earning 200k is closer to a minimum wage worker earning 20k per year than Zuckerberg earning 20M per year with net worth of 200B
    - bigfishrunning 1y ago
      Yes, but from the point of view of the minimum wage worker, they don't identify with either the engineer or Zuck, so those two are equivalent.
      - somebehemoth 1y ago
        What now? How would you even begin to know this? It sounds like you are out of touch if you don't think low wage earners can tell the vast difference between normal people and billionaires.
        cwmoore 1y ago
        The tech worker and the billionaire both have enough money. The menial worker does not. See the difference yet?
  - queenkjuul 1y ago
    tech workers are in every literal way closer to construction workers than billionaires, and everyone i know knows it, even the construction workers. Did you know my construction worker friend actually makes as much as i do? Amazing what class solidarity in the form of unions can achieve, eh?
  - queenkjuul 1y ago
    The owner of IKEA is literally in the same class as Zuck lmao what are you even on about
    - bigfishrunning 1y ago
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hnthrow90348765 1y ago
Sure I would, as long as they tax billionaires even more and guarantee it. I do CRUD app development, I'm not even responsible for anything as potentially dangerous as a train. Superintelligence would very likely take my job anyway, so I won't get taxed for long.
benterix 1y ago
> the government would tax your higher than average tech wage till your take home pay would match that of a train conductor's or bus driver's, like in Western Europe I live in Europe and earn ca. 6 times more than my friend who is a bus driver in the same city. We both have access to free education and, if we wish, also free healthcare, for which I am paying slightly more, but I really don't mind.
- Gud 1y ago
  If you earn 6 times more than your friend who is a bus driver, you live in a place that has an unusually high income disparity for Europe.
  - fmobus 1y ago
    Tech worker here, I just looked at my total comp, and it's about 4.5x that of a local bus driver. L+1s are probably getting close to 6x.
    - Gud 1y ago
      What's your location if you don't mind me asking? And did you compare the bus drivers total comp to your total comp? :-)
  - FirmwareBurner 1y ago
    That doesn't scan. In which Western European country is that massive difference? Either you have a FANG wage or your friend has a poverty wage because here's how it's in Austria SW Dev wage 3k net/month, bus driver 2,5k. There's no 6x difference here. So you're proving my point that it works for you when income distribution is not egalitarian because you wouldn't be very happy if you earned the same as your friend.
  - benterix 1y ago
    I have a good job, most of my friends earn, say, 4x bus driver salary.
tanduv 1y ago
perhaps we can create a sort of a bracket that scales based on the income?
queenkjuul 1y ago
I could comfortably live on a bus drivers wage here, obviously I'd prefer they make as much as tech workers, given their job is much harder; your solution is fine with me too, though.
blinkbat 1y ago
there's a cap on the bracket around 600k. there are people who make many times this and their percentage owed does not go up. they are also uniquely positioned to avoid paying what low comparative amount they owe. let's start there.
antfarm 1y ago
I believe that in the long run, that solution would be preferable to the effects of income and wealth disparity on US society.
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago
  And who's gonna want to do complex skilled jobs then if you pay them poorly?
  - insane_dreamer 1y ago
    False dichotomy. Reducing inequality doesn't mean people doing complex skilled jobs should be paid poorly.

DanHulton 1y ago

Unless you are yourself a robber baron the likes of Zuck, you should look up this little concept called "class solidarity."

FirmwareBurner 1y ago
I'm just pointing out the hypocrisy here of people seeing greed only in those with more income than them but never in themselves when they accept those generous big-tech, big-finance, big-ad-tech, big-4, big-pharma compensation packages from the evil robber barons they claim to hate. If you hate them so much why are you taking their blood money? Also, there is no class solidarity the way you imagine it in your fantasy, because to the average person on the street putting the fries in the bag ac McD, or stacking shelves at Walmart, or tearing down the roads with a jackhammer in the summer heat, the big-tech worker is closer to the robber baron Zuckerberg, than they are to them. So when you get laid off from your big-tech job, they won't have solidarity for you, they might even break a smile, as those spoiled pampered tech worker are brought down from their Kombucha sipping ivory towers. Class solidarity, as seen applied in Europe, means bringing the income of tech workers in line with unskilled labor till everyone is equally lower-middle class, not touching the super wealthy robber barons to contribute more to society, because no society does that, that's just fantasy. Look at the owner of IKEA's complex tax avoidance scheme: https://www.greens-efa.eu/legacy/fileadmin/dam/Documents/Studies/Taxation/Report_IKEA_tax_avoidance_Feb2016.pdf https://www.greens-efa.eu/legacy/fileadmin/dam/Documents/Stu... Do you think he has any class solidarity? He has more in common with Musk, Zuckerberg or XiJinping than with his average Swedish countrymen. The more class solidarity you wish and vote for, the higher the tax burdens will be on skilled and ambitious middle class workers and small businesses, not on Zuckerberg or the elites with inherited wealth. So be careful what you wish for. My country already went through communism once and everyone had enough of "class solidarity" for the next lifetime, but there's always some westerners out there who cling on that "this time it will be different". Sure buddy.
- einszwei 1y ago
  > the big-tech worker is closer to the robber baron Zuckerberg A big tech worker earning 200k is closer to a minimum wage worker earning 20k per year than Zuckerberg earning 20M per year with net worth of 200B
  - bigfishrunning 1y ago
    Yes, but from the point of view of the minimum wage worker, they don't identify with either the engineer or Zuck, so those two are equivalent.
    - somebehemoth 1y ago
      What now? How would you even begin to know this? It sounds like you are out of touch if you don't think low wage earners can tell the vast difference between normal people and billionaires.
      - cwmoore 1y ago
        The tech worker and the billionaire both have enough money. The menial worker does not. See the difference yet?
- queenkjuul 1y ago
  tech workers are in every literal way closer to construction workers than billionaires, and everyone i know knows it, even the construction workers. Did you know my construction worker friend actually makes as much as i do? Amazing what class solidarity in the form of unions can achieve, eh?
- queenkjuul 1y ago
  The owner of IKEA is literally in the same class as Zuck lmao what are you even on about
  - bigfishrunning 1y ago
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hnthrow90348765 1y ago

Sure I would, as long as they tax billionaires even more and guarantee it. I do CRUD app development, I'm not even responsible for anything as potentially dangerous as a train. Superintelligence would very likely take my job anyway, so I won't get taxed for long.

benterix 1y ago

> the government would tax your higher than average tech wage till your take home pay would match that of a train conductor's or bus driver's, like in Western Europe I live in Europe and earn ca. 6 times more than my friend who is a bus driver in the same city. We both have access to free education and, if we wish, also free healthcare, for which I am paying slightly more, but I really don't mind.

Gud 1y ago
If you earn 6 times more than your friend who is a bus driver, you live in a place that has an unusually high income disparity for Europe.
- fmobus 1y ago
  Tech worker here, I just looked at my total comp, and it's about 4.5x that of a local bus driver. L+1s are probably getting close to 6x.
  - Gud 1y ago
    What's your location if you don't mind me asking? And did you compare the bus drivers total comp to your total comp? :-)
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago
  That doesn't scan. In which Western European country is that massive difference? Either you have a FANG wage or your friend has a poverty wage because here's how it's in Austria SW Dev wage 3k net/month, bus driver 2,5k. There's no 6x difference here. So you're proving my point that it works for you when income distribution is not egalitarian because you wouldn't be very happy if you earned the same as your friend.
- benterix 1y ago
  I have a good job, most of my friends earn, say, 4x bus driver salary.

tanduv 1y ago

perhaps we can create a sort of a bracket that scales based on the income?

queenkjuul 1y ago

I could comfortably live on a bus drivers wage here, obviously I'd prefer they make as much as tech workers, given their job is much harder; your solution is fine with me too, though.

blinkbat 1y ago

there's a cap on the bracket around 600k. there are people who make many times this and their percentage owed does not go up. they are also uniquely positioned to avoid paying what low comparative amount they owe. let's start there.

antfarm 1y ago

I believe that in the long run, that solution would be preferable to the effects of income and wealth disparity on US society.

FirmwareBurner 1y ago
And who's gonna want to do complex skilled jobs then if you pay them poorly?
- insane_dreamer 1y ago
  False dichotomy. Reducing inequality doesn't mean people doing complex skilled jobs should be paid poorly.