Does the United States need a maximum wage as well as a minimum wage?

1. 64

   Ralph Deedsposted 12 years ago

   Does the United States need a maximum wage as well as a minimum wage?
   
   In response to a huge increase in inequality of income and wealth a movement has begun in support of establishing a maximum wage. CEOs would be limited to a specified multiple of the company's worker pay.  Barclay's bank CEO pay has gone from 13x average worker pay in 1980 to 169x the worker average today. Seems to me that this would be a simple and direct approach to dealing with the inequality that is causing many to lose faith in our democratic free enterprise system.  Dodd-Frank contains a provision which requires public corporations to reveal their CEO-median worker pay ratios every year.

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2. 66

   xethonxqposted 12 years ago

   They certainly need a maximum wage for public employees...specifically politicians.
   
   The minimum wage, by the way, is a joke. No possible way someone can live on it in this day and age.

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3. 66

   mkottposted 12 years ago

   I used to work for Target and a few years ago they got a new CEO and two years later, his pay, bonuses, etc went up 100%.  The ratio is 1260:1 and that is figuring a 5 year, full time Target employee .  I just saw a statistic that the ratio here in the US is 450:1 but as you can see there are some companies were the numbers are very high.  We rank as one of the worst when it comes to this.  I do not remember all the numbers but I think France was like 90:1 and they were high compared to other European countries, Asia and the UK.  Japan has a law where a CEO can not make more than 50% of their lowest paid employee. 
    
   Take the Target situation - Steinhafel gets a huge raise but the company lays off employees.  Go figure.  This is happening across the nation and has been for 2 decades.  Average worker's wage has only grown in small amounts for years but those at the top have been greedy with pay increases for themselves.  I would be embarrassed if I made Millions and my lowest paid employee gets food assistance, etc.  Is that not a strain on the country if we don't take care of our own?  If that employee/person needs help from the government to feed their family, we as a nation end up in a no win situation.  Thats incredibly irresponsible on the part of corporations who continually give themselves (CEO, CFO, etc) raises but let their employees wallow in near poverty or in poverty. 
   
   This is only part of the problem of inequality of income.  If you don't make money then you don't go out to dinner, movies, home improvement, vacations, etc, etc, etc.  Now those people that work in those industries start to suffer too.
   
   Catch 22!
   
   I think we as a nation need to do something and maybe this is the answer.  Because the way it has been going isn't working.  Greed is alive and well in the US.

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4. 67

   onegoodwomanposted 12 years ago

   I can see why this might be attractive to the one who provides a basic service:
   
   meter maid
   dry cleaner
   police officer
   telephone operator
   fry cook
   custodial janitor
   plumber............and the list goes on,.,.,.,.
   
   
   
   but I will PAY the surgeon, operating on my heart, lungs, ears, or eyes.......his due worth.
   
   A high school teacher told the class once, and I have never forgotten it:
   
   
   You pay some people for doing, and some for knowing.............
   
   
   The CEO...............it is up to what the market will bear........this is the heart of the capitalistic economy.  ( yes, I find some earnings to be quite disgraceful.)  I am at the lower end of the management hierarchy, what I deal with ( phone calls that interrupt my sleep, my holidays, my haircuts, the arguements ( or the lovemaking) with my hubby.......are intrusive......it must be so much more demanding for the CEO.   He or she is NEVER " off duty"........SOMEONE has the capacity to interrupt their lives 24/7.

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5. 91

   Faceless39posted 12 years ago

   There should be no government intervention in just about anything.  That includes wages.

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6. 60

   Man with opinionsposted 12 years ago

   The United States needs less government intrusion.  The fact that our "poor" have a higher standard of living than 90% of the rest of the planet should be evidence enough that our system has worked well for everyone.
   
   NO amount of planning or regulating or equalizing will ever amount to anything close to the level of success our country has enjoyed, and these fallacies are certainly not among the vision of those who have sacrificed their lives to preserve our freedoms.
   
   I have had many friends and business associates from around the world over the past 20 years.  Unfailingly every time issues of government, free markets and public policy have come up (and due to my ever present curiosity I made it a point to bring them up - especially when getting to know someone of Eastern European descent) they lament that they left their home land due to the severely limited opportunities as a result of decades of social conditioning, limitation of business, "leveling of outcomes", etc.  They come here with great hope and faith in the future and are dismayed to see that we have our country on a path which will only replicate the failures of their former systems.
   
   "To each according to his needs, from each according to his ability"
   
   NOT words I ever indend to live by.
   
   No - we do not need a maximum wage, nor do we need a minimum wage.  Let a truly free market determine a fair value.

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7. 93

   mikejhcaposted 12 years ago

   I do not think there should be a maximum wage and I do not like it when the minimum wage is increased.  When the minimum wage is increased it just causes inflation.  The cost of living increases when the minimum wage is increased.
   
   For the maximum wage some people deserve to get paid a lot of money.  In my opinion it should only be controlled for people that work for the government.  If it is a private business and the business is making a lot of money the money could be divided more evenly so everyone makes a lot of money.  However the employees are not equal in what they contribute.
   
   In most cases the people getting rich are the only reason the other people have jobs.  If you want to get paid more you can start your own business.  You can even pay your employees well but a lot of businesses fail.

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