(urth) Gene Wolfe Fans Talk Politics (Again)
Adam Thornton
adam at io.com
Tue May 19 16:09:17 PDT 2009
On May 19, 2009, at 5:06 PM, James Wynn wrote:
> Marginal value decreases for whom? Not to the people who work to
> earn it.
That's exactly what I was saying: for the people who work to earn it.
At least, for *me*.
I was arguing from my own experience: the marginal value of the
$30,000 between an income of $30K and $60K was much, much less than of
the $15,000 between $15K and $30K.
> You're argument divorces the amount of money made from the people
> who created it.
Well, in my case, yeah, it's the same guy. Modulo Heraclitus and
stuff. So that factor is controlled for.
> It assumes that a guy making $25K a year is exactly like the guy
> making $250K a year except that one happens to make less.
Yes and no. I mean, sure, there is a reason I eventually started
getting paid more money: I was doing jobs that required skills that
were rarer, or at least more valued by the people willing to employ
me, and I had acquired those skills through experience and training.
But on the other hand, I'm still in some important sense the me I was
twenty years ago.
But I'm not arguing that I shouldn't be making more money; I'm arguing
that taxation taking 25% of the $60,000 of the top-earning me in my
example hurts a lot less than taking 15% of the $15,000 I was making
as low-earning me. (Now, to be fair, I am nowhere near sure these
represent even approximate actual tax rates when those were about my
income levels, and I'm not about to go digging through my tax records
to find out.)
> It ignores the risks the second guy took in capital, time, and
> effort in order to create that wealth.
How so? Those risks are compensated in the increased pay, aren't
they? I mean, by your argument, I should be doing four times the work
to generate four times the income, right? I'm certainly not. My job
now is *much* more interesting and much less unpleasant than when I
was making crap wages. Jobs that involve serious physical labor--and
are thus, in many senses, the hardest--tend to also be at the bottom
of the pay scale. And sure, it took a lot of time and learning to get
here, but the time spent *still* beat digging ditches.
> It also ignores the fact that the first guy gets far more BENEFIT
> from non-essential government services that the second guy.
Some more, sure: I rode a lot more public transport when I was poorer
than I do now. Far more, not so sure. I probably walk or ride a bike
around in public parks *more* now since--again, in my experience--
higher-paying jobs tend to come with more flexible schedules. There
are a lot of nonessential services I don't use, and never did, but I
don't begrudge the fact that I'm funding them: some people DO get
value out of their services and there's value to me in those people
being happier.
> Some would say the differences therefore balance out so that both
> should pay the same rate.
And I don't.
Should Moe pay for half the well? I don't know. What's the benefit
to him of building the well at all? What are the downsides to him if
the well is not built? Should the well's costs be recouped through a
per-liter charge on its usage, with the costs repaid to the financiers
of the project, or is it actually going to be presented as a common
good? If the latter, how much does Moe value his participation in the
society that he and his neighbors constitute? If the answer is "not
that much," does he get to be sad if he then has to provide his own
fire protection if he withdraws from their society?
Adam
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