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America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

fortune.com

11–20 of 238 posts

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#11
This is a weird number.

And reeks of the same sort of reallocation fallacy that makes people think the rich making too much makes them poor.

If we really just say 4xd everyone’s salary in America. Prices are gonna rapidly rise in everything.

Things don’t get materially better unless we build the material things we need. We need to come up with a way to build more houses. Lower the cost of healthcare. Not just increase everyone’s money supply.

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#12
> America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

The US consistently scores among the best countries in the world for paying people [0]. Is there some way I can lodge an application to be exploited in a similar manner, without having to move there? Being wealthy and having to live among really wealthy people sounds better than being poor and living among equals.

They're inventing a metric there that just doesn't matter.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#13
post #3

> We measure resources by using per capita gross domestic product – the amount of money in a country evenly divided among its entire population. GDP is not "the amount of money in a country". GDP is the monetary value of goods and services produced within a country during a given period (a flow, measured in dollars-per-year). The amount of money in a country is a measure at a point in a time (a stock, measured in dol…

That text is linked to a graph where the X axis is years.

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#14
post #6
post #3

> We measure resources by using per capita gross domestic product – the amount of money in a country evenly divided among its entire population. GDP is not "the amount of money in a country". GDP is the monetary value of goods and services produced within a country during a given period (a flow, measured in dollars-per-year). The amount of money in a country is a measure at a point in a time (a stock, measured in dol…

it's not that either. it's the total value of all transactions. if you paint a masterpiece worth millions and keep it in your closet it has negligible impact on GDP. only once it is sold does it have an effect.

And on the contrary, there’s this method of increasing GDP.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37395566

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#15

As somebody living outside the US, I would find moving to the states highly undesirable even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens. To me, it would mean a significant reduction in quality of live and I am low-key scared of all the ingredients and additives in food that are pretty much banned everywhere else. Not to mention all risks regarding healthcare.

> even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens.

The US welcomes more people legally than any other country in the world[0], and half of its politicians think welcoming illegal immigrants is a good idea too.

[0] https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/migration?tab=line&coun...

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#16

As somebody living outside the US, I would find moving to the states highly undesirable even if it wasn't for the hostility towards non-US citizens. To me, it would mean a significant reduction in quality of live and I am low-key scared of all the ingredients and additives in food that are pretty much banned everywhere else. Not to mention all risks regarding healthcare.

It very much depends on life situation. For instance, if you are less than 50 and on private health care through your employer than you're very likely going to have better healthcare access than anywhere in Europe and Canada.

I am able to see my PCP and dentist within a week if I want. I read a statistic that in Europe and Canada you have to make those kinds of routine appointments months in advance.

Also, my father-in-law went from consultation to a full knee replacement surgery within 3 weeks. Again, that kind of thing takes 8 months or a year minimum anywhere in Europe or Canada.

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#19

As if workers got paid by "what $wealth allows". As if there was a "right to dignified work" (what is "dignified"?). As if there was a "right to fair income" (whats "fair"?). This is, in the immortal words of Norm McDonald, some "commie gobbledygook". I don't think there is any "newspaper", as in traditional print publication, left worth reading.

After all of that, you still seem to be familiar with the concept of "fairness". And yet you feel you shouldn't try anything because you don't have the perfect universal answer... are you sure you're posting on the correct forum?

Re: America pays workers just 27% of what its wealth allows – the worst in the OECD

#20

>If the U.S. changed some policies – such as increasing the federal minimum wage – 46 million people could earn enough to rise above that fair pay line. You can't just raise minimum wage and expect people to make more money since businesses need to fire everyone who aren't worth the new minimum wage and then those newly unemployed people will depress wages for other jobs since there is more labor on the supply side.

Check out https://arindube.substack.com/p/a-minimum-wage-natural-exper..., very good post comparing states with minimum wage and without, that seem to go against this often repeated argument.
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