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

fortune.com

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

#161

Post by danbruc »

gadders wrote: post #160
danbruc wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He will get the same as the others if he works the same number of hours to run the company. The dept would ideally be company debt and not personal dept, after all one reason to found a company is to separate personal and business risks. But if you invest personal money in the company, you get that money back plus some risk and opportunity premium just as you would pay back any other loan. What fraction that is will…

That sounds like an amazing way to stop people taking risks to start companies.

Only people that see businesses primarily as a way to get rich and not as a way to satisfy consumer demand while doing something you like.

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

#162

Post by eudamoniac »

AmVess wrote: post #144
DarkNova6 wrote: post #2

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 really is astounding how bad national brands are. Everything loaded with sugar and salt. Lowest quality ingredients in everything, and I do mean everything. I bought a package of national brand slice turkey. Threw it right away. It was dripping in chlorine. Things like national or regional brand ground beef is vile, and nothing can be done to it to make it edible. I bought a package years ago, grilled up burgers.…

It is not that astounding that the cheapest possible product legally available is not good quality. You are free to pay what UK pays for meat (a lot) and get great product.

I'm not sure what bakeries you're visiting but that's not my experience; there's nothing cheaper than flour and yeast and baking soda. If the bakery bakes things in store, rather than getting shipped in, it's pretty likely to be made with those. Of course if you want to buy the sandwich bread that lasts 4 weeks on the shelf then it's not going to be 2 ingredients.

The rest is just global inflation. EU doesn't have cheaper cocoa or wood pulp imports. Every problem begins with inflation. COVID QE fucked it all up.

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

#163

Post by SideburnsOfDoom »

simianwords wrote: post #154
SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Attempting to use the government to destroy hierarchies is utopian yes, "destroy hierarchies" is utopian. But that's a complete straw man version of "reduce very high levels of inequality that have highly visible political impacts".

Non trivial number of people believe that everyone is equal in abilities. Non trivial number of people believe that communism is a preferable end goal - a goal that excludes hierarchies from forming.

> Non trivial number of people believe that everyone is equal in abilities.

really? Have you ever met anyone like this?

Cool story, but also another straw man - not relevant to the article and to "We should absolutely aim to lower this gap".

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

#164

Post by eudamoniac »

Arodex wrote: post #119
anonym29 wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

CO2 emissions have been consistently declining in both the USA and Europe for over 2 decades now. The bulk of the CO2 increase over that time period comes from China and India. Americans also invented the solar photovoltaic panel. You're welcome. Also, since we're playing this game right now, I'd be remiss to not remind you that American individuals do over an order of magnitude more charitable giving than the entire…

>CO2 emissions have been consistently declining in both the USA and Europe for over 2 decades now. The bulk of the CO2 increase over that time period comes from China and India. Global warming didn't start two weeks ago, nor two decades ago. Most of human generated CO2 and most of the calories accumulated by greenhouse effect are still directly caused by Americans, both in absolute numbers and relative per capita. >A…

The only reason US has more total output than EU, if that's true, is because EU was and is incapable of scaling industry, innovating, creating value, etc, which is why in 2026 they still see a basic AC unit as unaffordable luxury and why we are posting on this American website about American companies all the time.

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

#165

Post by AmVess »

eudamoniac wrote: post #162
AmVess wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It really is astounding how bad national brands are. Everything loaded with sugar and salt. Lowest quality ingredients in everything, and I do mean everything. I bought a package of national brand slice turkey. Threw it right away. It was dripping in chlorine. Things like national or regional brand ground beef is vile, and nothing can be done to it to make it edible. I bought a package years ago, grilled up burgers.…

It is not that astounding that the cheapest possible product legally available is not good quality. You are free to pay what UK pays for meat (a lot) and get great product. I'm not sure what bakeries you're visiting but that's not my experience; there's nothing cheaper than flour and yeast and baking soda. If the bakery bakes things in store, rather than getting shipped in, it's pretty likely to be made with those. O…

[flagged]

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

#166

Post by rjrjrjrj »

anonym29 wrote: post #107
inigyou wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

School shootings in America are not statistically unlikely, they are a regular occurrence.

The odds a child will be killed by an armed assailant at a school in the USA are about 1 in 5 million per year, and if you narrow down to mass shootings at schools, that drops to about 1 in 10 million. Between 2013 and 2022, a total of 77 students in grades K-12 have been killed in 11 school mass shootings, in a country with 50 million school children. A child in America is about 500-600x more likely to die in a car…

A child in America is more likely to die than a child in Europe, Canada, Aus, NZ, ...

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

#167

Post by microtonal »

Arnt wrote: post #25
petcat wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-…

You read that? I can get either in a day or two if I need it, they want much longer-term planning though. For a vaccination I'll call several weeks in advance. If I want an appointment before/after work I'll call well in advance, if I want something tomorrow they may say "11:30, take it out leave it", which isn't great for my work. Don't trust whoever wrote what you read there. FUD scaremongers.

For vaccinations like the flu shot [1], I call them or send them an e-mail and then I can usually come by any morning I like without an appointment (they'll just administer the shot between appointments, since it does not take much time).

When we lived in Germany, we got TBE shots (area with a lot of ticks that carried it). IIRC we could also get an appointment in a few days.

(Though I think with vaccinations it's similar in the US.)

[1] Not eligible yet, so I pay 25 Euro to get one every year. Worth it for not getting the flu.

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

#168

Post by eudamoniac »

dqv wrote: post #123
glimshe wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love suburbia. I grew up in "walkable residential neighborhoods with cafes/restaurants/shops where neighbors interact" outside the US. Thank you, but no thank you. Crowded, nosy judgemental people, noisy and small properties with constant fights with neighbors. You're projecting you personal tastes onto others and thinking everybody else is getting a bad deal.

So the stereotypes are true. My friend in elementary school told an amusing story about his friend, in a Swedish family, who moved from our nice suburb to a suburb in another state, one like the grandparent is describing. They didn't understand why there was such a vast difference between the two. It seemed obvious to me, but I guess it's not obvious to foreigners. You ran right past the GP's statement too: > yet wit…

I'd pick the worst version of suburbia over the best downtown city in the world. I've lived in many of each. Suburbs came into existence for a reason! People like them! I've never been closer to ending it all than when I lived in a Seattle highrise surrounded by bodegas and "things to do".

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

#169

Post by fatbird »

petcat wrote: post #16
DarkNova6 wrote: post #2

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-…

Availability and wait times vary widely by location. I'm on Vancouver Island in a city of 100,000 and can see my PCP and dentist within a week if I want (though for a while, getting a cleaning required making an appointment months out). I've been to the general hospital for three separate procedures in the last six months, each time getting scheduled within two weeks (and each time getting a marvel of efficiency, arriving in the morning and out by lunchtime).

When my brother was in Columbus, OH, (pop. 1.5 million) he got a referral to a neurologist for a pinched nerve in his neck and was scheduled 9 months out. The situations are far too varied for easy generalizations.

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

#170

Post by eudamoniac »

Ekaros wrote: post #57
charcircuit wrote: post #10

>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.

On other hand if you can not afford to pay your employees wages they can survive on you do not deserve to be in business. You should go out and any resources you use should instead be used in way that can reasonably sustain workers.

Ok great. I will stop deserving to be in business, my employees will all lose their jobs and then likely their homes, and this is considered A Good Thing. And no, they won't just go get a higher paying job because if their labor was worth that they'd have done that already.
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