this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2024
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40 million is about 20 lifetimes.
The thing about lifetimes is you don't need more than one. And surgeons/engineers aren't making 40 million. You certainly don't need that much money to motivate a professional class. Even if money was such a motivator.
There's no reason for anyone to have more than a few million dollars at their command.
That's true. I'm just ballparking numbers and gave surgeons/engineers as an example of what I consider difficult, valuable jobs (as far as education etc.). I don't think they are the top paid individuals in America by a long shot.
I think a person living with the best society has to offer (big house, multiple cars, a yacht, luxury trips, personal chef, etc) + setting up their kids to succeed (e.g. buying them a house) could spend 40 million in their lifetime . Obviously those aren't necessities, but IMO enjoying the best society can offer is the hallmark of being in the top tier of a system with economic classes. It's definitely just a ballpark, but I think the purchasing power of 40 million in 2024 dollars is a sustainable cap on wealth that would be immensely better for wealth inequality while still allowing the very successful to enjoy the best in life.
I don't disagree a whole lot with what you said, but I think perhaps you are placing caps based on a middle-class life lived according to necessities + some luxuries like yearly vacations. Honest question, not putting words in your mouth I promise - are you expecting absolutely everyone to live a middle-class lifestyle (which I think makes caps on wealth a much harder sell)?
If they're living in a yacht and doing luxury trips then they aren't being professionals. The only group that's incentivized by that level of wealth are the same people who are billionaires now. They will continue to operate in the same way.
I think someone who takes say, a month off per year could still be a professional. Even 2 or 3, which has them working 9 months a year. If you disagree it's not the end of the world. If you have a grounded argument to make in opposition, go for it and I'll listen.
Yes, they will operate in the same way (motivated by money) but they'll do it at a drastically reduced level of societal harm. You come across as someone who isn't greedy, and who understands the concept of "enough" which are admirable qualities I strive for myself - I live on disability payments and largely succeed in being thankful for it. However, making everyone happy with a middle class level of "enough" (i.e. no motivation to succeed beyond that) would require changing the nature of a lot of, perhaps most, human beings IMO. I think it would be a hard sell. Failing to convince at least most people to not strive past middle class living could lead to dissatisfaction, a collapse of the limits we're proposing, and an eventual return to more harmful "norms".