Wealth inequity, and unfair compensation, how you handle being cheated?

[Doctor Amadeus]

I know it is old, but whenever I think about the human conditioning and how people deal with what is fair and what isn't think back to this experiment, and it really does make me laugh a bit to this day. It also kind of makes me laugh the monkey is a female, and smart enough to figure out she is getting screwed over very smart girl.

[Spectral]

I feel I'm compensated fairly.

While I understand the angry reactions people have to perceived unfairness, I think many people's sense of fairness is downright absurd.

[Doctor Amadeus]

I feel I'm compensated fairly.

While I understand the angry reactions people have to perceived unfairness, I think many people's sense of fairness is downright absurd.

Yeah, but that is just the thing right objectively as long as a person is sitting in the life boats far away from the titanic sinking, it's pretty easy to make that kind of judgement about others.

[Deleted]

I aspire to master stoicism (decide how things affect me) and emotional control.
I had already come to conclusion that there are forces out there in the world that are outside my influence. Those forces are selfish in nature and as such, they act accordingly. I know this because if situations were reversed I would very much do the same.

Awareness of this make me ask the following questions:

"Is there a place on this planet where forces of selfishness are less powerful?" The answer is Yes.
"Am I physically capable of changing my current place of residence to reach those places?" The answer is Yes.
"Is it worthwhile in terms of time/energy/money to make this change?" The answer is Yes.
"Am I willing to do it for my own betterment?" The answer is Yes.

So I did it.

[Deleted]

So I did it.

And where is such place?

[Deleted]

And where is such place?

Moved from Poland to United Kingdom. Best decision I had made up untill now through my young unexperienced life.

Initially worked as your typical agency whore 6 days a week, making £220/week post tax while sharing a room with 3 people.

Kept on going like this for 1 year constantly looking for an opening all while going an extra mile and always asking if I could do more at work. One day one of managers came along and asked if I were willing to recieve loading training in order to go to goods-out department if needed. I said "yes". Sometime later there were opening directly for the company itself and I applied. Got taken in due to extra qualifications. Here I am now:

Working directly under the same company and doing the same job for 5 days a week, making £287/week post tax while sharing a 2 room apartment with 1 person.

Lesson I learned:
You will start at the bottom like everyone else. You'll crawl your way up or give up and start at the bottom somewhere else.

[oplawlz]

Life isn't fair.

[Deleted]

Moved from Poland to United Kingdom. Best decision I had made up untill now through my young unexperienced life.

Initially worked as your typical agency whore 6 days a week, making £220/week post tax while sharing a room with 3 people.

Kept on going like this for 1 year constantly looking for an opening all while going an extra mile and always asking if I could do more at work. One day one of managers came along and asked if I were willing to recieve loading training in order to go to goods-out department if needed. I said "yes". Sometime later there were opening directly for the company itself and I applied. Got taken in due to extra qualifications. Here I am now:

Working directly under the same company and doing the same job for 5 days a week, making £287/week post tax while sharing a 2 room apartment with 1 person.

Lesson I learned:
You will start at the bottom like everyone else. You'll crawl your way up or give up and start at the bottom somewhere else.

Ummm... Those numbers you just quoted as wages are straight up illegal here in the UK assuming you're working full time.

Right now minimum wage is £6.70ph, rising to £7.20 this April and £9 before 2020z

If someone is paying you £287 they're taking huge advantage of you, that's around £10k per year in a nation where the median wage is £26500

[Nadiru]

Ummm... Those numbers you just quoted as wages are straight up illegal here in the UK assuming you're working full time.

Right now minimum wage is £6.70ph, rising to £7.20 this April and £9 before 2020z

If someone is paying you £287 they're taking huge advantage of you, that's around £10k per year in a nation where the median wage is £26500

Immigration 101: It only happens if someone's making money off of it.

[fengosa]

I feel I'm compensated fairly.

While I understand the angry reactions people have to perceived unfairness, I think many people's sense of fairness is downright absurd.

What's your take on the large amount of Walmart and McDonald's employees relying on government aid? Any reason why the tax payers should be subsidizing employees for those companies?

[Nadiru]

What's your take on the large amount of Walmart and McDonald's employees relying on government aid? Any reason why the tax payers should be subsidizing employees for those companies?

Taxpayers subsidize low-income labor as a general rule of industrialized society.

[Spectral]

What's your take on the large amount of Walmart and McDonald's employees relying on government aid? Any reason why the tax payers should be subsidizing employees for those companies?

I don't care very much whether I'm required to subsidize them via welfare or via minimum wage. In either case, they'll receive more money to spend than what they've earned from their own skill and effort; I'm fine with that arrangement. I've heard what I'd consider plausible arguments for different models of aid, whether it's increased EITC, a basic income for all, higher minimum wage, or different models of welfare. I'm agnostic about the efficacy of each of these.

My impression from reading a fair number of economists writing about it is that high minimum wages reshape the labor market's participants (although do not generally decrease employment-population ratio much); whether that's desirable or not isn't really an empirical question, but one of values. My general inclination is to aid the working class by direct subsidy rather than through minimum wage, but I'm not particularly wedded to the position.

[Deleted]

Ummm... Those numbers you just quoted as wages are straight up illegal here in the UK assuming you're working full time.

Right now minimum wage is £6.70ph, rising to £7.20 this April and £9 before 2020z

If someone is paying you £287 they're taking huge advantage of you, that's around £10k per year in a nation where the median wage is £26500

As I mentioned: POST TAX.
I may have forgotten to mention that I'm not being paid when I swipe for lunch brakes.
So to clarify:

8 hours a day - 30 minutes lunch break which goes unpaid = 7,5 hour paid daily
7,5 hour x 5 days a week = 37,5 hour paid a week
37,5 x 4 weeks = 150 hours
150 hours x £8,67 = £1300 BEFORE TAXES

After taxes I'm left with £1150
£1150 / 4 = £287

Hope everything is clear now.

[Ghostpanther]

I do not feel cheated. I feel blessed. I was born into a very poor situation and after I grew old enough to do something about it, I did. A person is going to be faced with choices in life and how you react will have a bearing on how happy you will be. Never be jealous will help a lot toward the goal of happiness. I refuse to be a monkey in a cage with no choice.

[Fenixdown]

I voted other. The comment I'm writing is that I don't give a fuck about it.

[Deleted]

Bad choices.

I dont generally play by the rules as life isnt really based on them. There is really only can and can not. Feeling entitled and whining achieves much less than just playing around it. Being paid less than my co-workers for doing the same thing.. thats a problem. People not handing you free stuff however is an entitlement issue.

[Captain N]

I don't feel like I'm being cheated at all. Collective Bargaining has proven to be quite advantageous to me both in terms of my paycheck and the cost of my medical insurance.

As for the poster above me, not everyone who ends up in low-paying jobs is there due to bad choices. I happen to believe that most workers are woefully underpaid for what they do and to kiss the ass of big business because you're doing slightly better than the girl that gives you your morning coffee is pretty pathetic.