Paycheck comparison,

Taxing the wealthy seems like a really good idea. After all, they can afford it. A person making $200,000 per year is getting paid $100 an hour for an 8 hour shift. Not many people I know make that much money, so they should be able to give up some for the little guy who makes minimum wage.

Here is the problem that I have, we shall use a doctor for an example. He makes $100 an hour after he pays his bills (Rent, malpractice insurance, supplies, office salary…etc.) Now, contrast that with the middle income blue collar construction worker that pulls in $20 an hour. (Approximately $40,000 annually)

We have a huge difference in salary, but we also have a huge difference in effort. The guy on the construction site worked for 5 years as an apprentice making $12 an hour, he has to pay the $.50 a day union wage, he works outside 320 days a year, and during this tough economy he can’t find work.

The doctor on the other hand works in a nice air conditioned office. He graduated top of his high school class by not going to parties and giving up his extracurricular activities, then went through four years of undergraduate pre-med school, MCAT Tests then another four years of medical school, worked unpaid for 9 years in a hospital as an intern on 36 hour shifts and then training as a specialist, one mistake can ruin his career and when he makes a major error, someone dies.

The level of work put into getting the job is nowhere near the same, the stress is nowhere near the same, why should the pay be anywhere near the same.

There was a saying at my lemonade stand when I was a kid:

I make the lemonade,

I keep the money.