Differential pay

joanna bujes joanna.bujes at ebay.sun.com
Tue Mar 13 10:22:17 PST 2001


It has been my observation that people generally do the best they can with what they've got. To reward some because they're smarter, faster, more attractive than others is the opposite of justice.

As far back as I can remember I have tested in the upper 1% to 5% of the population in "intelligence." School was easy, learning languages was easy, work is easy (I write computer books for engineers). Why should I be rewarded for something that has really nothing to do with me and everything to do with genetics? Why should my genetic inheritance be translated into a moral category? Why is one hour of my life worth more or less than an hour of anyone else's life?

If people are slackers, there's usually a reason for it. Maybe the work isn't worth doing! Maybe the point of life is to live, not work--inasmuch as not working is compatible with life. And, as for providing incentives for "undesirable" work, if work is necessary, people will do it--provided that work is equally shared and there is no stigma attached to doing it.

Why am I supposed to get het up about the fact that my office mate makes a few dollars more or less than me, when my CEO makes five hundred times more than I do? Is there anyone on this email list that thinks he is five hundred times more productive?

Joanna



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