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[-] BigMacHole@thelemmy.club 20 points 1 day ago

I can't WAIT to VOTE him OUT so we can have a Politician who TAKES all our Tax Dollars for THEMSELVES instead of Spending it on US!

-Republicans LITERALLY!

[-] SabinStargem@lemmy.today 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 23 hours ago)

Personally, I think the implementation of work and money are highly flawed. As it is, we get employers able to perform casual wage theft, employers deciding what pay people should get, said employers getting +500% of an middle manager's income, stocks and bonds distort the reality of money into something not connected to actual output, and more.

It is my belief that we should create a formal system explictly designed to create and fix expectations for what work pays.

Assuming we toss out existing currency and practices, here is the general shape of what I propose:

0000000

  • All citizens receive a basic annual Universal Income. $10,000 dollars, no strings attached.

  • All people in the nation receive Universal Services. Free food, basic shelter, free fuel and utilities, free electric kei car & bike, basic mattress, free healthcare, and so on. The government gives free basic goods and services to citizens, migrants, and visitors.

  • Money is used to pay for upgrading living standards. That means a bigger house, brand-name items, fancier restaurant meals, ect.

  • The government has a job department that assesses and posts information for available jobs. The purpose of this department is to ensure that companies cannot create 'ghost jobs', ensuring migrants are not being exploited, and so on.

  • Jobs replace the Universal Income with an increased income. Each job type falls into a ranked category. The amount of education, difficulty, and risk of the job determines the rank of a job.

  • There is a fixed maximum of days and hours worked for workers at each job. Further, workers can only hold one job at a time. This prevents executives from holding numerous positions, prevents part-timing exploits by employers, ensures workers have time for themselves, and makes it easier to fix income levels.

  • Leadership roles have their pay rank determined by workers, the workers use voting to decide who has the leadership role, and assign the pay rank. Every 3 months, workers can vote on leadership. If fired or leaving the company, workers retain voting rights for a full year.

  • Student education is treated as a job. Depending on grades, they get $10,000 to $20,000 a year. This rewards learning, and prevents students from being drowned by debt.

  • Entry level jobs have a fixed income of $40,000 dollars each year. Workers nor employers can change the level of income, that is determined by a government board of labor that regulates the job's income rank.

  • There are four ranks of job income, starting with the entry level: $40k, $60k, $80k, and $100,000. By fixing income levels like this, it makes it harder for employers to commit wage theft, and the overall economy cannot inflate nor deflate much, because there are fewer distortions of income. It is easier for everyone, be it the IRS or a family farm, to assess how much money that people are likely to have on hand.

  • Absolute caps on wealth and assets. A citizen has $100,000 for money and owned assets respectively for $200k total, a migrant has $100k total, and non-residents of the land only up to $50k. This means that someone living in Russia can't hold as much land or the like. Anyone exceeding the caps, have the excess 100% taxed.

  • Companies also get caps, based on employee headcount and the income ranks of said employees. Companies that use AI can artificially increase their employee payroll metrics, by paying into an income lotto that is used by government to pay incomes to people whose jobs have been displaced by AI. Companies that exceed their wealth and asset caps, have 100% of the excess taxed.

  • Assorted systems to keep corporations and individuals honest. The local and national government assigns rotating book keepers to companies, so that corporations can't hide their assets or avoid taxation.

00000

There is more to it all, but that threatens to become a wall of text. Maybe another day, if people are interested in weird nuts and bolts. The important thing, is that we should make it easy to understand the wealth levels that people and companies are supposed to have.

[-] cattywampas@lemmy.world 235 points 2 days ago

"I just haven't knocked on anyone's door in New York City and they've said their concern is that the mayor makes too little," Mamdani said.

Common Mamdani W

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[-] Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works 39 points 1 day ago

I dunno, maybe we need to amend Article II, Section 1, Clause 5.

This guy would make a genuinely fucking amazing POTUS.

[-] switcheroo@lemmy.world 182 points 2 days ago

Why is this guy so great???

He is exactly what this country needs right now. We need more progressives to follow in his steps. Maybe one state at a time we can make this place NOT a shithole anymore.

[-] GhostFace@lemmy.today 4 points 1 day ago

I wouldn't call him great.

What he's doing is what should be normal. It just seems great because all our politicians are so awful.

[-] dudeface@lemmy.world 81 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

He is just doing things a lot of people would do if they weren’t easily corrupted by money

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[-] Fmstrat@lemmy.world 36 points 1 day ago

To be clear, these raises aren't a bad thing. Mamdani just recognizes he as an individual doesn't need one.

If Mamdani signs the bill, it would mark the first City Council raise since 2016.

The pay raises were recommended by a commission appointed by Mamdani earlier this year.

[-] BillyClark@piefed.social 55 points 1 day ago

In fact, it is dangerous to pay politicians too little. When a person has power but the pay is too little, that person has a strong incentive to make up the difference through corruption.

[-] benjirenji@slrpnk.net 26 points 1 day ago

Good thing then Americans voted for an incorruptible billionaire for president.

Sorry for the snark. It's of course accurate that it's easier to bribe people when they make little money through honest means.

In the Roman Republic, it was understood that officials needed to line their pockets as much and as quickly as possible during their limited time in office. This is why term limits are also bad when combined with low pay.

[-] Phil_in_here@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 day ago

Or we could try more strict anti-corruption checks and balances with real, tangible consequences.

[-] Soleos@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Yes that is how you get to modern US pre-Trump. There's still corruption, it's more hidden, and managed enough that the less marginalized middle/upper class have relative safety/stability. Compare that to the other large economies, it was doing retty well for its size, and certainly much better than centuries past.

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[-] Revolver1864@piefed.social 7 points 1 day ago

I feel that's more a lack of accountability problem than low pay problem.

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It's both.

I used to be close family friends with a man who is now a Congressman. He was my air conditioning repairman when I was little, and when he moved to DC without the wealth many other politicians had, he had a hard time paying for things like having houses in DC and back in the district.

He ended up doing little favors here and there to help pay rent, and it was a slippery slope to him becoming super corrupt.

We no longer speak.

[-] Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 day ago

There should just be housing in DC for these people. Little apartments to stay at.

[-] zarkony@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 day ago

Something like that might be necessary if we ever get a chance to uncap the house.

[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 9 points 1 day ago

What is this trash article?

It says 18% raise, but from what to what?

From roughly $250k to roughly $300k. So he will continue making just over $250k.

[-] quick_snail@feddit.nl 1 points 1 day ago

Wow, thanks. Definitely doesn't need that much.

[-] mic_check_one_two@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yes and no. People tend to get grumpy about public sector employees making money… But then they simultaneously lament that government is broken and incompetent, because nobody talented wants to work in the public sector. Because why would they, when they can make 5x as much in the private sector?

If you want to attract competent employees, you need to offer competitive rates. Otherwise, you’re asking people to actively sacrifice their own livelihoods. I agree that $250k is plenty in most places, but I also haven’t done the math to see if that is a decent salary for NYC.

If anything, the government paying decent rates will incentivize the private sector to match it as well, which helps every employee. The same way minimum wage is a major market push for increased wages across the board.

[-] thethrilloftime69@feddit.online 34 points 1 day ago

Alhumdullilah how could anyone hate this guy. The hope of America is a Muslim socialist.

[-] DarkFuture@lemmy.world 94 points 2 days ago

This guy is a goddamn angel.

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[-] killea@lemmy.world 55 points 1 day ago

On WABC (AM 770 in my area) they literally tried to put a negative spin on this! Apparently, since he's already a millionaire, he doesn't need it! Evil guy! They even played the clip of him talking about going door to door and no one told him they're concerned the mayor doesn't make enough. Beyond fucking delusional. I turn that shit on when I'm looking for maximum and immediate cognitive dissonance.

[-] Taldan@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago

I have no problem with him getting a raise, he deserves it. Could have made a whole lot more money being corrupt

[-] Pollo_Jack@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago
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this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2026
650 points (100.0% liked)

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