Can we talk about a Maximum Wage?

[hunter]

58. The "minimum wealth" for both the foolhardy and the not foolhardy could be kept in trust.

Maybe every eighteen year old would start out with that. They could be paid the interest on that wealth, or simply leave it to compound.

In effect everyone would be a "trust fund kid" of the USA.

Want to live in an old van in the woods or in mom's basement on that interest income alone? Have at it!

But my utopia offers greater opportunities than that. Get a job, go to school, get a much richer life. Can't get a job because of disability, or simply because the economy sucks, then you'd still get more than you would simply by dropping out of society. During down times it would be worth your while to finding something that makes you happy and contributes to the community, secure in the knowledge you won't hungry or homeless.

Yes, I know it's a thought experiment mostly, but the economy we have now isn't anything close to being fair and truly "equal opportunity." A kid growing up with crappy schools, in a crappy neighborhood, on average isn't going to do as well as the kid living in a good neighborhood, with good schools, with parents who can afford the best colleges, and support them in comfort during their (utterly unethical) unpaid Washington D.C. or Manhattan internships.