Imagine this version of BazarroWorld - one in which the hardest workers are paid the most

[1-Old-Man]

Imagine a world in which the people who work the hardest are paid the most.

The only people who could afford to dine in restaurants would be people who work in restaurants.
Investment bankers would go betting for affordable health coverage.
Teachers would take their holidays in the Greek islands.
Policemen and Firemen would drive exotic cars.
And the richest people in the country would be working heads of single parent households.

[hack89]

1. How do you define "hard work"?

physical labor? Hours worked? Complexity of the problem solved? Number of workers managed?

[1-Old-Man]

2. Work that makes you sweat.

Which leaves out 'number of workers managed'.

You dig a ditch you are working hard, you sign a pieces of paper and tell people what to do .... not so much.

On Edit: Teaching other people's brats how to read and that history matters is pretty tough work too.

[alarimer]

3. That's a bullshit definitiion

Plenty of scientists, for example, work "hard"; they typically work longer than 40 hours. Often off the clock.

This fetishization of "hard work" or hard workers is nonsense. Why pit one group against another anyway? And why is physical labor the only definition? White collar workers do more than "sign pieces of paper."

[frazzled]

4. Sweat?

So teachers, who were mentioned, don't get paid unless they're PE teachers?

Sorry, it's nearly impossible to make neutral decisions about what work is "hardest." It could be a writer or a construction worker, a seamstress or an artist, a banker (yes, even them) or a doctor.

I appreciate the sentiment about lower wage earners working very hard and deserving far more. But the idea that we can set up a hierarchy of "easiest to hardest" work is ridiculous. (And what's hard for one person is easy for another.)

[chemenger]

5. I have a slight problem with your definition of hard work ... "You dig a ditch you are working hard,

you sign a pieces of paper and tell people what to do .... not so much."

I don't dig ditches and I don't sweat real sweat but I work hard every day (engineer). I'm sure a number of the hard-working people you're referring to (working in the mines and steel mills) wouldn't be working at all if I wasn't working hard at my job.

[NutmegYankee]

6. I see, so scientists or engineers like myself don't work hard.

Well I'll tell you what -Go design your own fucking bridge or potable water system or electronic device, etc. And remember, if someone gets hurt, you are responsible!

We get high pay because we are highly skilled and most people can't do our type of work.

[hack89]

7. So scientists, cancer researchers and engineers don't work hard?

why do you think managing complex projects is not hard work? It takes unique skills.

[HappyMe]

8. Steaming pile of crap.

Surgeons, scientists, teachers and professors, medical research...there are scores of people who work their asses off without digging a fucking ditch.