If we had total Income Equality could there still be a Powerful Elite like in Animal

[tradeunionsupporter]

If we had total Income Equality could there still be a Powerful Elite like in Animal Farm would the State or the Government and or the Politicians be this Elite ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite

[ComradeMan]

I've always believed that everyone should be paid the same.

[Dr Mindbender]

The question is not to ensure everyone is paid the same for the sake of it, but to abolish the social roles that maintain the rationale for people being paid less than others.

This is why i maintain that a revolutionary society composed of both road sweeps and of doctors is doomed to failure.

[RichardAWilson]

I subscribe to Market-Socialism. As such, I don't believe in absolute income equality. Men aren't created the same. Some of us have mechanical intelligence. Some of us have creative intelligence. Some of us have more muscle. We will have to continue basing compensation on society's needs. (We won't, however, have to continue compensating hedge fund managers and Wall St. Bankers) No more unearned income!

Socialism was never about creating absolute income equality as much as it was about ensuring a fair chance to learn, grow and influence. Socialism was designed to end exploitation and dehumanization.

[Skooma Addict]

I've always believed that everyone should be paid the same.

so someone who lays around drinking wine and watching showgirls on tv all day should be paid the same as someone who is building BMW's?

[RevLeft By Birth]

so someone who lays around drinking wine and watching showgirls on tv all day should be paid the same as someone who is building BMW's?

Well people should be required to work of course, so your example of someone leading a life of leisure is impossible, but otherwise incomes should be equal once communism is reached.

Until then, the people doing the ideological work and those who sacrifice to lead the country, thinking always of the good of the people, will out of the gratitude of the people receive greater comforts (eg. Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung were frequently presented with presents out of gratitude towards their concern for the Korean people).

[Skooma Addict]

Well people should be required to work of course, so your example of someone leading a life of leisure is impossible, but otherwise incomes should be equal once communism is reached.

Until then, the people doing the ideological work and those who sacrifice to lead the country, thinking always of the good of the people, will out of the gratitude of the people receive greater comforts (eg. Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung were frequently presented with presents out of gratitude towards their concern for the Korean people).

No way you are serious. You had me fooled until this post.

[RevLeft By Birth]

No way you are serious. You had me fooled until this post.

Do I need to link you the countless articles recalling how Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il were presented with gifts by the people? There is an entire museum dedicated to it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Friendship_Exhibition

Now, to be clear, they often turn these gifts down. I don't feel like finding the original source, but at one point Kim Il Sung was visiting a coal mine in the north of the country, during the winter, overseeing production concerns there and increasing their efficiency. The director of the mine saw that the coat that Kim Il Sung was wearing was threadbare, and worn, so offered him a new coat. Kim Il Sung refused the coat because he saw that workers there were cold and had coats no better than his, and instead gave it to another worker.

[Kotze]

Big differences in quality of life despite income equality are possible when income is defined narrowly. Is only what appears in your bank account to be considered income? What about working conditions? Sometimes accommodation and a car comes with a post. I prefer a broad view of what income is.

The difference between the different definitions can also happen the other way around. Imagine a society where there is not only full employment, but individuals regularly have a choice of increasing or decreasing their working time and doing more or less popular tasks, and that there is differential pay according to these choices. In that case, one can view more convenient working conditions as something you buy, when you look at it that way people in that society have the same income.

[DarkPast]

Everyone should be guaranteed the opportunity to work and earn enough for a decent living, but I don't think everyone should be paid the same. Some jobs, the more hazardous ones (such as working in a coal mine) should be paid more. Jobs that require long study should also be paid more. People who are willing to work longer than their normal working hours should be paid more.

What's important to me is that people don't get unearned money through speculation, taking "cuts" from workers etc.

[RGacky3]

There would'nt be a powerfull elite as long as you have a functioning democracy politically and economically. There might be people that are more respected than others, but thats not a powerful elite.