[littletimmy]

The most repulsive thing to read here is the reaction of some of the customers. “What’s their incentive to hustle if you pay them so much?”

Really? Do you ask that same question when a CEO gets millions of dollar in bonus? Nah, the CEOs simply "deserve" it. The employees though, they must hustle. Roughly transposed to the 17th century, that statement reads "What's the incentive for this n* to pick more cotton if he is well-fed?" Repulsive and sickening. How about observing how well they perform before bringing in your Ayn Rand propaganda. This sort of thought must be eradicated from the American mindset.

[Trombone12]

To me that's just a weird reaction; isn't their wage the incentive they have to work? Is that no longer how it works in the USA?

[jarcane]

The myth of "hard work = high wages" is one of the most pernicious and persistent of American lies, I'm afraid. It has never been the case for as long as the country has lived.

[repsilat]

Still, these people will want to keep these high-paying jobs, and they know there are people lined up around the block to replace them, so to imply that the company is going to be saddled with unperforming employees is ridiculous.

Conversely, paying employees too little would make them indifferent to their jobs and difficult to replace, naturally removing incentives to work hard and deliver value to their employer.

This does ignore the point that poorly paid employees might work hard to get bonuses or promotions, though, and well paid ones might not need them. I don't know whether these sorts of jobs get performance-based pay, or come with opportunities for career advancement.

[eli_gottlieb]

No, the actual incentive to work is that you get homeless, sick, and hungry if you don't. This is in contrast to other countries, where the unemployed (especially the long-term unemployed) receive social support. In the USA, people on parental leave from white-collar, salaried jobs don't even necessarily get paid -- to avoid incentivizing pregnancy, you see.

[api_or_ipa]

> How about observing how well they perform before bringing in your Ayn Rand propaganda.

While I agree with the rest of your post, your portrayal of Ms. Rand's work is woefully inaccurate. No where do I recall she wrote of demeaning blacks, suppressing wages and preventing the equal participation of all capable people in a common market.

Rand was very clear that racism and discrimination hindered the free market by preventing, under threat of violence, the equality of all in participating in market transactions and deals.

It's a shame Atlas Shrugged is so long, because I think most people would be far more humbled by what she wrote compared to what people think she wrote about.

[mistermann]

> most people would be far more humbled by what she wrote compared to what people think she wrote about

That's a good way to put it. Most people it seems have extremely negative opinions of her, but I'd wager that most of these people have read only opinions of others about her rather than anything actually written by her.

Although, I can definitely agree with the sentiment that her fiction is...weird, especially reading it today with the significant cultural changes that have occurred since it was written. But her non-fiction I think is pretty well written - whether you agree with it or not, it's far from a joke as most people who've never read any of it make it out to be.

[DannoHung]

Hahahahah fuck off

"They (Native Americans) didn't have any rights to the land, and there was no reason for anyone to grant them rights which they had not conceived and were not using. What was it that they were fighting for, when they opposed white men on this continent? For their wish to continue a primitive existence, their 'right' to keep part of the earth untouched, unused and not even as property, but just keep everybody out so that you will live practically like an animal, or a few caves above it. Any white person who brings the element of civilization has the right to take over this continent."

[dang]

> Hahahahah fuck off

Please, no comments like this on HN, regardless of how wrong Ayn Rand was.

[logingone]

I think you, and those below, have misunderstood this quote, in the usual knee-jerk liberal ("fuck off") fascist manner. She is complaining about the lack of productive use of the land. She is saying that the native Americans didn't have rights to keep the land from being used productively. She is saying that they are maintaining a way life that is not progressing - she is not saying they should be excluded from progressing.

[dylanjermiah]

I'd recommend you start your post in a more serious manner, if you'd like it to gain serious readership.

[milkshakes]

actually, i rather liked it. i'd recommend you lurk a little longer before telling people what to do.

[dylanjermiah]

I did not tell anyone what to do. I recommended a suggestion. I do not find 'hahaha fuck off' to be a good instigation of productive conversation.

[noir_lord]

I did as well, honest communication != nice communication.

Also his riposte pretty much destroyed the argument of the person he was responding too.

[eli_gottlieb]

Nobody in this thread actually cares what Ayn Rand said or didn't say. The thread's not about her.

[notNow]

It strikes me the sheer amount of ignorance that some Americans esp. from the right exhibit when they debate anything that isn't sweatshop/plantation or winner-takes-all capitalism. They seem very oblivious to all the competing ideologies and economic theories out there and they always rush to judge anything that's contradictory to their economic worldview as "socialist" or "communist" like it's actually a bad thing but this should be the topic of another discussion.

Back to our subject, the pay scale that this business owner proposed is not actually socialist much less communist. It was just a communitarianist approach with centrist leaning on the right-left spectrum but these Limbaugh bots just freaked out like useful idiots that they are when they heard about this more egalitarian, considerate, humane compensation scheme barking at the business owner.

This is really pathetic and it's really disheartening to know about this silly reaction from these brainwashed people.

Finally, I must congratulate this brave guy on his ethics and I wish him all the luck even though I might have some reservations or concerns regarding infusing the workplace with political messages and using business ventures as political conduits to spread these messages about certain social causes but after all I support his decision of seeking a flatter pay scale and doing what he could to close the income inequality gap between the poor and the rich even on a micro-scale like what he did inside his organization.