I believe in salary caps

Day 3 of the #trust30 project, a writing and self-reflection initiative.  Today, it was tough to be honest. 

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It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

The world is powered by passionate people, powerful ideas, and fearless action. What’s one strong belief you possess that isn’t shared by your closest friends or family? What inspires this belief, and what have you done to actively live it?

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For this one, I had to ignore the last question in order to be honest about a belief I hold that most of my friends and family don't share.  Talk about a recipe for self-reflection.

I believe in salary caps.

No one needs to make 100 billion dollars, or have a net worth twice that of a medium-sized country.

A CEO who makes millions of dollars should have to cut his salary before laying off hundreds of workers in the name of efficiency and profit. 

Competitive forces do not justify the need to pay someone more money than they should be able to spend in a lifetime.


To shamelessly quote from NPR: this I believe.

I have no idea where this belief comes from.  I'd like to think it's a sense of innate fairness, but that's probably giving myself too much credit. 

Sadly, I have done nothing to try to live by this belief.  Mostly because I haven't reached the cap yet.  Whatever it is, or whatever it should be.   And because I can't even begin to think how we'd legislate or enforce such a thing. 

I wonder if this belief will haunt me if I ever go into politics.  Probably.  Oh well.