[Yankees]

Originally Posted by ToBeFair
1. Capitalism is based on the premise of scarcity - it is believed that there is not enough for everyone. This is the first lie of capitalism. God has given more than enough for each and every human being. It is all about proper distribution.

2. In a real world, it is possible for everyone to be rich or middle class. Don't want to bring religion here, but during the caliphate of Umar ibn Abdul Aziz, people could not be found eligible to take zakat money, and it will repeated again per the prophecy of Prophet Muhammad (s) when Mahdi shall rule the world. The point is, we have historical precedence that if there is proper distribution of wealth (be it through zakat or progressive taxation like the Scandinavian countries), everyone can be a middle class or above.

3. Today Jeff Bezos alone can pay for free college in America. He alone can remove world hunger. It was once calculated and found that zakat of a few Muslim businessmen from a Forbes list would be enough for a few Muslim countries. Thus it is a pure myth that there is not enough for everyone. Rather the system is designed such that it allows few people to gather all wealth at the expense of everyone.

4. It is understandable that two people both working eight hours are different in terms of their input and thus value generation. But under no circumstances, for the same work hours, the difference cannot be hundred times or thousand times or more. If a CEO earns thousand times more than a worker, it is not meritocracy, it is a system of crookedness because there will only be one CEO, even if there are hundreds of qualified people in the same comoany. Since there are not enough opportunities for everyone to become CEOs, managers, hours worked must be given more weight instead of discriminating people in the name of value generation.

5. High minimum wage will not destroy small business. Higher minimum wage means higher buying power at the same time, and when the general mass is provided with decent living wage, they do not not mind buying a roti for a higher price. It is the general mass that spends and not the top 0.1%. How many iPhones can Bezos buy? Monopoly on the other hand destroys all small businesses. Look at how Walmart destroyed all grocery shops or how Monsanto is destroying individual land farming around the world.

Have you heard of Andrew Yang? He's the founder of Venture for America, and one of the smartest and charismatic guy I've ever met. He's also a hopeful democratic candidate for 2020, and his platform is universal basic income.

IMo he has no chance to win, but I love his UBI platform. His justification is similar to alot of what you wrote, but give the whole thing a read and curios to know what you think.