Article:No Offense, but = You Don't=20 Deserve Your Salary:/g/a/2008/03/17/onthejob.DTL

Article:No Offense, = but You=20 Don't Deserve Your Salary:/g/a/2008/03/17/onthejob.DTL

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No Offense, but You Don't Deserve Your Salary

Monday, March 17, 2008

The other day I came across a perfectly ordinary bit of spam that = nonetheless=20 stopped me cold:=20

"Start earning the salary you deserve by obtaining the proper = credentials!"=20 the e-mail urged, and suddenly I found myself returning to a familiar = subject:=20 Forget the proper credentials =97 do we actually deserve our = salaries in=20 the first place?=20

Having written a column about work for almost a year now, I feel = obliged to=20 come clean about something that's long troubled me: the minor fact that = our=20 entire work economy appears to be built on a little-analyzed lie. Bear = with me=20 while I try to sort this out =97 and by all means convince me I'm wrong, = if=20 possible.=20

When money or other tokens of success are given to us, it's = supposedly=20 because we did something to deserve them. But what did we do? The = abstract=20 concept of deserving our livings is so built-in that we don't much = question it,=20 not outside of freshman-year dorm rooms, anyway. Work equals money, duh. = I live=20 by this premise like everyone else, but it bugs me that I can't defend = it.=20

You, for instance, with the prestigious banking job. You might argue = that you=20 went to school, put in long Saturday nights at the library and made = great=20 sacrifices to get this job, and indeed that you continue to put in hard = work. Or=20 you, with the groovy sculpture commission, after all those years toiling = in=20 obscurity: Surely your creativity and perseverance have earned you this = minor=20 recompense allotted by our society.=20

But I argue that we do these things because we were taught to. Or = because we=20 inherited certain genes. Or because life conspired to put us on the = track that=20 led here. So what if our work ethic is better than that of the guy down = the=20 hall? Any talents, work ethic, intelligence or ambition strike me as = qualities=20 we inherited or learned along the way =97 or else cultivated thanks to = other=20 qualities we inherited or learned. A person who pulls herself up by her=20 bootstraps, in other words, is a person lucky enough to have that = determination,=20 grit, inclination, whatever.=20

So given the capricious and arbitrary nature of this arrangement, = isn't it=20 capricious and arbitrary whatever rewards we get? Or don't get, for that = matter:=20 If we were unlucky enough to have been born in a poor, starving village = in=20 Africa, could anyone say that we didn't deserve material comforts?=20

There's a fairly obvious scenario that my wife and I sometimes = imagine, one=20 that always leaves us feeling wholly irrational. A homeless person walks = up to=20 us on the street and explains that he'd like half of our money. What = logic could=20 possibly justify saying no? We worked for it? Sure, but only because we = turned=20 out to be the kind of people who work for it (not to mention other forms = of=20 privilege and luck that landed on us). Seems to me that we hang onto our = loot=20 out of an emotional rationale more than a logical one: We don't want to = give it=20 away.=20

In search of wisdom I called John Perry, the Henry Waldgrave Stuart = Professor=20 of Philosophy at Stanford and one half of KALW's "Philosophy Talk" radio = show. I was=20 hoping Perry would disabuse me of this no-just-deserts idea, but he more = or less=20 agreed.=20

"If you're born with $5 million, that's luck," he said. "If you're = born with=20 nothing and then work really hard and eventually earn $5 million, people = might=20 say you deserved that money. But really it's just a different form of = luck to=20 have the thrift, hard work and stick-to-it-iveness necessary to make = that=20 money."=20

Perry ventured that utilitarianism offers an argument for our current = set-up.=20

"A utilitarian would argue that it's good for society at large to = reward=20 certain behaviors, even if those behaviors (are the result of an unfair=20 distribution of luck)," he said. In other words, it's best for everyone = if the=20 banker and the sculptor keep getting paid, even if they're just doing = what comes=20 naturally to them.=20

Still, Perry's utilitarian response was merely a way to reconcile = ourselves=20 to this unfairness =97 not to endorse it.=20

I decided I needed to hear from someone who could get fully behind = our=20 current arrangement. I phoned Yaron Brook, president and executive = director of=20 the Ayn Rand Institute =97 one = of the few=20 organizations in the world where you'll hear "radical selfishness" = defined as a=20 moral virtue. If you're willing to forget their positions on the = environment,=20 Iran, animal rights and so forth, Ayn Rand disciples are great defenders = of that=20 paycheck in your back pocket.=20

"The essence of morality is the extent to which you apply your free = will. If=20 we're going to get rewarded for anything, it's for this," Brook told me. =

And if someone doesn't have that free will for some reason, or = doesn't=20 exercise it as effectively as someone else?=20

"Then they don't deserve it."=20

Brook and I went back and forth over free will, and whether it really = just=20 comes from all those raw ingredients we acquired through sheer luck =97 = my=20 position.=20

"If we're completely determined, the whole concept of 'deserve' is = out.=20 Computers don't deserve anything. Animals don't deserve anything. What = makes=20 humans unique is we have the capacity to make choices," he argued. "Some = people=20 make choices that lead to success and prosperity and happiness, and some = people=20 don't ... (When) people make bad choices, they deserve the = consequences."=20

I couldn't get Brook to agree that people who make bad choices have = something=20 in them leading them to do so =97 something the good-choices people = don't have =97=20 and that this quality was just a more complex version of height or eye = color.=20 But Brook did acknowledge that at least sometimes our stations in life = are=20 undeserved: an inheritance, a lucky Lotto ticket, being born on a poor=20 continent. Still, he said, just because our fortunes aren't always = deserved=20 doesn't mean we're not entitled to them.=20

"People are born in Africa and they're out of luck, and it's sad. But = the=20 fact they were unlucky enough to be born in Africa doesn't place a claim = against=20 me and my life and my wealth," he said. And if he won the lottery, "I = wouldn't=20 say I deserve this money. I'd say it's mine, not yours, and I get to = decide what=20 I do with it. The fact that I have money, no matter how I got it, = doesn't give=20 you a claim against it."=20

Finders keepers, in other words. I can't say I find it compelling, = but at=20 least it addresses the issue.=20

It's weirdly tough to work with these questions =97 they get at = something=20 that's taken for granted, and it's a little like questioning gravity, or = maybe=20 flour. What's more, it rarely goes well when I have this conversation = with=20 people. Either I seem to be advocating a life of guilt, or else a total=20 redistribution of property. In truth, I don't advocate for anything = except=20 getting to the bottom of things. It's like when you're in school and you = realize=20 America was stolen from American Indians =97 there isn't really a = practical=20 solution, but it seems worth knowing.=20

And maybe there's value in recognizing the absolute randomness at the = root of=20 everything we accomplish, or fail to. There seems to be something = salutary in=20 distancing yourself from that raise you got, or that layoff last week. = It was=20 luck that dumped these things in our laps, and luck could remove them = just as=20 easily. Better, perhaps, to focus more on those relationships that don't = hinge=20 on the slippery desert concept: the eating of pie, the helping = off of a=20 partner's shoes after a long day.=20

Finally, a silver lining from Perry:=20

"If it makes no sense to deserve anything, there's no reason to feel = bad=20 about it!" he said. "You've destroyed the concept of deserving = altogether. You=20 might as well say I don't quadzircle this salary. It's = meaningless!"=20

As I said, feel free to convince me I'm wrong. If I'm going to impugn = the=20 living we all make, you quadzircle to have your opinion heard.=20

Chris = Colin has=20 worked as a writer-editor at Salon, and before that a busboy, a bread = deliverer=20 and a bike messenger, among other things. He's the author of "What = Really=20 Happened to the Class of '93," about the lives of his former high school = classmates, and co-author of "The Blue Pages," a directory of companies = rated by=20 their politics and social practices. His writing has appeared in the New = York=20 Times, Mother Jones, the New York Observer, McSweeney's Quarterly and = several=20 anthologies. He lives in San Francisco. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=3D/g/a/2008/03/17/onthej= ob.DTL