Second question: would you prefer living without well-cooked burgers, or live with bad teeth?
The difference in value is there.
Another example: brain surgeons have an average salary in the US of $450 000 [0], in Sweden it's $65 700. I would agree that there is some room for higher salaries for people with advanced degrees in Sweden, but I also think that the income inequality in the US is way too high. It's a cultural thing.
[0] https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Degree=Doctor_of_Medici...
[1] http://www.lonestatistik.se/loner.asp/yrke/Hjarnkirurg-5131
They are also overlooking the basic facts that healthcare in Sweden is significantly better than in the US despite the significantly lower pay scale, Sweden has a higher median income, and the quality of McDonalds food and service is probably better as well (it has been anywhere I have been in Europe).
In the U.S., there is no limit on this. The violence of poverty is completely overlooked as is the incredibly uneven playing field.
The healthcare industry is set to extract maximum profit with minimum service and people who cannot afford the premiums are left without care options/face bankruptcy.
This is just one of the many forces increasing income inequality.
Similarly, education is expensive not because it costs that much but because it is set to maximize profits.
I’d say that dentists making 150k is less of an issue than the fast food workers making 1/8 of that with minimum wage which has not increased in decades and a house median cost is above 600k-1m.
Human beings are not seen as having dignity or value beyond the exploitable.
This doesn't actually answer any questions or address any actual issues, unless you're willing to force dentists to work with your so-called "appropriate salary" with the full force of the law.
What virtually all advanced democracies have done is rather make a judgement about what kinds of fees are reasonable to pay for dental and medical services, and limit what the national health insurance system will pay to that.
Then see if anybody is willing to practice dentistry. They usually are.
(Also, in most, if not all, of these countries, dentists are free to charge any rate they wish for dental services, and if they can find enough people willing to pay those fees with their own money, instead of using the national health insurance system, that's fine, too. But that's typically not necessary, and hence not common.)
But a Swedish dentist definitely can even though he just earns twice as much as the guy flipping burgers, I don't see your point. The only reason to pay a worker more is to attract more talent to the profession, and Medicine is the field that is by far the most selective in Sweden meaning that they already get the best talent. The only thing you would accomplish by paying them more is making healthcare less affordable for the people.
10 CEOs can't fix your teeth.
That is incredibly arrogant and so far wrong it's not even close to the truth.
This seems like fact to me. The whole point about McDonalds is that they have perfected their processes so well that there is very little difference in quality and output between someone who has spent 20 years making hamburgers and someone who has been there a month.
If someone is capable of being a dentist, they can likely make hamburgers. The reverse is probably not true - some portion of the people making hamburgers likely don't have what it takes to make it through dental school.
Not everyone who gets through school gets high marks, and of those that get high marks not all of them are necessarily inclined to be good with the tools they use.
I've known of some pretty awful dentists who tended to do as much damage to their patients as they did repairs. I have no reason to believe they'd be any better at making burgers or anything else they attempted to do.
And it takes arrogance to believe that a degree makes you superior to those who don't have one. The truth is it takes longer to become proficient in some skilled labor trades than it does to become a dentist, and it take more actual skills to do the work.
I've never met a dentist who could tear down a small block Chevy engine and rebuild it. Not one. I've never even met one that could change the oil on one, but I've known kids who learned how before they were 12 years old.
Finally, some of the most brilliant people in history, some of the greatest engineers, designers, and inventors, are people who spent very little time in school and none at all in any kind of higher education.
If you think everyone who's making your burgers is less intelligent, less capable, less creative, than yourself you are an arrogant fool.
You sound like someone who has never had to pass advanced exams to proceed with much higher levels of education.
I have relatives who are dentists. They are extraordinary in their precision. If you think it just requires time and money you clearly will never pass med school.
Awful dentists? Yes, every field has people of bad ethics. The very word "mechanic" conjures up images of incompetent lying men who will rip you off and ruin your car. What's your point?
Arrogance - nobody said anything about better. Just better at being a dentist and that learning how to flip burgers is easy.
I know a doctor who can rebuild engines. He is also a painter and a soldier. What's your point? The intersection of dentists and people who want to mess with engines when they can easily is small. It has nothing to do with ability. Changing oil takes five seconds to learn. Have you ever diagnosed an error on a chip with an oscilloscope? I have. Does that mean you are stupid or simply haven't cared to do so?
Everyone who makes burgers is less intelligent, less capable, and less creative than me is a different statement than "making burgers doesn't require the same level of intelligence, capability, and attention to detail as dental work".
Tell me, since you're so good at rebuilding engines, how good are you at rebuilding without turning it off? Without making a mistake? Fixing engines and dentistry aren't comparable, much less flipping burgers.
"I have relatives who are dentists."
And that obviously influences your take on this issue. I didn't insult or demean your relatives, I just don't have good reason to believe they're "special" because they're dentists.
"The very word "mechanic" conjures up images of incompetent lying men who will rip you off and ruin your car."
"Changing oil takes five seconds to learn."
That is exactly the kind of arrogance I'm calling out here. The truth is, pulling a tooth takes about that long to learn too, and the tools used aren't that much different.
Don't believe me?
Come on over and I'll pop one of your teeth out in about 5 seconds without ever going to school to learn how and I'll use the same tool to change the oil on my lawn mower ten seconds later.