[eat]

It seems silly to make this argument specifically regarding time when we've structured our society in such a way that certain people's time and labor is more valuable than other peoples'. Why not apply this logic to say restaurant workers, nurses, retail employees etc. deserve to make as much money as software engineers?

Not that I'd disagree with that. Personally, I think it's absurd that someone writing JavaScript for an advertising company for a few hours a day should make more money than a nurse.

[pc86]

Nurses make a lot of money, especially the more specialized and senior ones. CRNAs make more than most software developers. Just about any NP will make over $100k/yr. It's kind of weird to group them together with the retail employee making $9/hr folding shirts or the server making $3.75/hr plus tips at some dive in the middle of nowhere.

We do this weird thing in the US where you are tied so intrinsically to what you do for a living that it's become taboo to say the objectively true (and I would argue, very obvious) thing that some jobs are worth more than others. It's not a bad thing that one person gets paid $200k/yr to type JS into a computer and someone else gets paid $9/hr to fold clothes at Boscov's. It's because anyone can walk in off the street and start folding clothes with no training. That isn't making any comment on the people behind those jobs, just the jobs themselves.