Charlie Stross wrote:
>
> On Sat, Sep 01, 2001 at 10:43:48AM -0700, J. R. Molloy wrote:
> >
> > From: Spike Jones
> > > Is there a problem? spike
> >
> > If there is a problem, it's concentrated more in government (the PC ruling
> > class) than in private industry (the working class). Most overpaid bosses are
> > in government, starting with the US president, who is paid millions and is
> > responsible for no identifiable product.
>
> Are you sure of that?
>
> If I remember correctly, the office of POTUS comes with a pathetic
> salary -- something like $140,000 a year. In comparison, the Prime
> Minister of GB&NI takes home about GBP 140,000; this is the _average_
> salary for the CTO of a tech company in the UK, where most tech
> companies are relatively small and their executives are paid less
> than their US equivalents. In many other countries the British PM
> would be considered badly paid.
>
> There was an incident in 1999 when Bill Clinton nearly had to declare
> personal bankruptcy; why do you think he's treading the lecture circuit
> so eagerly?
He was doing it long before that. Before he was out of office, his wife
had landed an $8.5 million book deal, and he had several million in the
bank already from 'fundraising' for not only his legal funds which
runneth over and above expenses, but for his presidential
library/pimp-pad as well as for his 'foundation' whose primary
beneficiary is WJC hisself. On top of that he landed most recently a $10
million book deal. All the while, the taxpayer is paying for his offices
in New York.
>
> As a general rule of thumb, government salaries are a pittance compared
> to their private enterprise equivalents. This gives rise to a problem;
> governments can't get (and retain) highly competent staff in a competitive
> market, and those they do retain have an incentive to line their own
> pockets. The only people who _really_ make money out of government are
> the contractors ...
Depends on whether you are creative or not with your 'fundraising'. Note
that the McCain Feingold Campaign Finance Reform Act would make it
entirely legal for private citizens, groups, and corporations to donate
unlimited funds for senators, presidents, and congressmen to pay for the
operating expenses of their regular offices (just not their campaigns),
whereas today they are all limited in staff by law and funding by public
expenditures. Can you say legalized bribery?
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