Are you kidding me??? The president absolutely should make less because their job is a public service. That's the whole point. I understand government job salaries have skyrocketed to the point where they are the most sought after positions today but there was a time when people weighed the pros and cons between the public and private sector and it was considered a noble service to your country to give up the big dollars of the private sector for a government job. As well it should be. There's no way in hell a President should have a salary even close to your Fortune 500 CEO. Also, as Brad pointed out they have everything paid for anyway. And lastly, they get so much influence with the position and so much behind the scenes money that their salary is irrelevant anyway. President Obama is going to be a 55 year old former president with his pick of any cushy job he wants for the rest of his professional life. Serving on the boards of non-profits, universities, private sector companies, those all pay extremely well and meet 4 times a year. He'll give speeches at 500K a pop. He'll have his own foundation with assets in the millions that he can take a salary from and even then if he's ever hard up for cash he can call up one of the private sector businesses that he gave a favor to with his policymaking. My guess is the solar energy sector. He will have secret service protection for free the rest of his life too. once you become president you are set for life! their salary is irrelevant. it should go down not up
Art History, no doubt. Proud author of the seminal work, "Neocubist Roots of Two Girls One Cup." Not to mention, that last line is just a flat-out lie.
So true. President aside, if you're a young parent and you have the choice of stocking away money for your kids' college or donating half that amount to politicians years after year, you really should consider the latter. Secure a public job for your son or daughter, they can retire at 65 (in some cases sooner) with a six-figure salary, and collect 80% of that annually for life without lifting a finger. Four weeks of salary each year. Personal time when you need it. Clock out at 4:59. It'd be a waste of human capital for a productive economy in some cases, but those with a competitive fire will always want to break out and compete in the marketplace. It really should be a first option for many families, rather than wasting money on a sociology degree.
It really is horrible, and there's a dire need for fundamental change with that. I served some time in local government and negotiated with the unions. Teachers were far and away the worst. What griped me most was how they eat their young - the bright and enthusiastic teachers coming up that we should WANT to incentivize - all the while I sat across from some of the least impressive and time-hardened teachers who would use young parents as leverage. As in, "If we don't get paid more money, your kids' future will suffer." Handing out leaflets to parents dropping off kids. All for an annual step increase just for surviving another year, and then a raise on top of that. In real dollars, it worked out out to a 25% raise over the three-year life of a contract. And the principal would complain that if she had staff meetings that ran beyond the contractual time, many would get up and walk out mid-sentence. I could go on with things about each of the unions, but there's really no point. Only a crisis will pave the way for claw-back on public employee benefits.
I never stated which Fortune 500 salary should be comparable to a President's but certainly $400,000 is ridiculously low, even with the perks. FDR got $75,000 in 1933 which would be adjusted to $1.4 million today - I don't see that as unreasonable. I firmly believe the responsibilities of the position are not offset by the nice house, security and free transportation necessarily inherent in the position particularly when one considers how much personal freedom must be sacrificed to take the job. What a retired President chooses to do after leaving office is not pertinent to the dedication required while serving.
No wonder you love Hillary's cottage cheese thighs, you think a government employee should draw more than a million a year salary.
#BREAKING: The chairmen of the influential House Judiciary and Oversight Committees on Monday formally requested that the Department of Justice open an immediate criminal investigation into whether Hillary Clinton lied under oath to Congress.
Just wait until the Clinton Foundation shitstorm rears it's corrupt head. This is the closest I've ever been to the scary possibility of Trump being elected.
I was hoping that was going to be part of the FBI statement about the email investigation. He didn't mention it. He did however; refuse to deny that the Clinton Foundation was being investigated during the congressional hearing. So it's possible that is an ongoing FBI investigation. I don't know why he wouldn't just say so though. As for the perjury - not sure how she gets out of that one. If she's on tape lying about what Comey called her on, what's the defense? Someone else was sending my emails for me? Is anyone buying that?
If Bernie gets elected and makes college free, does everyone that actually paid or is actively paying for it get reimbursed?!
It looks dead to rights, but it wouldn't be the first time a politician walked away from obvious perjury charges.
I think its pretty generally accepted that William Rehnquist and Clarence Thomas committed perjury during their confirmation hearings. And I'm dead certain there are dozens of other examples. Not apples to apples, but I think the gun has to be attached to a four alarm fire for anything to come of perjury charges at this level.
Harvard is talking about free tuition for everybody at this point. Their idea is to have a true meritocracy with everybody who is in the various schools enrolled based on their ability to thrive, not just to pay the freight. They must have some silly endowment level at this point to be talking about that. They'd better be damn sure they understand what they're doing to the student base as well before they do this. I can imagine Harvard becoming suicide central under the pressures of everybody trying to stay in school at those rates and with those conditions. One of the benefits of taking students who are just there as legacies and to pay the freight is that the Gentleman's C isn't a one way ticket out of the program.
