American politicos could take a few lessons from their Japanese counterparts. The new Japanese prime minister recently lowered his own salary by 30 per cent, and reduced the salaries of all cabinet members by 10 per cent.
While we're at it, why don't we pass a law forbidding all members of lawmakers families from working as lobbyists, and even more importantly, create another law forbidding all former government personnel from working for firms that subcontract for the U.S. government. (The law could simply state that the government is forbidden from accepting contracts from firms that employ its former workers.) This would help limit the culture of corruption--those people who quit their jobs as colonels or cabinet members to suddenly find lucrative employment as high-paid "consultants" (just why a retired cabinet member with no background in given industry is such a treasure trove of information and contacts I'll leave you to guess.)
6 comments:
Why do we pay our politicians so much? Aren't most of them relatively wealthy to begin with?
I remember when Tom Ridge said he couldn't afford to send his kids to college on $175K a year. Ridiculous.
Karlo, on another note, what does being "In The Headlights" mean?
This is a temporary list of blogs that I promote for a week or two. My permanent list is below "Swerving Suggestions". I figured "In the Headlights" would go well with my overall "Swerve Left" theme.
Um, do I owe you money or something?
The bill will show up on your doorstep, carried by a very ugly guy with a Sicilian accent.
Comment from a Canadian girl...
I think that Japan has made a very strong statement by doing this. However, my American friends, I don't think either of us should hold our collective breaths while we wait for Mr. Bush and Mr. Harper to follow suit.
Good point about the subcontracted companies too.
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