US President earns roughly 300k euro a year

mukki · 16-04-2009 9:58pm

tell ya what, he can keep the fooken money if him and mary go on a diet, the state of them,

country is being run by a pair of walruses

deadhead13 · 16-04-2009 11:08pm

Something called the Review Body on Higher Remuneration is currently looking to reduce ministers, top civil servants and I assume the Presidents salaries to those of similiar sized european countries.

But since this shower, just over a year ago, recommended a large pay increase for the above - I won't be holding my breath.

gurramok · 16-04-2009 11:24pm

deadhead13 wrote: »

Something called the Review Body on Higher Remuneration is currently looking to reduce ministers, top civil servants and I assume the Presidents salaries to those of similiar sized european countries.

But since this shower, just over a year ago, recommended a large pay increase for the above - I won't be holding my breath.

Can't wait for this. That will mean at least a 50% pay cut.

Here, i did the work for them http://www.vn.fi/tietoa-valtioneuvostosta/perustietoa/en.jsp

Finland with a similar population - Finnish Prime Minster earns about 130k.

QED.

stainluss · 17-04-2009 12:29am

However much the Taoiseach earns, i think the President should earn much less and she should take a further pay cut.
She does nothing!
Has anyone even asked her about the recession? No. Because she is not the leader.
Cowen is. We should abolish the presidency and make whoever is taoiseach both!
It would save the country hundreds of thousands of euro:)

event · 17-04-2009 7:16pm

not that i think he should get more, but the reason the taoiseach gets more, AFAIR, is that he has to pay for most things himself

the us president lives in the white house, and has camp david as a retreat. in both there are kitchens and meals are prepared etc etc

the PM gets 10 downing street, the french PM gets Élysée Palace and so on

the irish taoiseach doesnt get any state house, so i think thats the reason, rightly or wrongly

ShooterSF · 17-04-2009 7:22pm

stainluss wrote: »

However much the Taoiseach earns, i think the President should earn much less and she should take a further pay cut.
She does nothing!
Has anyone even asked her about the recession? No. Because she is not the leader.
Cowen is. We should abolish the presidency and make whoever is taoiseach both!
It would save the country hundreds of thousands of euro:)

Who protects us from FF passing unconstitutional laws so?

event wrote: »

not that i think he should get more, but the reason the taoiseach gets more, AFAIR, is that he has to pay for most things himself

the us president lives in the white house, and has camp david as a retreat. in both there are kitchens and meals are prepared etc etc

the PM gets 10 downing street, the french PM gets Élysée Palace and so on

the irish taoiseach doesnt get any state house, so i think thats the reason, rightly or wrongly

Does the leader of singapore have to live in a tent?

gurramok · 17-04-2009 7:23pm

Obviously never heard of Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park.

ceegee · 17-04-2009 7:34pm

stainluss wrote: »

no, its a well known fact Irelands taoiseach earns more than the US president!

Wrong.

Cowen earns €257000, Obama earns $400000

Which means Cowen earns ~$65000 less a year than Obama (using xe.com's current exchange rate of 1 EUR = 1.30372 USD)

Valmont · 17-04-2009 7:35pm

Teacher strike this summer! Schools Closed! oh wait... thanks for that link terry hahaha.

petethebrick · 17-04-2009 7:36pm

This is exactly what I'm working on at the moment. I'm collecting data on the salary of each leader for every country since about 1960. It's nearly impossible to find data for a lot of them.
The point to bear in mind when looking at a prime minister/president salary is that in most countries the leader in question could earn far more working in the private sector. This is why Singapore pays its politicians so much - in order to attract the best people to the job and to combat corruption.

Black Swan · 17-04-2009 7:40pm

Obama gets peanuts in compensation. US executives get millions for failing! See example:

"When Michael Ovitz was hired as Disney's president in 1995, his contract included a $130 million severance package should he be fired without cause after a year. Well, he was — and the $130 million went with him."

Source: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1848501_1848500_1848487,00.html

gurramok · 17-04-2009 8:07pm

ceegee wrote: »

Wrong.

Cowen earns €257000, Obama earns $400000

Which means Cowen earns ~$65000 less a year than Obama (using xe.com's current exchange rate of 1 EUR = 1.30372 USD)

He was right last year

Cowen used to earn 274k before the pay cut and the exchange rate at 1 EUR =1.5/1.6 made it possible to earn over $400k.

Now, all it needs for that exchange rate to go up to 1.57 on 254k and the poster will be right again:)

God help if Obama took a paycut, Cowen would be seriously p1ssed off:D

deadhead13 · 17-04-2009 8:43pm

petethebrick wrote: »

This is why Singapore pays its politicians so much - in order to attract the best people to the job and to combat corruption.

Since we have some of the highest paid politicians in the OECD, it hasn't exactly worked out that way here.

ceegee · 17-04-2009 10:25pm

gurramok wrote: »

He was right last year

Cowen used to earn 274k before the pay cut and the exchange rate at 1 EUR =1.5/1.6 made it possible to earn over $400k.

Now, all it needs for that exchange rate to go up to 1.57 on 254k and the poster will be right again:)

God help if Obama took a paycut, Cowen would be seriously p1ssed off:D

Yeah well im right this year

.

To be honest it doesnt really matter which of their salaries is worth more at any one point in time, their salaries relative to their nations average wage and cost of living is a better indicator of who is better compensated, remember Brian has to pay more for his ralph lauren tighty whiteys than Barack does

galwayrush · 17-04-2009 11:03pm

The US President earns it,
Our Gob****es get more without actually earning it.:rolleyes:

Capt'n Midnight · 17-04-2009 11:19pm

event wrote:

the irish taoiseach doesnt get any state house, so i think thats the reason, rightly or wrongly

Are you sure he can't live there ?

http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/index.asp?locID=184&docID=-1
The job was completed within budget in December 1990 at a total cost of £17.4 million. The formal opening was performed by the then Taoiseach, Mr. Charles J. Haughey, on 24th January, 1991.

galwayrush · 17-04-2009 11:21pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Are you sure he can't live there ?

.

Leeds?:D

Capt'n Midnight · 17-04-2009 11:49pm

Blue_Lagoon wrote: »

Obama gets peanuts in compensation. US executives get millions for failing! See example:

"When Michael Ovitz was hired as Disney's president in 1995, his contract included a $130 million severance package should he be fired without cause after a year. Well, he was — and the $130 million went with him."

Source: http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1848501_1848500_1848487,00.html

One of Howard Hughes tricks was to not pay employees promised bonuses when they were let go. The employee would have to take him to court to get the bonus. But while the bonus was taxable the money won in court wasn't. The whole thing was a tax avoidance scheme.

oh yeah it was only $38m http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ovitz

Sixteen months after taking office, he was dismissed by Disney's board of directors and received $38 million in cash and $100 million in stock as a severance package.[1] Later court proceedings reflect that Ovitz' stock options were granted when he was hired to induce him to join The Walt Disney Company, not granted when he was fired,

Our politicians defo do not deserve the money they are on since they are trying to tackle the recession by just repeating the failed tactics of the past

dimejinky99 · 18-04-2009 12:13am

Cowen gets more than Obama, and more than any other european leader, which is ****in scary if ye consider the Italians are sposed to be way more corrupt than our shower of gobdaws..it's completely sickening.

Fluffybums · 18-04-2009 12:16am

[QUOTE=petethebrick;59871971
The point to bear in mind when looking at a prime minister/president salary is that in most countries the leader in question could earn far more working in the private sector. This is why Singapore pays its politicians so much - in order to attract the best people to the job and to combat corruption.[/QUOTE]

I think the evidence supports the opposite - Ireland has some of the best paid politicians in Europe yet they can't even do their homework to ensure that they can carryout the policies they announce in their budgets and have to have two budgets because they can get their maths right. At least most of the other comparitively poorly paid politicians in Europe seem to have spotted the seriousness of the current financial situation whilst the Irish leaders were still telling us that we were being talked into a recession. (Gordon Brown warned the British public that things were going to get bad around Oct 2007)

petethebrick · 20-04-2009 10:25pm

Fluffybums wrote: »

I think the evidence supports the opposite - Ireland has some of the best paid politicians in Europe yet they can't even do their homework to ensure that they can carryout the policies they announce in their budgets and have to have two budgets because they can get their maths right. At least most of the other comparitively poorly paid politicians in Europe seem to have spotted the seriousness of the current financial situation whilst the Irish leaders were still telling us that we were being talked into a recession. (Gordon Brown warned the British public that things were going to get bad around Oct 2007)

I was pointing out the perceived logic in the payment of large salaries to political leaders - I didn't say it worked

A_SN · 21-04-2009 4:09am

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Bolivia President Evo Morales $21,600
Great Britain Prime Minister Gordon Brown $375,222
France President Nicolas Sarkozy $346,000
Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel $318,000
Ireland Prime Minister Bertie Ahern $434,000
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe $248,500
Russia President Vladimir Putin $81,000
Singapore Premier Lee Hsien Loong $2.05 million
United States President George W. Bush $400,000
United States Vice President Dick Cheney $208,575

From here: http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/104029/Top-Earning-World-Leaders

Slightly out of date I know but intersting

Interesting the consistency between some contries. Sucks to be Putin/Medvedev though, although I'm sure they make LOTS on the side.

Bertie (and I assume Brian Cowen as well) getting paid so much compared to the rest is a tough pill to swallow. Obviously they're not paid with respect to their merits or results. We should have a Taoiseach appreciation referendum every year to decide whether he deserves his pay or ask him for a refund of half of it.

And yeah, what does the Irish president do anyways?

ShooterSF wrote: »

Who protects us from FF passing unconstitutional laws so?

It's the president's job to prevent the government from passing unconstitutional laws? For real?? Sounds like a conflict of interest. In France there's a constitutional council for that, they approve the constitutionality of law projects before they can be made into laws. Works quite well if you ask me.

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

One of Howard Hughes tricks was to not pay employees promised bonuses when they were let go. The employee would have to take him to court to get the bonus. But while the bonus was taxable the money won in court wasn't. The whole thing was a tax avoidance scheme.

Lol, that's genius!

And yes, paying politicians well is supposed to keep them away from corruption, but you can throw as much money as you like to Cowen, no amount will turn him into a competent leader.

Capt'n Midnight · 21-04-2009 11:47am

not copping on that the pension levy was tax deductable was a school boy howler

the budget contained little imaginative

But you have to admire the genius of handing the banks €90 bn and getting away with it. Or we are sheep.

RoundTower · 21-04-2009 12:02pm

event wrote: »

not that i think he should get more, but the reason the taoiseach gets more, AFAIR, is that he has to pay for most things himself

the us president lives in the white house, and has camp david as a retreat. in both there are kitchens and meals are prepared etc etc

the PM gets 10 downing street, the french PM gets Élysée Palace and so on

the irish taoiseach doesnt get any state house, so i think thats the reason, rightly or wrongly

He gets a new car every year and a garda chauffeur, etc, for his personal use, not just for going to state functions. Plus occasional use of a helicopter -- I'd say he gets 100k+ in benefit in kind, and doesn't pay tax on it.

US President earns roughly 300k euro a year

Comments