Pay

miseeire

Do you think legislation should be introduced where nobodys salary in this country should be greater than that of someone in a similar role(or even greater)in another modern country?I speak about leaders,politicians,hospital consultants and the judiciary.Feel free to nominate any other fat cat.

godtabh

miseeire wrote: »

Do you think legislation should be introduced where nobodys salary in this country should be greater than that of someone in a similar role(or even greater)in another modern country?I speak about leaders,politicians,hospital consultants and the judiciary.Feel free to nominate any other fat cat.

It would kill innovation and many other things

Thoie

I understand where you're coming from, but it won't work. My job is pretty run of the mill (not a politician or pop star), but there's no way you can directly compare it to a job in every other country. If you legislate just for certain job titles, our new Taoiseach will suddenly be titled "King".

miseeire

I think its scandalous that Mr.Cowan is reputed to have a larger gross salary than Obama and our chief justice gets more than the U.S.Do our hospital consultants "earn" up to £90k more than in Ulster?I desperately want my country to recover but surely it starts at the top?

Tom Young

I think we might move this thread somewhere else, like pay, humanities or Irish Economy. Any objections?

miseeire

No probs but where exactly has it been moved to

Jo King

miseeire wrote: »

Do you think legislation should be introduced where nobodys salary in this country should be greater than that of someone in a similar role(or even greater)in another modern country?I speak about leaders,politicians,hospital consultants and the judiciary.Feel free to nominate any other fat cat.

What is a "modern country"? This is an ancient country.

dats_right

miseeire wrote: »

I speak about leaders,politicians,hospital consultants and the judiciary.Feel free to nominate any other fat cat.

Firstly, all of those professions (albeit markedly less so in the case of politicians) are staffed by some of the best minds in the country and whilst no doubting that they are well paid (probably €100-200k) by comparison to the average joe, they are certainly by no means the 'fat cats' who are responsible for our country's economic wows. For that fingers should be very firmly pointed at property developers/speculators, senior bankers (earning in some cases €2-3m+ and even relatively junior bankers earning as much and more than said judges and consultants. I understand your sentiments OP but your aim or categorisation of fat cats is way off.

Anyway, such a cap would do nothing more than to encourage mediocrity as there would no longer be any incentive to innovate or work harder than is necessary, as rewards are capped. Similar pay systems apply in the civil service and public sector and whilst there are certainly very talented and hard working individuals working in those bodies they get paid the same rates of pay as the lazy, good for-nothings working in the same role/job title. Now where is the fairness in that?

dermot_sheehan

You can cap public sector salaries to your heart's content. Whether you would get decent people working then in the public sector is another problem, an old adage about paying peanuts getting monkeys comes to mind.

For the private sector, people are perfectly free to pay whatever they want for someone else's services. If you ban people paying more, how do you determine who gets the best person for a job?

miseeire

The one argument I have about the private service paying what they want is when the manure hits the fan,like with the banks,its poor old mister,mrs.and ms.who bails them out.I honestly believe that if communism was run properly,it would be a roaring success.

servicecharge

That's what the tax system is for.

Look at Scandanavian model. High taxes, good public service but also large incentives for innovation including tax. Without the incentive to make money a country will find it hard to create new ideas and jobs.

miseeire

Simple question.Why does Ireland,and for that matter Britain not follow a winning formula?Is it because politicians will lose the backhanders?

Tom Young

I really just do not like this thread. I am still considering moving it to economics or economy or somewhere else where it is going to be more relevantly addressable.