The 10 highest paid politicians in the world
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Originally posted by soul_rage:
Do you know the difference between a Budget Deficit Policy vs a Budget Surplus Policy?
Coz if you do, you wouldn't use the above as a feeble attempt on explaining why our ministers should be paid that much.
well, i am just surprise why you are challenging a lion on calculation?? -
Originally posted by angel7030:
As our MM said, we need good quality and able people with good paids to sustain our country growth. Our paid is transparent to all, because we knows that thru corruption, we can much much more than this..but we are not.
So dun look at other countries politicians low paid, corruption alone can bring damn billions per year. Siao siao.
And also, he said that, you need to paid millions for people to take cares of a multi-billions asset state. If you pay peanut, you get monkey. Just like some of the Uncles here, being paid peanut by opposition.
Are you implying that HK, US, UK, and many other developed countries' leaders ARE corrupted?
You best watch what you say, because you are sounding more and more like an arrogant ignorant Singaporean, a product from our monotonous education system. Note that I am not insulting you. I am a product from this monotonous education system as well.
By the way, we are still waiting for you to substantiate your stand on the MVC component, and many other things that you say which are yet to be substantiated.
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why never calculate for China, Hong Kong and Luxembourg?
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Originally posted by soul_rage:
Are you implying that HK, US, UK, and many other developed countries' leaders ARE corrupted?
You best watch what you say, because you are sounding more and more like an arrogant ignorant Singaporean, a product from our monotonous education system. Note that I am not insulting you. I am a product from this monotonous education system as well.
By the way, we are still waiting for you to substantiate your stand on the MVC component, and many other things that you say which are yet to be substantiated.
Oh, i never quote any countries hor, hor hor!! you said it. I aint arrogant nor ignorant, as far as i am concern, i am the most active young singapore gal in speaker corners, because i like to teas...oops sorry, talk to uncles mah.
MVC is a variable component, it is already implemented in most of the organisation, what is there to be substantiate about, and it is not compulsory for organisation to adopt it, if they wish to opts out, no problem, but for my staffs, i already build up a 10% MVC buffer, in case my pubs and clubs business goes down, I will gather them for a meeting to see how much to cut, at the moment, these 10% is part of their salary, including overtimes and bonuses. So, what the big problem here??
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Originally posted by soul_rage:
you still don't understand what I tell you?
Like I said, once you start working, then you will truly know the pain. Right now, they are just a set of figures to you, that you have no idea why it makes so many of us here so upset about.
What you want to tell me, i got acknowledge. But i am very tired of you hogging on the point about work experience. I will have to pay off 16k of school debt when i graduate, so money is important to me.
I think you have worked too long, that's why you keep looking at the figures so much.
You are probably thinking that the ministers have such an easy job and they got paid such a high salary... They just need to govern over 3 million plus citizens only right? And they make alot of mistakes too.
And you will be willing to do the job for less pay, and probably do a better job too.
Actually, discuss so much no point. Go join government. Think you earn too much money, donate part of it away. And propose a cut in the pay of ministers when you are in government. The people will sure support you.
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very good discussion going on here, I like the part in page1 when speakup defended the pap and then in page2 soul_rage gave a combo hit to defend the oppositions.
Nice debating.... And its defiantly nice being stoned while reading this.
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Unless you have the knowledge and is actually ABLE to do a better job than the present govt, I think you should shut the fuck up untill u can prove that you are better than them.
In other words, ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS.
If you are good, you will definitely be supported. Copy and pasting facts, i also know.
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Originally posted by angel7030:
Oh, i never quote any countries hor, hor hor!! you said it. I aint arrogant nor ignorant, as far as i am concern, i am the most active young singapore gal in speaker corners, because i like to teas...oops sorry, talk to uncles mah.
MVC is a variable component, it is already implemented in most of the organisation, what is there to be substantiate about, and it is not compulsory for organisation to adopt it, if they wish to opts out, no problem, but for my staffs, i already build up a 10% MVC buffer, in case my pubs and clubs business goes down, I will gather them for a meeting to see how much to cut, at the moment, these 10% is part of their salary, including overtimes and bonuses. So, what the big problem here??
read your own statement hor
"As our MM said, we need good quality and able people with good paids to sustain our country growth. Our paid is transparent to all, because we knows that thru corruption, we can much much more than this..but we are not.
So dun look at other countries politicians low paid, corruption alone can bring damn billions per year. Siao siao."
Simply put, the implication from MM is that lowly paid politicians are more prone to corruption. Is that necessarily true? I don't see any evidence from this, just from an old man that thinks that what he says is law. Comparitively speaking, the US president is paid so much less than our leaders, so does it mean that he is not good quality and not able?
As I mentioned before, most SMEs would utilize MVC because it is beneficial to them and not beneficial to the employees. By utilizing MVC, instead of just saying that bonuses can be cut during bad times (Which is what bonuses are essentially used for in the 1st place, to reward in good times, and cut in bad times), we now come out with a secondary 'bonus' component that can be cut from the employee. That is again exploitation of workers. Because you are not paying him more, you are just telling him that more and more of his pay is no longer guaranteed.
Major organizations find MVC a complicated tool, and stick to bonuses. Only smaller companies find it useful for exploitation because its easier to manage a smaller workforce.
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Originally posted by skythewood:
What you want to tell me, i got acknowledge. But i am very tired of you hogging on the point about work experience. I will have to pay off 16k of school debt when i graduate, so money is important to me.
I think you have worked too long, that's why you keep looking at the figures so much.
You are probably thinking that the ministers have such an easy job and they got paid such a high salary... They just need to govern over 3 million plus citizens only right? And they make alot of mistakes too.
And you will be willing to do the job for less pay, and probably do a better job too.
Actually, discuss so much no point. Go join government. Think you earn too much money, donate part of it away. And propose a cut in the pay of ministers when you are in government. The people will sure support you.
Point is, you have NO work experience, so you still cannot comprehend.
And, do you know the difference between understanding and comprehension? You might like to find out more first before coming back to debate.
Otherwise, your poor attitude is just like a military officer. If you die 10,000 soldiers, to you, there is no pain. 10,000 is just a figure to you, you don't see how people related to the 10,000 soldiers suffer.
Either way, no point to discuss with you further, when we try to knock some sense into you, you just brush everything off and ask everyone to f--k off (as what you like to post in your replies), so there is no point playing piano to a cow. You claim to acknowledge, but in effect, it's all superficial claims in feeble attempts to credit your maturity.
Sad. And we are supposed to improve with each generation. Luckily I mentor juniors that are way above your league, so I know Singapore still have some hope.
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I put up another example of exploitation.
My junior was offered the job as a Management Associate with a certain cooperative in Singapore (we all know there is only one). In the contract, there is a term that states it is expected that the employee should do OT, burn weekends and public holidays, without any replacement (compensation) via time offs. The contract is, in effect, asking you to sign your 24 hours to the cooperative.
Never mind that the cooperative is run by our union, who is supposed to champion the workers' rights (supposed haha).
I advised my junior to reject the job and inform the recruiter that its because of clause 2.1 (employees burn their non-working hours without compensation), and the recruiter had the cheek to say that the clause is just a clause, it's not really use (then why put it there to potentially exploit the workers in the 1st place?).
The above is what made me move to foreign companies, because local companies tend to exploit their employees with all the blessings from the govt.
If MVC fully takes off, it's again another tool to exploit the workers. Are fellow Singaporeans going to allow such exploitation to continue repeatedly? Why are we allowing such things to happen?
Each time, something detrimental to the citizens is put up to test waters (eg. if people take the job from the cooperative, the detrimental clause will start to appear in all other contracts). MVC is the same thing. Not to mention our Health minister testing the waters by suggesting to dump all our old people to JB. If we don't reject these trials, they will then take root and become something concrete.
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Originally posted by lookslikegod:
Unless you have the knowledge and is actually ABLE to do a better job than the present govt, I think you should shut the fuck up untill u can prove that you are better than them.
In other words, ACTION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS.
If you are good, you will definitely be supported. Copy and pasting facts, i also know.
why not just outsource our leadership and get in New Zealand leaders to run our country? After all, they are proven (ABLE to do a better job in your 'great' words above) to cost less, and perform better than our leaders (They are ranked 1 in least corrupted survey ahead of Singapore)
After all, our leaders enjoy bringing in lower cost labour to replace more expensive Singaporeans. Actions speak louder than words. They should lead by example (replacing themselves since they are way too expensive than the market rates)
Wonder who should really shut up? Probably people like you, the type that defends the govt blindly without sufficient research, only to shoot themselves in the foot
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Originally posted by angel7030:
well, i am just surprise why you are challenging a lion on calculation??*shrugs*, he's just good at extracting information and repeating them. There is insufficient analysis before he puts things up. So just reminding him to study more on budget policies before posting.
Budget surplus policies are usually used by small countries because countries like ours have not much else to depend on, except to hoard big amts of $$$. These $$$ are usually loaned to huge countries with budget deficit policies (and sometimes not getting it back).
The true extent of our massive losses are not even known (it's all conveniently hidden from you and I), and the joker actually used our reserves as a way to justify the pay of our leaders? Big joke.
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Well said soul_rage. Debate is not just twisting n turning of words, substance is important.
We heard you...certainly me.... -
Originally posted by soul_rage:
Point is, you have NO work experience, so you still cannot comprehend.
And, do you know the difference between understanding and comprehension? You might like to find out more first before coming back to debate.
Otherwise, your poor attitude is just like a military officer. If you die 10,000 soldiers, to you, there is no pain. 10,000 is just a figure to you, you don't see how people related to the 10,000 soldiers suffer.
Either way, no point to discuss with you further, when we try to knock some sense into you, you just brush everything off and ask everyone to f--k off (as what you like to post in your replies), so there is no point playing piano to a cow. You claim to acknowledge, but in effect, it's all superficial claims in feeble attempts to credit your maturity.
Sad. And we are supposed to improve with each generation. Luckily I mentor juniors that are way above your league, so I know Singapore still have some hope.
By knocking sense into me, you mean that I should agree with you totally, is that correct? That is what your juniors do all the time, agree with you? Do they have any ideas of their own to do things differently?
Maybe what you are trying to say that your money, tax money, cpf money, is being misused in the form of compensation to to the salary of the govt right? Just like AIG right?
Yes, I heard you. But you did not hear me. You think that the standard of compensation should follow the tradition, the market rate, of the world. That leaders don't need to be compensated that much, and that is not their main reason to serve.
And i am telling you that i think is not. yes, you can pay 100k per annum for the minister, and they should be happy to serve their country right? They will just look at their counterparts in the private sector, the leading CEOs, who makes millions per year, and they won't even regret it. A steady and slow minister who makes no mistakes, but no improvements will also be able to qualify. That's the kind of leader you want.
But the kind of leader I want is one that has the ideas and drive to make the country progress, to work like dogs to justify for his pay. And for any guy with the talent to run the country to go for it, and not reconsider his options because of pay issues.
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Originally posted by skythewood:
By knocking sense into me, you mean that I should agree with you totally, is that correct? That is what your juniors do all the time, agree with you? Do they have any ideas of their own to do things differently?
Maybe what you are trying to say that your money, tax money, cpf money, is being misused in the form of compensation to to the salary of the govt right? Just like AIG right?
Yes, I heard you. But you did not hear me. You think that the standard of compensation should follow the tradition, the market rate, of the world. That leaders don't need to be compensated that much, and that is not their main reason to serve.
And i am telling you that i think is not. yes, you can pay 100k per annum for the minister, and they should be happy to serve their country right? They will just look at their counterparts in the private sector, the leading CEOs, who makes millions per year, and they won't even regret it. A steady and slow minister who makes no mistakes, but no improvements will also be able to qualify. That's the kind of leader you want.
But the kind of leader I want is one that has the ideas and drive to make the country progress, to work like dogs to justify for his pay. And for any guy with the talent to run the country to go for it, and not reconsider his options because of pay issues.
No. My juniors have the right to have their own views (In fact, I encourage that. Too many people DON'T use their brains these days). I am fine with that. Just make sure they can substantiate their views. I have PAP friends who debate intensively with me, and I enjoy those debates.
For you, you haven't been able to substantiate your arguments properly. Your first of arguments were already invalid, and many times, you answer with one-liners, and you pretend to acknowledge arguments.
The above is at least a better articulation of your thoughts, so I applaud you at least for that, and give me some sense that Singapore has a bit more hope.
So my question is, since you said you want leaders who has ideas and drive to make the country progress, what are those ideas that you have seen so far that has some credibility (I know some and I can state those later)?
There are many people who claimed that they think the leaders are justified with their pay because they are very capable and have a lot of ideas. But when asked further, these people blanked out, you will realise that these people are just being influenced by propaganda.
And you know what the best part of this is, the irony of the whole issue? Is that I hear of people who join the PAP BECAUSE of the pay, not because of the passion to serve the people. Have you read about Servant Leadership yet, by the way, coz from your points above, you don't seem to understand it yet.
I only repeat my reminders 3 times when I ask someone to do something. The moment pass 3 reminders, it shows that the person does not know how to progress his maturity.
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Originally posted by skythewood:
By knocking sense into me, you mean that I should agree with you totally, is that correct? That is what your juniors do all the time, agree with you? Do they have any ideas of their own to do things differently?
Maybe what you are trying to say that your money, tax money, cpf money, is being misused in the form of compensation to to the salary of the govt right? Just like AIG right?
Yes, I heard you. But you did not hear me. You think that the standard of compensation should follow the tradition, the market rate, of the world. That leaders don't need to be compensated that much, and that is not their main reason to serve.
And i am telling you that i think is not. yes, you can pay 100k per annum for the minister, and they should be happy to serve their country right? They will just look at their counterparts in the private sector, the leading CEOs, who makes millions per year, and they won't even regret it. A steady and slow minister who makes no mistakes, but no improvements will also be able to qualify. That's the kind of leader you want.
But the kind of leader I want is one that has the ideas and drive to make the country progress, to work like dogs to justify for his pay. And for any guy with the talent to run the country to go for it, and not reconsider his options because of pay issues.
but so far, anyone with just a tiny bit of brains can come up with the "solutions" our current government had come up with so far.
i would have open many casinos many many years ago, than to wait until now. i would build more road, than erecting ERPs which doesn't work.
my point is to say that, the policies created by our politicians doesn't deserve $2m/yr
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Originally posted by 4sg:
Well said soul_rage. Debate is not just twisting n turning of words, substance is important.
We heard you...certainly me....Thanks 4sg. Note that I am not here to turn anyone into an opposition supporter or PAP supporter. I am here only to present my point of views of what I see about the present govt, so that each thinking individual can have a more balanced view (my view against govt propaganda) and make a better and more informed decision
Whether a person supports PAP or opposition is not something I would interfere with, SO LONG as the person demonstrates adequate ability to substantiate his support. What I do not like are people who support PAP, and DO NOT KNOW why they think PAP is so good (making me inclined to think that their support are just products of a propaganda, and not a thinking person)
Note that I do challenge extremists on both sides of the spectrum.
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Originally posted by deathmaster:
but so far, anyone with just a tiny bit of brains can come up with the "solutions" our current government had come up with so far.
i would have open many casinos many many years ago, than to wait until now. i would build more road, than erecting ERPs which doesn't work.
my point is to say that, the policies created by our politicians doesn't deserve $2m/yr
To further highlight your point, coming back to our dear friend skythewood saying that he prefers a leader who has ideas to drive the country
I would not want a lousy leader who implements successful ideas to progress Singapore on an economic level, but NOT on a social level. Economic progress at the expense of the citizens, is NOT a good idea.
Excuses not to make this a welfare state are, well, just excuses. Ideas like "Increasing GST to 7% to help the poor" is... urm... totally ridiculous.
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Originally posted by angel7030:
Oh, i never quote any countries hor, hor hor!! you said it. I aint arrogant nor ignorant, as far as i am concern, i am the most active young singapore gal in speaker corners, because i like to teas...oops sorry, talk to uncles mah.
I would just like to point out, that yes, I agree you are the most active YOUNG girl in this forum. Though I do not agree with some of your views, I can see you have your own perspective of things and form opinions from them.
However, do watch that attitude like calling yourself a CON-sultant, coz there are people here that are in consultant positions, and they do them professionally. I partly play a consultant role in my organization, and I don't appreciate people ridiculing true consultants who perform proper research work and investigations before recommending the best approach to their clients.
Coming back to your pub, I wish you all the best in your business. And do note I do not blame businesses for exploiting employees, because businesses are concerned with only one point - The bottom line. A business must profit, so it will do what is best to achieve its objective.
However, I do blame the govt for putting in place exploitation policies that businesses can utilize to exploit fellow Singaporeans. It is this blatant encouragement coming from the govt, that results in citizens getting more exploited with each passing day.
As some people said, being a Singapore citizen seems to be more a bane than a boon.
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Originally posted by soul_rage:
No. My juniors have the right to have their own views (In fact, I encourage that. Too many people DON'T use their brains these days). I am fine with that. Just make sure they can substantiate their views. I have PAP friends who debate intensively with me, and I enjoy those debates.
For you, you haven't been able to substantiate your arguments properly. Your first of arguments were already invalid, and many times, you answer with one-liners, and you pretend to acknowledge arguments.
The above is at least a better articulation of your thoughts, so I applaud you at least for that, and give me some sense that Singapore has a bit more hope.
So my question is, since you said you want leaders who has ideas and drive to make the country progress, what are those ideas that you have seen so far that has some credibility (I know some and I can state those later)?
There are many people who claimed that they think the leaders are justified with their pay because they are very capable and have a lot of ideas. But when asked further, these people blanked out, you will realise that these people are just being influenced by propaganda.
And you know what the best part of this is, the irony of the whole issue? Is that I hear of people who join the PAP BECAUSE of the pay, not because of the passion to serve the people. Have you read about Servant Leadership yet, by the way, coz from your points above, you don't seem to understand it yet.
I only repeat my reminders 3 times when I ask someone to do something. The moment pass 3 reminders, it shows that the person does not know how to progress his maturity.
I don't need you to applaud me. Are you expecting all my points to be valid and 100% true? I am not a genius, and I do make mistake, and i can acknowledge them. You can list out my mistakes and i will apologize for them again if that will make you happy
Any issues there are pros and cons. you can say that the cons outweigh the pros, but you cannot say that there are no pros.
I don't think all people are saints, and money is totally non-issue to them. that is your ideal, not mine. Servant leadership is your ideal too, and i don't intend to read it just because you ask me to. I didn't ask you to read the memoirs or thinking of LKY, Obama, and whoever, do I?
I don't care about your 3 reminder or whatever. debate the point. I don't attack your integrity, but i will debate your points. If you are going to get personal, than too bad loh.
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Originally posted by skythewood:
I don't need you to applaud me. Are you expecting all my points to be valid and 100% true? I am not a genius, and I do make mistake, and i can acknowledge them. You can list out my mistakes and i will apologize for them again if that will make you happy
Any issues there are pros and cons. you can say that the cons outweigh the pros, but you cannot say that there are no pros.
I don't think all people are saints, and money is totally non-issue to them. that is your ideal, not mine. Servant leadership is your ideal too, and i don't intend to read it just because you ask me to. I didn't ask you to read the memoirs or thinking of LKY, Obama, and whoever, do I?
I don't care about your 3 reminder or whatever. debate the point. I don't attack your integrity, but i will debate your points. If you are going to get personal, than too bad loh.
It's nothing personal. And you don't need to apologize.
As I said, those things I point out, and those things I ask you to read, are for you to learn more. If you don't want to read or don't wish to acknowledge those points, no one can force you. Just as no one can force a stubborn old man from thinking he is correct and everyone is wrong.
You do not even try to understand Servant Leadership, so don't come debating since you have nothing new to discuss. If you have the potential of a thinking person, you would read it, and then come to debate with me on whether it's a good mode of leadership or not. By refusing to even look at it, shows how much of a non-thinker you are.
*shrugs*. By the way, don't act like a saint. You have done personal attacks at people in this forum. I am not a saint. I see you are stupid, I will just point out you are stupid. It's up to you to decide to correct yourself.
I am ok with others pointing out I am stupid, by the way. Everyone is stupid at one point or another (even geniuses). It's what happens when you realize you are stupid, that helps to improve a person.
It's not about you being a genius or not. It's the immaturity of thought that I am hitting. You don't have the capacity to debate (yet). It depends on what you do next that helps you to mature. I was immature once, but I learn from all, whether someone hits me hard or not, so long as he's right, I accept. Anyway, I guess. it's hard for you to accept, so just leave it be.
By the way, I have read LKY memoirs before, coz there's many things to learn (and not learn) from the guy.
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Originally posted by lionnoisy:
http://www.econstats.com/weo/CAUS.htm
lets base on the above and do some maths.
Lets see how CEO of Singapore,Inc,is PM LHL, worth every single cent.
Salary = annual salary of Executive Head,President or PM in USD$
per capita--GDP per capita at PPP in USD$
Ratio--salary/ per capita as defined above
%=Net national reserve +/debts -- in term GDP(%),in USD
Temask and GIC total net assets amount to over UD$220 billions.
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Country..... salary ..per capita$...Ratio...reserve/debts %
USA.......400,000...46,000..........8.7................--77%
SG........2.47 m......47,000.........52.5.................+100%
@@@@@@@@@@@@
U CAN COMPLIE other G 20 countries etc to compare.
wat is the Fxxking use when a country is in heavy debt,for generations,
but the President is so called low pay!!
Like Cantonese say goes,
GOOD THINGS NEVER CHEAP.
CHEAP THING NEVER GOOD.
If anyone tell u cheap and good,beware this is another Mini Bond!!
Honda Civic 1.8L (140ps)
Cost in US: S$25,000
Cost in SG: S$75,000
Which one better?
According to lionnoisy, Singapore Honda Civic will be better because it cost more.
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"for too long is that you have a CEO who basically selects his board;......... the board, in a fairly cozy relationship oftentimes with the executive...... hires a executive compensation firm, which, surprisingly, tends to think that it's necessary to retain the best talent to pay people $20 or $30 million a year; ...........and we get into the kinds of habits and practices that I think have not been _ have not served shareholders well, I think ultimately distort the decision-making of many CEOs."
Is this reflection not similar to our experience in Singapore ?
A political CEO - who basically selects his own Inner Circle of Talent... that has a cozy relationship with the Executive Government which is formed by his own hand-picked talents, who appoint a Study Group formed by political talents from within the Party assigned to review remuneration for Civil Servants - (which include Government Ministers).
The outcome is the same non-accountable attitudes as the Financial Executives in Wall Street developing ponzi schemes and dubious financial packages.
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Originally posted by Atobe:
Is this reflection not similar to our experience in Singapore ?
A political CEO - who basically selects his own Inner Circle of Talent... that has a cozy relationship with the Executive Government which is formed by his own hand-picked talents, who appoint a Study Group formed by political talents from within the Party assigned to review remuneration for Civil Servants - (which include Government Ministers).
The outcome is the same non-accountable attitudes as the Financial Executives in Wall Street developing ponzi schemes and dubious financial packages.
Well said, o Great One.
To highlight your point, LHL at one point was asking corporations to define their KPI clearly for each employee so that it will give the employee more clearer targets (and hence more stress at the same time) what it takes for them to perform. This KPI list will be used by the manager of the employee to rank the employee.
So who is LHL answerable to? Shouldn't he lead by example by putting a KPI on himself and being answerable to us? Or he has forgotten what he suggested.
Coming back to the immature kid skythewood's comment on he thinks its ok to pay astronomical salaries to our leaders who will provide good ideas to drive the country forward. He does not want a leader that plays it safe.
We will ignore the "good idea" part of his argument, since he cannot even provide some good instances of policies which he thinks justifies the ridiculous pay of our leaders.
Let's focus on the part on paying high = getting people who dare to take risk. Is this necessarily true? My view is that, unless there are specific targets for such highly-paid personnel, he will play it safe by making the least mistakes in order to retain his high-paying job.
As another point to note for the immature kid, the stress level for top senior management in the private sector is very high, because they must report results every quarter, and answer to their shareholders every year.Or risk getting replaced.
Is this true for our leaders? They only need to answer to their shareholders (the citizens like you and I) every 5 years during an election, not to mention they plant so many obstacles to ensure we cannot raise our protest effectively.
So again, I still cannot fathom people here who actually think they are justified to be paid 4-5x more than the market rate.
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To the many who have said that the government policies are undeserving of their pay, may I humbly enquire what kind of policies would be considered as justifying their wages?
I cannot emphasize more about the flaw of comparing the so called 'market rate' with what our politicians are drawing. Its not about whether higher pay ensures risk taking or not or whether our politicians have been accountable to us. Its simple logic of demand and supply. When supply of politician low, price high. Simple. There are no tricks no foul-play whatsoever. In such a small populace, those with high capabilities, intellectually gifted and have strong characters capable of being in the government are far and few within. Whilst there is so much talk about servant leadership and passion to serve, the truly pressing problem is how to attract people to give up a corporate job for a public one. It really is simple logic. Let me ask you soul_rage how would you compare yourself to Barack Obama? Its as simple as if I offer US$400k, I get someone like Obama to run the nation. If i offer US$40k I would probably get someone like soul_rage. It is not about the politicians sitting there and setting their pay. It is precisely because of the pay and that their qualitifications command it that they are sitting there in the first place! Peopl are getting lost in the idea that people get into the cabinet and say ' okay this year we shall draw $2.7m'. It works in exactly the reverse manner and you all out that got to understand this logic. The jobs attract the people, not the people attract the jobs.
And honestly those who call our politicians or anyone money-minded for that matter are mere hypocrites.Go and ask yourself why you are even here criticizing politicians for their seemingly exhorbitant pays. It is precisely because you are money-minded yourself! It pinches you to see the money go to them! Do you think you would complain if you were in their shoes? Its okay to complain if Singapore's present economic state is like Malaysia, then they are not doing your job. Youth today and young adults are so comfortable with life, they have the luxury of sitting behind computers to criticize bout people who have made their environment they are sitting in possible. Yes our government is not infallible, but neither are many around the world. It is easy to sit here and say oh build casino who dont know. But are you recognizing the magnitude and impact of such a move? Have you done a thorough socio-economic analysis on the repurcussions? Have you asked yourself about the purpose and number of jobs created? What about the problem of gambling addicts? What is the optimal size of the casinos and what rules need to be in place to maintain the social fabric? You think the above are questions solvable by a chat over coffee?