[quote=yojimbo]
Since BP makes $10 billion a year I shouldn’t even question a mayor of a small town pilfering it’s residents for $800k a year? Well, there are roughly 30,000 incorporated cities and towns in the US. If, on average, the pilfering is around $100k a year per city then that’s $3 billion a year. In the larger cities it’s probably far above that. A $1 million a year pilfering equals $30 billion. Probably more than all the oil companies combined have allegedly ripped us off.
Pilfering the taxpayer at any level pisses me off. In fact, I think it starts at the lower levels and works it’s way up to the top. Those exploiting the system for small amounts as rookies will probably become professional big $ exploiters in due time.[/quote]
Nobody’s saying we shouldn’t question a mayor of a small town making $800K. Believe it or not, I’m a taxpayer advocate and often criticize the way our tax money is spent.
I just have a problem with the “Susie the manicurist isn’t making this, so why should a firefighter?” or even “John the enginerd isn’t making this, so why is a cop?” arguments. One could easily argue that a police officer provides a much greater benefit to society than an engineer, and that the risks s/he takes are greater. Likewise, one could argue that the engineer has more education…but education has never meant that a person is guaranteed to make more money than someone without an education (lots of poor PhDs out there). One could also argue that high risks don’t guarantee high pay (look at our military personnel).
Again, I despise the fact that **workers of all stripes** are being made (brainwashed) to turn agaist each other when the culprits who created our problems are sailing away on their yachts, unscathed.
