george bush's new neighborhood

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

george bush's new neighborhood

john31584 · Zinc Saucier

There are some pretty nice-looking houses on that street.

john31584 · Zinc Saucier

Also, Bush is apparently preparing to write his memoirs.

That's going to be some pretty fun reading, I think.

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

picture books, i hope

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

john31584 wrote:

There are some pretty nice-looking houses on that street.

although bush's 2.1-M$ house looks somewhat modest (for its market value), note that on a street behind the cul-de-sac, the houses are literal mansions with pools and several cars parked in their driveways

this lends support to my claim that the office of u.s. president should be unpaid community service

john31584 · Zinc Saucier

The constitution requires that the president be paid a salary, though.

I suppose they could make it something like $50 per year.

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

the constitution can also be amended

john31584 · Zinc Saucier

If we want to attract a wide range of people to run for public office, it seems like doing away with the presidential salary wouldn't be a good idea.

It's not like you can take a second job to support yourself while you're president.

"Sorry, I can't go to that meeting with [foreign head of state] - my supervisor is a real dick and has me cleaning the grease traps all week"

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

john31584 wrote:

If we want to attract a wide range of people to run for public office, it seems like doing away with the presidential salary wouldn't be a good idea.

It's not like you can take a second job to support yourself while you're president.

"Sorry, I can't go to that meeting with [foreign head of state] - my supervisor is a real dick and has me cleaning the grease traps all week"

i propose that positions in executive and legislative branches should be populated like juries. however, there would be a need to filter out the morons, the crooks, and the crazies from the selection pool; however, this alone would be a massive improvement over the current system.

but i guess the qualified individuals would resent a drop in pay and time away from current work to serve the country. but tough shit: it's for the common good

john31584 · Zinc Saucier

So you're advocating slavery, basically.

Wouldn't most people resent being drafted into politics and do a horrible job?

DEATHPIGGIE · I'm fat and nobody likes me

QED.

Jason · Only in cartoons

Umm... Bush did not get his money by being president for eight years. He's a member of a very wealthy family and he made most of his money in business before going into politics.

Andy001 · Spaghetti

Hahaha, oh Mathsex.
Even I would never argue that politicians don't deserve to get paid a decent wage. It's just a job like any other.

Jason · Only in cartoons

The reason politicians are paid a salary is that theoretically a poor person could run for office and afford to serve their term without starving to death. We shouldn't even be having this conversation.

Andy001 · Spaghetti

You want money?! For WORKING?! No, that's just craazy talk!

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

Jason wrote:

Umm... Bush did not get his money by being president for eight years. He's a member of a very wealthy family and he made most of his money in business before going into politics.

yes, i'm aware. i just don't understand how bush deserved 3.2-M$ for his "service" to the country. his wealth before assuming office shows that taxpayers didn't need to pay his room and board in a full-service mansion, let alone the salary that's roughly 10 times larger than the median household income for americans

john31584 wrote:

Wouldn't most people resent being drafted into politics and do a horrible job?

the only thing that would change is that taxpayers wouldn't have to pay their salaries. the horrible job factor is there regardless of whether a career politician is screwing over the average american, or there is a person of non-malicious intent resenting his job

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

Andy001 wrote:

Hahaha, oh Mathsex.
Even I would never argue that politicians don't deserve to get paid a decent wage. It's just a job like any other.

i don't know of any job outside of government in which the employees set the wages for equals (even if the constitution forbids a direct pay raise within a term)

a post-service pension makes perfect sense, provided that the service was worth compensating and that the employee needs the compensation (example: president grant)

Jason · Only in cartoons

MATHSEX wrote:

yes, i'm aware. i just don't understand how bush deserved 3.2-M$ for his "service" to the country. his wealth before assuming office shows that taxpayers didn't need to pay his room and board in a full-service mansion, let alone the salary that's roughly 10 times larger than the median household income for americans

We can argue about whether Bush did a good job as president, but in general I don't mind the president being paid $3.2 million. People get paid a lot more for doing a lot less influential things than being the chief executive of the most powerful country.

MATHSEX · MASTER BATOR

and people get paid far less.

i've changed my mind about politicians not getting paid. election ballots should be judged like a job application: printed next to the name of every candidate should be the candidate's desired wage. although the constitution states that the house of representatives is responsible for budget legislation, there is no reason that candidates' salaries should be any different than ballot measures concerning property/sales taxes