Comments on: Utility vehicle

By: scott partee

scott partee — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 18:09:39 +0000

Oh, BTW, I forgot the punchline. THis mayor has since been indicted at the Federal level for racketeering.

By: scott partee

scott partee — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 18:08:26 +0000

not to sound overly cynical or anything, but it really doesn’t matter what you pay politicians because the whole point is that they get power and, in this world, money and power hang out together. If they have money, they’ll get power. If they have power, they’ll get money — regardless of salary.

I once saw the mayor and his wife in the grocery store. Most people who saw this were thinking “look there: our mayor: regular guy.” But when his wife pulled a roll of $100 bills out of her Louie Vuitton (or howeveryouspellit) purse to pay the tab, I thought it nothing but odd.

By: eeksypeeksy

eeksypeeksy — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 15:18:26 +0000

Teachers ought to get paid based on the value of the position to parents and society in general. Ask people to rate professions in terms of how important it is to have smart, educated, competent, experienced, talented people in those positions. As employers to rate professions on how valuable they are to their businesses. Ask them to consider truck drivers, bakers, librarians, assembly line workers, construction workers, bartenders, accountants, janitors, etc., and, of course, to consider teachers. If teachers are rated more important, in those terms, than, say, truck drivers and bakers and assemly line workers and bartenders and construction workers, then make sure teachers get paid more than the average incomes in those other professions.

And, thinking in US terms, make these wages a federal requirement, and pay teachers with federal taxes. Don’t let crappy little local organizations run by anti-tax yahoos decide that teachers don’t deserve a good living. Also, do not adjust teacher pay to match the cost of living in the area. Make it high enough to live in (or within reasonable commuting distance of) pretty much anywhere there are schools in the US. This would make it financially advantageous to live and teach in poorer areas.

Of course, I just made that up as fast as I could type it, but I’m still sure it would be better than the system that’s in place. And I needed an excuse to rant about something.

By: j-a

j-a — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 18:24:09 +0000

first off – let me just say i assume that many people out there are like me and want to be paid enough to realise they are appreciated.

second – i think it would be a great idea to pay more to teachers. that way they will feel they are in a prestigious position (not just a noble, good cause) and this will attract applications from people who are willing to work in prestigious positions. if more people apply, and the competition increases you will get better quality people becoming teachers.

third – i’m not sure that this idea will work with politicians, because politics is something else. pay civil servants more so that they do their job and don’t feel justified in taking bribes (see singapore) but not politicians!

By: novala

novala — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 15:52:44 +0000

Why do you get a higher quality of teacher just because you pay them more? I think you only get more applications.

You should pay politicians less – maybe those who really, really want to do it, will do it.

By: mig

mig — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 14:20:41 +0000

I think so too, but it wouldn’t have been much of an argument if I’d’ve agreed with my kid.

By: anne

anne — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 13:52:36 +0000

if you paid teachers more, you might get a higher quality of teachers. i don’t think if you paid politicians more you’d get better politicians. i think they’re in it for the power more than the money in the first place. you’d just be more likely to get more trump types, driven by money and power.