The Observation Deck

Hi,
Ron Paul just announced if elected President he would cut the pay of the President to $39,336, that's the average income of an American. Sounds like a great idea.

I do not know if the avg. Lakewoodite makes more or less than that, but I like the idea of the leader of the City or Country, being paid just what the average guy gets paid. It would provide incentive to raise that number and help the Leader understand his constituents.

Donald Farris wrote:Hi,
Ron Paul just announced if elected President he would cut the pay of the President to $39,336, that's the average income of an American. Sounds like a great idea.

I do not know if the avg. Lakewoodite makes more or less than that, but I like the idea of the leader of the City or Country, being paid just what the average guy gets paid. It would provide incentive to raise that number and help the Leader understand his constituents.

Not sure if that would be good or not, but aren't most people who have said such a thing already pretty affluent? How does this affect a person who would be extremely dedicated and successful in such a position but needs to make a living for his family, with no prior wealth?

...only if you want the mayor to be of average quality.

Ron Paul has been ignored by the mainstream media and I feel badly that he now has to resort to platitudes to try to get some attention.

Of course the President of the United States should make more money than the average citizen and of course the Mayor of any city should make more than the average resident of that city.

How foolish to consider otherwise....

Hi,
Mainstream media is controlled by big banks and the industrial military complex. They are scared to death Ron Paul will step in and end the endless wars. Ron Paul's plan today to cut a trillion dollars from the federal budget next year and balance the budget within 3 yrs, is just what the United States needs.

How much you make a year is no indication of your intelligence. If the leader of Lakewood was paid what the average taxpayer makes, I think he/she would have a much better understanding of the issues they face. The Mayor or President should never be viewed as a pathway to wealth, but instead, one of service.

Donald Farris wrote:Hi,
Ron Paul just announced if elected President he would cut the pay of the President to $39,336, that's the average income of an American. Sounds like a great idea.

I do not know if the avg. Lakewoodite makes more or less than that, but I like the idea of the leader of the City or Country, being paid just what the average guy gets paid. It would provide incentive to raise that number and help the Leader understand his constituents.

That is one of the stupidest ideas I've heard in a while.

Does the average Lakewoodite manage an entire city with a multi-million dollar budget?

Lakewood underpays its mayor for the amount of responsibility.

Let's reduce the pay of people who make obscene amounts of money while adding almost nothing of real value to our society. Maybe hedge fund managers should try to get by on $39,336.

.

Donald Farris wrote:How much you make a year is no indication of your intelligence.

I would agree somewhat with that statement, however that doesn't make Ron Paul's idea any less ludicrous. Does the CEO of Apple Computer deserve to make the same as a kid who buys his iPods? We could pay our mayor the $39K, but shouldn't we be shooting a little higher? Ron Paul can propose this for himself as an example of personal sacrifice, but as a matter of policy? The guy's a nut job.

Donald Farris wrote:Hi,
Mainstream media is controlled by big banks and the industrial military complex. They are scared to death Ron Paul will step in and end the endless wars. Ron Paul's plan today to cut a trillion dollars from the federal budget next year and balance the budget within 3 yrs, is just what the United States needs.

How much you make a year is no indication of your intelligence. If the leader of Lakewood was paid what the average taxpayer makes, I think he/she would have a much better understanding of the issues they face. The Mayor or President should never be viewed as a pathway to wealth, but instead, one of service.

But what the American people face is not limited to economic matters....

That is one of the stupidest ideas I've heard in a while.

Does the average Lakewoodite manage an entire city with a multi-million dollar budget?

Lakewood underpays its mayor for the amount of responsibility.

Let's reduce the pay of people who make obscene amounts of money while adding almost nothing of real value to our society. Maybe hedge fund managers should try to get by on $39,336.

I bet a young accountant would do just fine at managing a multi-million dollar budget..

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job ... ant/Salary

Stephen Eisel wrote:

That is one of the stupidest ideas I've heard in a while.

Does the average Lakewoodite manage an entire city with a multi-million dollar budget?

Lakewood underpays its mayor for the amount of responsibility.

Let's reduce the pay of people who make obscene amounts of money while adding almost nothing of real value to our society. Maybe hedge fund managers should try to get by on $39,336.

I bet a young accountant would do just fine at managing a multi-million dollar budget..

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job ... ant/Salary

Yeah, maybe one of those ex-Enron accountants?

J Hrlec wrote:

Stephen Eisel wrote:

That is one of the stupidest ideas I've heard in a while.

Does the average Lakewoodite manage an entire city with a multi-million dollar budget?

Lakewood underpays its mayor for the amount of responsibility.

Let's reduce the pay of people who make obscene amounts of money while adding almost nothing of real value to our society. Maybe hedge fund managers should try to get by on $39,336.

I bet a young accountant would do just fine at managing a multi-million dollar budget..

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job ... ant/Salary

Yeah, maybe one of those ex-Enron accountants?

Enron had nothing to do with young accountants. It was CEO, chief auditor and CFO that cooked the books..

Donald Farris wrote:How much you make a year is no indication of your intelligence. If the leader of Lakewood was paid what the average taxpayer makes, I think he/she would have a much better understanding of the issues they face. The Mayor or President should never be viewed as a pathway to wealth, but instead, one of service.

That's generally true, I've met a few smart people who don't make much and a few dummies that seem to fall into piles of money thru no fault of their own. Then there are the Hollywood celebrities who think money makes them smarter.

If the leader of Lakewood was paid what the average resident earns, after a while you'd be getting what you paid for. You'd have the Anthony Davis' of Lakewood vying for Mayor. To get talent, you have to pay for talent. As a matter of fact, I take the opposite view, make the Mayor's salary 120k per year. This would entice more qualified candidates. Not because they want to get rich but so they don’t have to take a pay cut.

Ron Paul's gesture is an attention grabber. Big deal. What does it prove? If I had millions in my bank account, I'd hold public office for an average wage or even a dollar.

Stephen Eisel wrote:

That is one of the stupidest ideas I've heard in a while.

Does the average Lakewoodite manage an entire city with a multi-million dollar budget?

Lakewood underpays its mayor for the amount of responsibility.

Let's reduce the pay of people who make obscene amounts of money while adding almost nothing of real value to our society. Maybe hedge fund managers should try to get by on $39,336.

I bet a young accountant would do just fine at managing a multi-million dollar budget..

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job ... ant/Salary

Young accountant? Seriously? And manage all the city departments and their employees to deliver an incredibly broad range of city services? And do that within all of the legal constraints and mandates of the state and federal governments? And act as the City Safety Director? And answer to the demands and will of the people?

I will spare you a longer list.

Mr. Eisel, you are naive, at best. I would not "bet" on that "young accountant".

Frankly, I think we are lucky to elect someone from our city that can handle all that. Further, I'd like to take some of the luck out of it, hire an experienced City Manager, pay him/her the going rate, give him/her a well defined mission, and set policy from our elected City Council.


Steve

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stephen davis wrote:

Stephen Eisel wrote:

That is one of the stupidest ideas I've heard in a while.

Does the average Lakewoodite manage an entire city with a multi-million dollar budget?

Lakewood underpays its mayor for the amount of responsibility.

Let's reduce the pay of people who make obscene amounts of money while adding almost nothing of real value to our society. Maybe hedge fund managers should try to get by on $39,336.

I bet a young accountant would do just fine at managing a multi-million dollar budget..

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job ... ant/Salary

Young accountant? Seriously? And manage all the city departments and their employees to deliver an incredibly broad range of city services? And do that within all of the legal constraints and mandates of the state and federal governments? And act as the City Safety Director? And answer to the demands and will of the people?

I will spare you a longer list.

Mr. Eisel, you are naive, at best. I would not "bet" on that "young accountant".

Frankly, I think we are lucky to elect someone from our city that can handle all that. Further, I'd like to take some of the luck out of it, hire an experienced City Manager, pay him/her the going rate, give him/her a well defined mission, and set policy from our elected City Council.


Steve

.

I would take a young accountant over a career politician anyday. Have you looked outside your window lately? Look what the career politicians have done to this country? Now, who is naive? LOL

PS.. every politician but Ed Fitzgerald...

Why on earth would anyone advocate for equalizing salaries? The whole point of having salaries at various levels is to (theoretically) delineate the more difficult and responsible jobs. That is not always the case, but I would argue that every single president, even the unpopular ones, deserve their salaries just for holding an office at that level. We aren't paying them millions a year.

I agree Ron Paul's idea is an attention getting one. That's fine, campaigns are for that. But I can assure you that being Mayor of Lakewood is not a job that I would advocate have a lower salary. You want to encourage people to run, all kinds of people from different backgrounds.

Think of it this way. If I am a young and potentially high earning employee with great career prospects in several fields, and you want me to consider running for Mayor, but tell me that the salary is going to be no higher than average, but I can get 3 times that at another job, I am probably not going to run for Mayor. I have no accrued wealth to live on that salary and do that much work. So essentially, and realistically, reducing the salary for Mayor means that you are discouraging younger, middle class or lower, candidates.

Now, if a Mayor is particularly philanthropic and wants to forgoe their salary, that is a nice gesture and should be recognized. But to force everyone to adhere to that is a little unfair.

And yes, I agree with previous comments that there are jobs in this coutnry where people do very little and are compensated a lot. One of the tradeoffs of our economic model is that those imperfections in the system exist. If someone had a solution to it, they would have made quite a bit of money themselves.