I really don’t pay much attention to government workers compensation. During most of my business career, it was the private sector that provided economic opportunity and I rarely, if ever, thought anyone would seek any kind of public service position for the “money.”
Now, naturally, there were many already wealthy individuals and others who’d been financially successful elsewhere, later deciding to enter the public sector. Most of them were considered patriotic, dedicated citizens for abandoning self-interests to serve for the greater good. Folks like the Roosevelt's, Rockefeller’s and Kennedy’s come to mind. And certainly, none of them truly needed whatever compensation their public positions yielded.
Along the line, there were also those who abused their power, accepting bribes, engaged in graft and involving themselves in corrupt activities or shady deals, but most of that was abided by the public as small-time dalliance, so long as jobs themselves were performed in acceptable manners.
And then, in the late 1980’s and early 90’s, when Bill Clinton arose as a national presence, although corruption, power abuse and money as primary motivations for public service were still relatively small in scope, awareness rose considerably. Nonetheless, he ascended to the presidency, despite the taint and distrust associated with his name.
Now, here we are thirty years later, where a couple of headlines on Drudge clearly illustrate how much things have changed. Because, politics and public service are not only now among the highest compensated occupations in the nation, I think it’s truly incredible how things have developed career-wise overall.
According to Amy Chozik of The New York Times, “Just a few months after leaving the State Department, Hillary Rodham Clinton has plunged into the lucrative world of paid speechmaking, joining a branch of the family business that has brought the Clintons more than $100 million since her husband left the White House in 2001.”
So, here we have Slick Willy who’s built himself into a national icon, while also collecting the rewards attained by virtue of his prior position as POTUS. His wife, however, accomplished absolutely nothing other than marrying Bill, yet still demands $200,000 for a speaking engagement. That’s an awful lot of cash for an empty pants-suit wed to a high profile guy.
Along the same lines we also have Janet Napolitano, the U.S. secretary of Homeland Security and former governor of Arizona, who according to Larry Gordon of the Los Angeles Times is being named as the next president of the University of California system.
Mr. Gordon reports that it’s “an unusual choice that brings a national-level politician to a position usually held by an academic, The Times has learned. Her appointment also means the 10-campus system will be headed by a woman for the first time in its 145-year history.”
In this case, we have someone who’s stood by while the nation’s border with Mexico has become so porous nobody really knows how many illegal aliens cross it each day. She’s also the person who’s blocked every reasonable attempt to uphold our immigration laws to the extent that subversives from other lands now enter the U.S. the same way, knowing there’s little chance of ever being caught.
But, in the end it really doesn’t matter how poorly she’s performed because she’s moving on to become the next president of the University of California system. What’s more, it appears that as a reward for total incapable job performance, she’s receiving a handsome reward.
While I couldn’t find current information about her compensation, I found her predecessors, Mark G. Yudof.
According to Wikipedia, in 2008 Yudof received “an annual base salary of $591,084 (The UC salary falls below the midpoint salary ($606,200) set for this position by the Board of Regents and below the median salary ($644,900) of leaders of similar public and private universities used by the California Postsecondary Education Commission for comparison purposes.”
Additionally, “Supplemental pension funding amounting to $228,000 in 2008-09 and varying somewhat each year thereafter. Along with, an automobile allowance of $743 per month or $8,916 per year and University-provided housing, as a condition of employment.”
So, here we have another total incompetent from government leaving a post for another which will likely pay her around a million bucks per annum. Which means, I guess, I’ll have to change my opinion of those who enter public service. Because today, as strange as it may sound, these dregs of society are doing it because that’s the road to where the money is. Who would have believed it?
That's it for today folks.
Adios
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