• Ilandar@aussie.zoneOP
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    9
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    It is unreasonable for anyone to be earning that amount of money and the fact that others earn more should not be used as a justification. Particularly considering how many additional benefits politicians receive alongside their exorbitant salaries.

    • rastilin@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Personally I do want politicians to be earning enough that it stops being super easy to bribe them. If that means giving them a few million a year that’s fine, because it’s pocket change compared to the cost savings in terms of corruption.

      • Ilandar@aussie.zoneOP
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        10
        ·
        1 year ago

        The other side of this is that higher wages increasingly attract people fixated solely on personal wealth accumulation, who themselves are hardly immune to bribery. Are these the personalities we need in positions of power?

      • morry040@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        In first world countries, wages do not influence susceptibility to bribery.

        In high-income countries, petty corruption is less common because wages are above subsistence level. Corruption in these countries, if present, involves more secret deals, brings about larger payoffs, and is more difficult to detect. Government wages will arguably be less effective to combat the latter form of corruption.
        https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/higher-government-wages-may-reduce-corruption

    • Gorgritch_Umie_Killa@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      If I could augment your argument a little…

      The number itself isn’t unreasonable. Its the disparity and ‘quality of life’ differences that yeilds, that i think are the key issues. Such as personal agency in life choices.

      The worst parts of poverty are often about the choice constraints imposed.