What value a politician ?

In Ireland we have a very proud opinion of our education - i hesitate to add the word system - but we generally regard ourselves an educated, informed, literate, intellectual people.  A nation of poet-philosophers.  A copped-on lot.

We spend somewhere between twelve and eighteen years in school and college getting mentally and technically equipped to go out into the world to make our mark or at least find a good life for ourselves and our eventual families.

When we leave the safety of the classroom and are pitted against each other to fight for role, position, rank and function in the waged world, we generally begin working life with pay, and maybe benefits, relative to our education, experience and skill set.

Progression thereafter depends of our performance and other factors not in our control.

Our worth to our employer and our earning power is reflected in what we add to the business, what we do to improve things either internally in the business operations or externally in the market place where the company's products or services compete vigorously for market share and profits.  Often this requires ongoing training as we try to maintain our competitive edge and keep apace with technology and other developments.

Hang on though  !!

Why get on that treadmill ?

Why join the lemmings in the lose-lose rat race ?

Why not just go into politics ?

What skills do yo need ?  What qualifications do you need ?  What experience do you need ?  What do you actually have to DO ?

Take our taoiseach, the right horrible Mr Enda Kenny.  I use this phrase quite deliberately because like the dinosaurs in the UK's House of Lords, Mr Kenny pretty much inherited his position from his father.  He trained as a school teacher, has been a TD since 1975 and is currently the longest serving member of Dail Eireann - the Grand Old Man of Leinster House.

Where did he learn his politics ?  What makes him the best man for the job ?  How did he get to the top ?  What has he done before becoming taoiseach ?  What value has he added to either the internal operations of the political system or the external market place - the State and its citizens or the State as an International entity ?


As reported by Jack Quann in the Irish Independent January 2nd 2013:

"The Taoiseach Enda Kenny is the 3rd best-paid leader in the European Union (EU).
Mr. Kenny who cut his salary by €14,000 to €200,000 a year on taking office is still paid more than the vast majority of EU leaders.
German Chancellor Angela Merckel and the Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Junker are the only leaders to be paid more.
They earn €250,000 and €210,000 each.
Less than the US President
The Irish Independent says the French president Francois Hollande is paid €179,000, British Prime Minister David Cameron is paid €172,000 and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is paid just €75,000.
While the Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti has given up his entire salary.
Mr. Kenny is still being paid more than leaders of several non-bailout nations such as the Netherlands, Finland and Poland.
However Mr Kenny is earning less than the US President Barack Obama.
He is currently on a salary of €303,000."

What does Ireland get for this salary ?  What exactly is Enda Kenny being compensated for that merits this salary ?  What great knowledge does he bring to his position as leader of our country?  What skill set?   What experience ?  What track record ?  What brilliant intellect ?  What negotiation skills ?  What marketing skills ?  What vision ?

Why is he worth € 300,000 a year ?

He's not.

And he's not worth the pension that will be handed to him upon retirement.

Ordinary people have to EARN their wages, and have to EARN their pensions.  But politicians WIN their salaries and pensions in the reality-tv contest which is the General Election - a farcical pretense at democracy which should be renamed The Biggest Liar ... I mean even Pat Rabbitte agrees with that.

No politician in Ireland EARNS the salaries and pensions they steal from the homeless, the sick, the elderly, the young, the home-owner, PAYE worker and the self employed .... wait a minute.... THAT'S THE WHOLE COUNTRY!!

No Fianna Fail TD of the past twenty years added one cent of value to the lives of the citizens of this country and yet they claim ENTITLEMENT to pensions worth more in a single year than many people in their thirties and now on the dole will ever earn in the remainder of their working lives.

Politicians need to justify their wages ..... every other person in the country has to !!

There are more than 100,000 people on the dole today with more knowledge, experience, skill, track record and more bollox to do the job of Taoiseach than Enda Kenny.

If Enda Kenny had the skills, experience, knowledge and ability to legitimately earn a salary of €300,000 a year he would be the board of Goldman Sachs.

Enda Kenny couldn't get a job in the mail room at Goldman Sachs.

Come on, people ... TAKE THE POWER BACK!!!