My refutation:
You know I love you, God knows I do ("I luz Harpo, God Know I do!....) But.... I am going to have to respectfully offer a more broad perspective on the situation.
We live in the zip code in Missouri with the most income per capita in the state of Missouri - 63124: Ladue, MO
The suburbs that surround us can't be far behind: Clayton, Frontenac, Huntleigh, etc. All these areas are immediately west of the St. Louis City limits, and are considered St. Louis County.
Ladue, MO is #20 per capita in the entire United States, and as a comparison, Beverly Hills, CA is #99. Another interesting fact is that August Busch of Anheuser-Busch lives less than a mile from our house, and he lives in the next "burg" over - Huntleigh, not Ladue.
There is a house that is less than a quarter of a mile - a few blocks from our house, where the UPKEEP and TAXES on their home is more than the combined income ($1,170,938) of the individuals you listed above. Please don't misunderstand me. I didn't say the value of this home is $1,170,938, I said the yearly costs of running and maintaining this home is $1,170,938. Mark and I went to an estate sale right across the street from this house. It was one of the smallest homes in the area, and is up for sale: $4.1 million. The house where the upkeep is $1,170,938: $20 million.
Compared to the average doctor, CEO, business owner or business man, in general, that lives in our area, **ALL** of the people that you have listed above have embarrassingly low incomes. And they run our country, or keep us protected.
Another fact that goes in this category is the fact that many of the past Presidents of the United States have forfeited their salaries. How can they do this? They were independently wealthy before being elected.
I am honestly and truly not the jealous type. I have learned to avoid jealousy like the plague. The result of not doing such will cause people to morph into my family members! I don't care one way or the other whether they are independently wealthy, or not. I would be living in the wrong area if people with money made me jealous, if you know what I mean.
HOWEVER..... (Don't you just love "Howevers" ?....)
Since our government is known for underpaying our leaders, only the wealthy can afford to run for the position, leaving only the wealthy and their ideals to make decisions for the rest of the country. If we RAISE their salaries, it makes these positions competitive for all, allowing more of a wide range of the population to occupy these offices, rather than a rich, elite group. It really isn't in our best interest to allow a group of rich people to run a country where most of us are "financially embarrassed", if you know what I mean.
While I am on the 'Alice In Wonderland' tour, please allow me one more segway.
Many people are strongly opposed to self check-out lanes in supermarkets. Their argument is that the this invention is taking away jobs that could be filled by unemployed humans.
(Open your tough little noggins and be ready to accept NEW and exciting information!)
1) Self check-out lanes are NOT replacing humans. An increasing work load will have to be accomplished by the number of cashiers that the store already has employed. If they take out the self check-out lanes, they are NOT going to hire more cashiers to replace the removed self check-out lanes. Self check-out lanes are not REPLACING anybody, they are assisting those that are already there!
2) If these lanes were not in our markets, you would be waiting in long lines for the same number of cashiers as the store employed BEFORE the self check-out lanes your wait in a check out lane, in a longer line, waiting for a human to ring up your purchases - would be much longer.
Unfortunately for those who share my world, my thoughts are never 'linear'. Likewise, trying to explain the monkeys juggling knives in my head is no real walk in the park, either.
I don't know if crossing the Government Salary debate with the Self Check-Out debate made anything more clear, or confused the Hell out of my dear readers. While you decide, I will summarize:
1) Don't cut government employee's salaries. They are already so low that they are embarrassing the Hell out of our country in the eyes of the rest of the world. Don't cut the government employee's salaries - RAISE ALL THEIR SALARIES, INCLUDING THE SOLDIER'S!
2) You will not like the outcome of the situation if our retailers remove the self check-out lanes. They should add more! The predicted outcome would be that more of your most valuable, non-renewable resource (TIME!) would be wasted while waiting in longer lines. I know denial runs deep in some individuals, but I, for one, am well aware that my life is finite. One day, it will come to an end. I do **NOT** want to waste **any** of that remaining valuable non-renewable resource (TIME!) waiting in long lines because somebody else with more power and money than I have is the one that refuses to see the big picture.
3) And pay those government employees MORE. In my mind's little eye, it is a 'bad thing' that the *upkeep* on a man's house that lives just a few feet down street is more than the combined salaries of several major government officials. Remember: I didn't say the value of his house was more than their combined incomes. I said the UPKEEP: Taxes, utility bills, lawn care, maid and cleaning service, etc.
Capish? :)
- Michael
