| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Bashing the bankers? | |
| Posted by: | Richard Carter | |
| Date/Time: | 10/12/09 14:23:00 |
| Would I reject a million quid if I were to be offered it? Maybe not, the temptation would be strong, of course. But a better question to ask is, would it make me any happier? And would two million, or three million, make me happier still? I very much doubt it, and, for example, Richard Layard's work on happiness economics suggests it wouldn't. And the evidence of work like that of Wilkinson and Pickett (I mentioned them ion an earlier post) is that people in societies like the Nordic countries are happier than those in less equal countries (the US, the UK). And imposing a maximum salary what the Russian tried? I don't think so, the Soviet bloc was essentially state capitalist and shouldn't, ever, be confused with a socialist system. I agree that it's wrong for a near-vegetable like Paris Hilton to earn more than someone who actually has a job, never mind a useful one, but I don't think you can stop it, at least not in any society I'd want to live in - but the answer is not to stop it, but to tax them properly. And of course everyone should be included in this, not just bankers, anything else is blatant opportunism by the government. Finally, on the question of bonuses, I don't think they are inherently bad (though the experience of performance pay in the civil service is that it makes people work for themselves and acts to destroy teamwork), but what is outrageous is the size of the bonuses in the City: a million or more pounds? Crazy, as I was trying to say at the beginning of this post. Oh, and thanks for the clarification on nationalised banks, but I think you're wrong that it wouldn't work. But for it to work it needs the separation of banking into casino and real banking - and real banking could be guaranteed by government but casino banking could be left to go hang (and their bankers too, hopefully....) |