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fivemackhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7420848.stm
"MPs could seek to avoid future expenses criticism by awarding themselves an automatic lump sum of £23,000 a year for second homes, a newspaper says"
"If a lump sum payment were made to each MP, the need for these documents to be produced would disappear and there could be a considerable cash boost for those MPs who spend less than the £23,000 permitted."
Handing out lump sums in cash to MPs is the kind of behaviour for which we tut and deduct at least three points when rating the governmental virtue of random countries in South America; what's next, black Mercedes? Is there any merit at all to the idea that important people do not need to provide receipts when spending public money?
If the issue is that MPs need second homes in London, would it make more sense to get Parliament to buy a random seven-hundred-room hotel, a class of building which London hardly lacks, and have them live there?
"MPs could seek to avoid future expenses criticism by awarding themselves an automatic lump sum of £23,000 a year for second homes, a newspaper says"
"If a lump sum payment were made to each MP, the need for these documents to be produced would disappear and there could be a considerable cash boost for those MPs who spend less than the £23,000 permitted."
Handing out lump sums in cash to MPs is the kind of behaviour for which we tut and deduct at least three points when rating the governmental virtue of random countries in South America; what's next, black Mercedes? Is there any merit at all to the idea that important people do not need to provide receipts when spending public money?
If the issue is that MPs need second homes in London, would it make more sense to get Parliament to buy a random seven-hundred-room hotel, a class of building which London hardly lacks, and have them live there?
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-27 05:36 pm (UTC)I'm not sure I want being a representative to be a hobby for rich people who like the power. One way to avoid that is to make it a viable career in terms of reward, compared to the alternatives, for the high-powered people you want in the job. But that may not be the *best* way to get the right people in the job, either. Also, if they feel underpaid relative to the people they see as their peers, it's likely to make them more subject to corruption.
The whole issue of what the "right" salary for a specific job (in any sense other than "market price") is one that there's wide disagreement on, and this case is I think harder than most.