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| Hints of Policarpo Quaresma* to save Brazilian economy/politics |
Even though the Blog AME O BRASIL have openly apolitical stance; we thought it would be good to reflect on what we can do to see the country better off.
leia este artigo em Português
Those who love Brazil never really leave us - since we love Brazil, we must take care of it.
That being said, let's go to the first hint of Policarpo Quaresma*:
IF YOU HAVE TO CUT GOVERNMENT SPENDING, THE PRIORITY IS TO CUT THE SALARIES OF POLITICIANS
This is arguably the first and most valuable of our ideas, if you make a cold analysis you will find out that the problem government officials' huge salaries, generates all other issues.
One chooses to be a politician for two reasons:
1- Either he/she loves the country, or;
2- He/She is after the gains and consequent power of the function,
Once you take the money out of the equation the LOVE TO BRAZIL is what remains.
The money belongs the taxpayer, so our power over it. We must demand a total reduction of expenditure on the salaries of three powers, lower wages for the president of the republic, the end of salaries for Parliamentarians and councilors, the non-payment of assessors and full transparency of all this information.
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| Tip No. 03 - In Sweden State Deputies live in apartments of 40m2, (some of them in cubicles 18m2) with communal laundry, those who want to wash his clothes have to make an appointment on a list and wait his turn. The room has a sign which says städa upp !! (Equivalent to - wipe it all !!). Besides cleaning lady they have no right to desk, private adviser, car and driver nor cabinet. The general consensus is: "Politicians are elected to represent ordinary people and ordinary citizens work". |
There should also be restrictive laws to prevent further increase of their wages on their own, coming from independent and audited regulatory agencies.
The thinking is simple: When I started working, my salary was R $ 800.00 and my rent was R $ 1,000.00 - if I were a politician I could increase my salary to R $ 3,000.00 so then, I’d have some money left for the rest of the month. This is the thinking of those who arbitrarily choose their own salary.
According to a study by Professor Emir Kamenica, along with colleagues from Columbia University, Princeton University, and DONG Energy, raising politicians’ salaries is unlikely to result in better governance. In fact, it may accomplish the opposite.
The researchers consider the effects of a salary increase on some members of the European Parliament (MEPs). In 2009, the European Parliament implemented a flat-salary payment system, and all MEPs began to earn identical annual salaries of €90,000.
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| Tip No. 23 - In Sweden, councilors and State Deputies receive no salary. Karin Hanqvist, Councillor who lives in Blackeberg in suburban Stockholm, exercises his duties as councilor house, works in a nursery because the only thing that gets of taxpayers is a computer and a bonus equivalent to R $ 280.00 per month. |
They find that a salary increase led to politicians with less education. Doubling an MEP’s salary decreased by 15% the chance that an MEP had attended a college ranked in the top 500 in the world.
Maybe a salary increase would at least inspire politicians to work harder? Unfortunately, the increase apparently did little to improve how much effort politicians put into their jobs. The researchers constructed a variable to define shirking—noting a member’s voting record as well as how often he or she signed the daily attendance register but then left without attending the legislative session. They conclude that salary had an insignificant impact on both shirking and attendance.
* Policarpo Quaresma is a classic fictional character of Brazilian literature, created by Lima Barreto, who represents the ideas expressed in the blog AME O BRASIL
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