Spot The Difference

I awoke yesterday morning to hear on the radio that the directors of the FTSE100 (and other large companies) have, on average, awarded themselves 49% pay increases this year.


I have been accused of "the politics of envy" when I impotently rail against these greedy, grasping bastards. It's not the "politics of envy", it's the politics of fairness, reason and equality.

Bart Becht CEO of Reckitt Benckiser, "earned" £92,600,000 last year

Fine, pay people what they're worth - frankly no one's "work" is worth several million quid a year. And while I'm at it the idea that there is some sort of a "global market" for these "talented individuals" is a lie - one big fat lie believed only by the credulous. A lie made up by whom? No prizes for guessing it's those self same bastards who award themselves 49% pay rises plus golden goodbyes and massive pensions in the event of utter failure.


Tell them to go get a job somewhere else then - and, frankly, good farkin' riddance as the swine leave the country. I've suggested before and will suggest again that as they go we keep their passports and make damned sure they can't come back.

Justin King CEO of Sainsbury's "earned" £8,000,000 last year (a 60% increase in 12 months)

What was the % pay deal for Sainsbury's workers, I wonder?

During the same twelve months that this elite group of Tory-mates have gorged themselves stupid on the ill-gotten proceeds of their destruction of all that is decent, normal workers have been told to tighten their belts with pay freezes or below inflation rises; thousands are being thrown out of work or having their hours cut back. Many are living under "position under review" statements.


People are being made homeless because they can't pay their rent or their mortgages. Benefits for the poorest and most vulnerable are being savagely cut for no reason other than ideological zeal. An ideology which contests that anyone who isn't wealthy somehow deserves to be poor and therefore deserves to be treated harshly. Don't for a moment think it's beyond them to try and bring back some form of workhouse (job seekers on benefits forced to work on community projects for no pay other than the meagre "job seeker's allowance", anyone?).


All this while those 1% who own so much of the wealth continue to get fat and control the government and justice systems.


Any answers?


Well, there's armed revolution. Kill the bastards. And their families. Not a completely bad idea. Indeed one that, in my less rational moments of extreme anger when I hear stuff like 49% pay increases for the already fabulously rich, I often express a desire for.


Or there's removal of approval. Only government can do this one (and with City-rimming-chums like the Tories and their lapdogs in power at the moment it's not going to happen) - I've said it before and I'll say it again - we need a maximum wage to accompany the minimum that is on the statute books.


A maximum of, current thinking indicates, twenty times the national average salary. The national average is an arguable figure and can be thought of as largely meaningless in the context of regional variations: in London it's around £35000; in Birmingham in around £25000; I don't have stats for our area but my guess is it's a bit below Birmingham's figure.


Let's take the mean of London and Birmingham for the sake of argument: £30000 per year. Multiply that by 20 and you get £600,000 a year. That's an enormous salary. Want more? The second word is "off".


How to achieve a maximum wage? Tax, tax and tax again. Don't like it? The second word is .... you'll have the idea by now.


Brain drain? Nope. Only the greedy will leave; some premiershit footballers, some "masters of the universe" in the City, one or two aging rock stars. Who cares? Let 'em go. but don't forget to collect those passports on the way out.