Since Vince Cable's conversion to Marxism and the public sector pay figures being released have put banks and stupid salaries under the spotlight (again), this BBC Magazine story is worth a read.Here's an extract:
One of those who knows, and found the experience wanting, is Geraint Anderson, 38, who was earning a base salary of £120,000 and a bonus of £500,000 by the time he left investment banking after 12 years in the City.
Anderson, who documented how he became disillusioned with his lifestyle in an anonymous newspaper column and his book Cityboy: Beer and Loathing in the Square Mile, indulged in many of the cliches for which the sector has become notorious.
But he says earning such figures skews one's expectations of what is a normal lifestyle, and ultimately robs high earners of the freedom they believe money will bring.
"It's like a gilded cage," he says.
"They earn huge amounts but they have the massive mortgage, they have the high-maintenance trophy wife, they have the kids at Harrow - then they wake up on their 50th birthday and think, 'What a waste of a life.'
"They get into this culture where their worth is valued by how much they earn, so they work ridiculous hours. I'd rather earn £25,000, have the kids at a local school and not owe anyone anything."
...
Given that in 2009 median gross annual earnings for full-time employees was £21,320, few Britons will have much sympathy for those earning almost five times as much.
...
The average person in the UK spends around £32,000 a year. This is made up of £25,000 on basic expenses (transport, food, clothing etc) and £7,000 on mortgage repayments.
The upshot is that the average household needs a gross salary of about £45,000 just to break even.
- David Kuo, of investment advice website Motley Fool
And the conclusive proof that Vince is now a Marxist, an extract from his speech:
"I make no apology for attacking spivs and gamblers who did more harm to the British economy than Bob Crow could achieve in his wildest Trotskyite fantasies, while paying themselves outrageous bonuses underwritten by the taxpayer. There is much public anger about banks and it is well deserved."
You see. He hates Trotsky.
Hang on.
Or was that Lenin that hated Trotsky? So, is Vince a Leninist?
No. It was Stalin who didn't like Trotsky. Vince is a Stalinist.
But Stalin never subscribed to 'Stalinism'. He always said he was Marxist-Leninist.
Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Trotskyism. Everybody talk about POP MUSIC.
I wonder what the guys, and I bet it is predominantly guys, who earn over £100k are?
Elvis Costello & The Attractions - Sweet Dreams (Single) (FBeat XX19 1981) 320kbps
- Sweet Dreams
- Psycho (Live)
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