Raise the Hammer

So A. Smith, let me just see if I understand what you're saying. You're suggesting that the city employees should be treated less like civil servants getting paid a negotiated fixed wage, and more like shareholders getting paid dividends on an investment? Also you're probably right about the median vs. mean disposable income. It not only smooths out bumps caused by those hockey players, but also those people with multiple mortgages and credit card debt up to their eyeballs so they can have granite counter-tops.

It's an interesting idea, it removes the ridiculous fact that politicians are allowed to give themselves raises above and beyond a nominal cost of living increase, but it still gives them encouragement beyond doing just enough to get re-elected. I know in England they use a similar performance based compensation idea for their universal health care system. Doctors get bonuses for each patient they get to quit smoking or slim down to a healthy weight, (how they police this and prevent abuse and fraud is beyond me).

Now I'm no libertarian (I fully believe the free markets can't do everything) but this doesn't seem like a big government vs small government thing. For me what it all comes down to is accountability, our elected officials and civil employees work for all of us and somewhere along the way everyone forgot that. A performance based pay package would be one way for them to be held accountable for their work, another would be an online repository showing how each councilor/MP/MPP has voted on various issues. It could be made sortable by person or by topic and would allow the average voter a way to cut through the "spin" and see hard facts about how the person that wants to represent them really feels about the important issues. I'd also like to a see monthly town hall style meetings that counselors hold to take questions/comments/concerns from their constituents.

Also I'd just like to say, even though I don't always agree with everything posted I always enjoy the debates on this website, 33 posts and not one reference to Nazis or someone being called "a fag". Civility on the internet, what a novel idea!