Monday, June 04, 2007

It's None of Your Damn Business What I'm Paid

Here’s a taste of what Susan E. Reed, who is a fellow at the Alicia Patterson Foundation, has to say about alleged salary discrimination in a New York Times op-ed this morning.

THIS year, each of the eight associate justices of the Supreme Court will earn $203,000. The only woman and the only African-American on the court are paid the same as their six white male colleagues. Only Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. earns more than everyone else, $212,100. Their pay is set by Congress, and it is a matter of public record.

Congress should pass legislation mandating that all workplaces create this kind of transparency by requiring companies to post salaries.

Beyond the obvious ridiculousness of Ms. Reed’s suggestion calling for legislation for the mandatory posting of company salaries, as if that information should be displayed like a Burger King 99 cent menu, let’s consider the basis for her folly fueled musing.  The “transparency” of the salaries of the Supreme Court justices.

Ms. Reed’s example, which cites individuals who earn their living out of the pockets of taxpayers, is not so much an example, but rather a canard for a socialist agenda to be applied like a paddle to private industry.

There is no doubt that every professional jobholders’ salary should be publicy displayed, as those individuals live off of the production of private individuals.  But the income of private individuals should remain private.

Ms. Reed’s op-ed is titled Show Us the Money.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/04 at 04:08 AM
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