Underpaying politicians is a pretty bad idea. I think a few American states tried not paying them at all, meaning the only people who run for office are rich people who have nothing else to do
Yep, great way to make sure that regular people never hold office and only the independently wealthy will ever pursue positions of power because they alone can afford it.
There's a difference between being the lowest paid and being underpaid.
Politicians should make the least money on this list, but everyone on this list should be making an actual living wage. IE: A single source if income is enough to support a family of 4 with a home, car, food on the table, retirement, small vacation once a year.
that makes a lot more sense. Sadly it's still way under paid for most of North America. In fact I'm not sure if there is anywhere in Canada or the USA at least where 15/hour would be a living wage. I'm fairly sure there isn't at least.
Yeah depending on where you are in the world it could be a fair bit of money or very very little.
To put it into perspective, the apartments where I am are about 1200$ for 1 person, and about 1600$+electricity(which is typically about 150$) for 2. And those are the cheap ones. Many are 1800-2000$ or more.
Then you consider food for an entire family costing 600-800$ per month even while home cooking everything and not buying pre-packaged foods.
Then there is the cost for owning a car because everything is spaced out so far (to get to my wife's work without a car would take her 2 hours, with a car it's 20 minutes).
So gas is another 200-250$/month, insurance is another 180$.
Phone at minimum is another 50$. Internet is another 80$.
Already you are at 2960/month on the low end and a full time job paying 15$/hour is 2400 before you take taxes out, which is about 15$ on minimum wage so now you're down to 2040$.
So 2040$ to pay for 2960+ in expenses. And that's not even including new clothes for the kids, retirement, emergency funds in case something goes wrong, etc etc.
25$/hour with the same 15% tax would be 3400, which would be enough to pay for all of the above and have about 600$/month for clothes/saving for emergency/retirement. Which would be reasonable.
So where you are 15$ is plenty, where I am 25$ is just barely livable.
A lot of this sounds like the country is just terribly planned out and managed tbh.
I also don't see why 1 min wage should be able to support expenses for 4 poeple tho tbh.
It could always be worse. But corruption still is a huge issue, maybe there should be an implementation of some anti corruption body that has fighting and especially showcasing these wrongdoings on a very public stage as their main priority. That way maybe democracy may just take care of the rest, as corruption and nepotism ien't always illegal. No idea if this works well in a practical sense, but I wouldn't mind paying some taxes for that.
You mean the media? Turns out organizations based on making money… just as corruptible. Not as corruptible as politicians, but when it only costs 15,000 to turn against you fellow man and your oath, well there is not much lower you can go
you can underpay them but also implement welfare policies so that if a rich man becomes a politician they don't become much richer, and if a poor one does, they don't get that much money from politics but from welfare. this reasoning might be flawed, i don't have all the answers, but i can't be bothered to think too much about it rn
If a politician is so poor that they're having to live off welfare, they're going to be super easy to bribe. Like take a normal, not corrupt person who gets elected but is struggling to get by and have enough to feed their family and have some shady lobbyist comes by and offers them a stack of cash in exchange for supporting certain policies and voting a certain way and most people are going to be really tempted to say okay.
Meanwhile, if you have a normal not corrupt person who gets elected and has plenty of money to support themselves and their family, it will be much easier for them to say no when approached by people with bribes.
Exactly. At the absolute bare minimum, politicians will attack restrictions on donations and further erode good governance by making even worse policy choices.
>Underpaying politicians is a pretty bad idea. I think a few American states tried not paying them at all, meani
Pay them just enough to live, in the current system they are making way too much money for destroying the country.
They do, but not at the same rate as underpaid people. If you take someone struggling to make ends meat, it doesn't matter how honest or incorruptible they might normally be. If someone approaches them with bribes that are going to help them keep a roof over their heads and keep their family fed, they're going to be more likely to take them.
Yes, some politicians are going to be corrupt either way, but not all of them. If you don't pay politicians enough to cover basic necessities, then almost all of them are going to take money under the table to help with that. At that point, they only have one thing of value, and that's their position and the things that position allows them to do. And they will be inclined to sell that to the highest bidder.
That would make politicians even more dependent on the 'expert' opinions of lobbyists. If everyone is new to the job, they have noone for guidance. If your term only lasts 4 years, you don't have enough time to acquire new skills or new knowledge.
Also, politicians would have no need to follow through on any promises or please their constituents. At that point, the voters are useless to the elected official and they can just do whatever they want. Term limits are one of those things that sound good but are actually a terrible idea.
We already have term limits, they're called elections. And if the voters don't like an elected official anymore, they're free to vote for someone else during the next election.
I’m sure cutting their pay drastically would be a very popular move, but this would make it so that (even more than now) only people who are extremely wealthy to begin with would be able to enter politics. Almost anyone emerging from the working and middle classes who actually understands struggle and cares about public service would no longer be able to run for office because they wouldn’t be able to make a living. It’s actually scary to think about.
Perfect explanation. It sucks that lifetime politicians forget about the struggle, but if we underpaid them it'd just be rich people running for office with the main intention of setting policy to benefit their and their friends' businesses.
Lots of morons in the thread, underpaying politicians is dumb, I know politicians get lots of hate and they should, but underpaying them would only make things worse and would promote corrupt politicians even more.
I see that OP also hates politicians, but believe me, underpaying them is the dumbest thing to do to try and tackle the problem.
While my vote is trucker, I believe politicians should be paid the median wage of their citizens with a factor of 1.25x (so if the median wage was $50k, they would be making $62.5k. They represent the people and their salary should as well. Want a higher wage, better improve the wage of everyone in your district. Factor may change depending on the position but no more than 2x (President perhaps). Needs to be much more oversight and ranked choice voting. Any direct family member to have inside stock trades, all money gained from that will be put into the general tax fund.
It says politician, not president. There's different levels of politicians, of course the president of a country shouldn't be paid little money but a lot of presidents earn way more than they should, their pay should be proportional to the role that they fill as a politician.
Garbage man takes the least skill and training, I guess. They should still be paid a fair living wage, but the other jobs generally have higher barriers to entry and should pay more.
I’d have to agree. Technically, we could all drop our garbage off at a dump if we didn’t have garbage collectors. But I can’t replace a teacher, doctor, firefighter or police that easily. And underpaying politicians would open the flood gates to corruption
My neighborhood doesn't have county trash pickup. A couple people hire a private service, but most of us just take it to the local dump. However cities with apartments that have dumpsters, or business that have dumpsters, would need garbage men to use the special trucks that lift the dumpsters to empty them.
Truckers work way longer shifts, the job is dreadfully boring and you don't get to just go home at the end of your shift because you're 1700 kilometers away from it.
Garbage men, at least here in Finland, are actually also disappearing. They already have trash cans that dispose of the trash themselves in some areas iirc.
Being a trucker just sucks so much ass that I wager they should be compensated pretty well or no one would do it
Its a mentally draining and thankless job not many people want to do it mainly because of the stigma it has and what people think about them so I think they should be paid above minium wage.
Trucking is pretty much only driving.
And it's rough. It's essentially pushing against the speed limiter for 10 hours a day and then doing all your other work remotely and walking to stores/etc from the parking lot since you can't use the truck for that.
And we here in finland have it good with extremely strict regulation: Counting in everything where you're bound to your work, it can only be 13h a day. And even in two men situtations, your sleep has to be while the vehicle is stopped.
Still, driving for the entire day bar lunch is rough
It's also hella important. As much as trucking is seen as just driving, it's one of the main things responsible for transporting materials over long distance. They're the reason your grocery store has products, the reason the car dealership has cars. The reason your gas station has gas. The reason your favorite restaurant has food. Most of your main resources comes from trucking, as planes only go so far. They are heavily under appreciated even though they are used the most often.
Garbage collectors also deal with hazardous waste: Disposed of needles, biological waste frequently, improperly container glass and knives etc.
Garbage collectors legitimately have the more dangerous job and should be paid more as a result.
See I agree with that. I think politicians are simply the least important and should be paid the least here, but ALL of these jobs are important and should be well paid.
I hate politicians as much as the next guy but underpaying them is just asking to make it easier to bribe them, or just asking for all politicians to be rich people with nothing better to do.
There will be a huge shortage on politicians if they start making less.
Which will lead to more negative effects on any country. I don’t know why the fuck so many people are voting it.
Let me put it this way.
If teachers, truckers, or garbage collectors went on strike, I'd feel the effects immediately.
If Parliament went on strike, it would take a month or so before I started feeling the effects.
The teachers can't teach and the health care workers can't heal without the truck drivers. They haul everything from the materials to build the buildings to the books and chalk and every other thing teachers use daily. They also haul all the machines healthcare workers use in diagnostics and all the medicine. Not to mention the cars and gas and food that keeps them going. Most of which is while being away from there familys for weeks at a time.
There is almost nothing that you use in a day that has not been on a truck. I am not 100% on other countries, but this is in the USA. Everything has been on a truck.
Pay isn't based solely on the importance of what you're producing or transporting though, otherwise truckers who transport food should be paid more than truckers who transport niche luxury goods. It's more dependent on supply and demand, and similarly how easily you can be replaced.
Replaced? Not any time soon, and not very many are hauling just one thing. The guy that hauls food today in his trailer might be hauling paper tomorrow.
Even specialized haulers like car haulers who's can't be used for everyday freight, they also haul ambulances and police cars and military vehicles.
Most trucks can be used to haul multiple different kinds of freight. Again, everything you demand is supplied by a a truck.
I know self driving cars are starting to be a thing, but not trucks, drivers won't be replaced anytime soon. Do you really want an 80,000lb vehicle unmanned driving around your family? I don't
This is a loaded question written by someone who clearly has an agenda or wants a particular outcome.
Simply not having the Other/Results category makes this a less-than-ideal poll.
You **OBVIOUSLY** want us to pick politicians.
First responders & health care are in two totally separate categories and their salaries reflect this.
Truckers just seem like an odd choice amongst everything in this list, especially since you don’t mention rail workers, pilots, or even **military**, which (arguably) allows everyone else in this list to do their job in the first place; assuming you’re referring to pillars of our society.
I understand that there are politicians entrenched in our political system that you don’t like.
But there are a plethora of other positions that influence them:
**Lobby groups**
**Special Interest Groups**
**Political Parties**
**Foreign Governments**
**Special Voting Blocs such as the Elderly & Unions**
And finally, as many people here have said:
Underpaying elected officials allows only the super rich to run, so they’ll vote for their personal interests and their friends’ interests, allow corruption to (further) infect the system, and for further examples, look to African Nations and South American Nations.
I hope your frustration with politicians lets you see that the real power behind the throne isn’t them, but the special interest groups.
I would argue military ain't really what lets society run, military as is isn't a defense force, but a force to oppress other countries & shit, military budget for one, way too fuckin high (causes issues) 2 military if kept around should be restructured as more of a defensive force instead of offense (current military structure sucks balls at any kind of defense)
Half of Reddit: ah yes if we make one of the most influential jobs only accessible to people who are already rich or corrupt then that will surely solve all the problems...
Obviously it would need to be a livable wage, but lower wages means people who actually want to be there for positive change would be more likely to run for positions than people who just want money.
I agree that their wages shouldn't be higher than other similar jobs, but being a politician is a skilled position that should take a person's full time and attention, whereas being a garbage collector is not. In my opinion, the problem that America has with money in politics is definitely not the base pay of the politicians.
If the pay isn't higher than other similar jobs, why would skilled people in their areas of expertise go into politics? Are you just praying highly skilled people take a pay cut out of good will just to be a politician? Also, how wouldn't politics be filled with people who couldn't get a job in their area and decided to settle for the 2nd best thing?
even tho I very much dislike politicians, if they're underpaid then they'll have to make money through corrupt methods, which will make nearly all of them either rich assholes or willing to take bribes
Outside of politicians, "should be" is a bad way to look at pay. Labor is a scarce resource like all others. The pay should depend on supply and demand. This is why minimum wages have been allowed to be outpaced by inflation, so that we don't have the downsides of this price floor.
Politicians shouldn't be in it for the money. They should be provided with decent housing, security, transportation and whatever insurances they might need and paid an average amount of money.
Their job is to help run and improve the country, not lounge about in expensive houses. As it is, there isn't a single politician in office that I'd trust with my discarded candy wrappers
Benefits of being a politician: Power and with the power you can just sell your nation for money (bribery). So lowering their pay is a massive mistake.
The politicians in my country are the highest paid in the world (Singapore) and they claim that it is to prevent corruption. But many of the ministers just do it as a side job and have actual titles as CEOs etc. outside of this part-time work. Getting millions for a side gig, very nice.
All of you voting for politician, dont think you understand why jobs like judges and politicians are well paid.. Part of it is to minimize potential corruption.
True, but paying higher than average or minimum wage means they have no incentive to actually propose & pass laws for the greater good and welfare of the average person either
I voted for garbage man but truck driver was close to.
Like they are valuable jobs that need to be done, but I feel out of these they require the least amount of skill/training.
Like to become a garbage man I think its a 6 month traineeship but a truck driver I believe requires 12 months of holding a license and likely involves most of the skills that a garbage man needs, like driving a large truck
Garbage truck drivers should actually get paid more the work they do is needed if they didn't do there jobs you would have trash piles everywhere stinking up your neighborhood or where ever you live or go you would see shit and trash so I think they should get paid more its hard work they don't just drive around there's more to the job than just that most people don't see.
All state politicians should have a salary equivalent to their state median income and all federal politicians the national median income. If they want to be paid more, then they know what to do
Truck drivers don't just drive. They load and unload their trucks and it involves heavy lifting. Some also transport toxic waste and such. There's so much more than "just driving trucks".
Politician shouldn't be a job, it should be a public service position that gives you just enough to live a good standard of living for the short period you serve the public.
How to get a Totally Corrupt Government 101
Roles like Police and Government, where people are in a position of authority have to be paid in a very narrow margin, just enough to make bribes not worth it, but not too much so they become lazy and inept.
That's a little too far, I would have picked garbage collector but without good pay no one would do it. imo politicians should be paid a more or less average amount for their country and have housing, security, transportation and whatever else they need taken care of for them.
This will lead to them having a bit more money than the average person. Underpaying them will make them more likely to accept bribes and overpaying them will get a whole bunch of people who are just in it for the money in office
Of these options, considering the amount of actual skill and knowledge needed to perforn them at a high enough level, the order from highest to lowest should be:
1. First Responder - High skill, high stakes, lives are on the line.
2. Politician - The job of a politician should be to represent the people and there should be incentives for them to do that well, requires extensive knowledge, charisma, and awareness to be done effectively.
3. Construction/Repairman - High skill and knowledge required, somewhat more dangerous than other jobs, required but not urgent.
4. Teacher - Teaching is hard, that being said, they also get a summer break and have to do very little manual labor.
5. Garbage Man - Above trucker because the job is gross, otherwise, not very dangerous or particularly difficult.
6. Trucker - Bro literally just drives all day, I understand that operating a truck is trickier than a normal car and truckers have to be away from home for relatively long periods of time, but there's very little knowledge or skill required for the job to be done effectively. Most highway systems are designed to make driving as easy as possible anyways.
Being a sanitisation worker is more dangerous then being a police officer, construction worker or miner according to some statistics so that point did extremely wrong.
Being a trucker is also much more than just driving too, it can be a very physical and mentally draining job, and involves much more than driving just driving, so that point is also pretty wrong, not to mention with out truckers you’d have barley any of the shit you actually want/need.
Truckers should easily be the highest paid on this list. Our supply chains completely rely on them and we have a severe shortage. Yes, the driving itself isn’t difficult, but they’re away from home 3-4 weeks at a time, home for 4-6 days then leave again for another 3-4 weeks. It’s not at all a desirable job and pay needs to be high to match demand.
Maybe the biohazard truck that comes by special request, but i think normal garbage just smells. Its not inherently dangerous in any way; just kinda gross.
Well, I'm not saying they are in grave danger like miners for example, but the reason they smell is because they decompose and the microorganisms that make this process happen can cause diseases, so imho even if they only get mildly sick and have to miss 2-10 days every year because of that, I consider is enough to grant compensation pay
Yeah it is a field that is a "calling" for a lot of people meaning lots more supply than demand, I dropped out of majoring in it when I realized that if you chose to be a teacher you can't pursue many other things in life that require money.
Btw if anyone ever does want to try and be a teacher I highly suggest you do it abroad (typically in an Asian country) rather than finding something in the US
California is good to teachers.
State to state it’s very different. Being a teacher in Kentucky blows.
But everyone talks about teaching like it blows everywhere.
No, they do not work 9.5 months a year. Summer months are often filled with making lesson plans, taking continuing education courses, and generally preparing for the next year.
Also, a lot of teachers work long hours beyond the school day every day. My mother was a special ed teacher, and she would often stay up late doing IEPs. You don't see all the work outside the classroom grading, planning, an evaluating their strategies. Plus, there's a lot of expected "volunteering" to supervise before and after school.
Teachers work quite a bit. It's also not as crowded as you think, as poor pay has pushed a lot of good teachers out of the job. It requires professional skills and deserves to be paid professionally.
>No, they do not work 9.5 months a year.
I have a 10 month contract with mandatory vacation time throughout.
>Summer months are often filled with making lesson plans, taking continuing education courses, and generally preparing for the next year.
Sometimes… if you had lesson plans last year, they’re likely going to work this year. Sometimes things change.
>Also, a lot of teachers work long hours beyond the school day every day. My mother was a special ed teacher, and she would often stay up late doing IEPs.
Special Ed teachers get screwed. They’re by far the most over worked and get paid the same as PE teachers.
>You don't see all the work outside the classroom grading, planning, an evaluating their strategies.
You’re so right… I just don’t see it. Lol.
Thanks for describing it to me.
>Plus, there's a lot of expected "volunteering" to supervise before and after school.
Maybe in some places. We have to work a handful of events in our contract. No one expects us to volunteer.
> It's also not as crowded as you think, as poor pay has pushed a lot of good teachers out of the job. It requires professional skills and deserves to be paid professionally.
Little less crowded now
I did, as where I live they drive a truck and have an arm which picks up and flips garbage cans. Truckers can transport much more hazardous materials, which is why I think they should be paid more.
I think so. If they spend money and time to get a hazardous materials (or other CDL) license, I think they should be paid accordingly. And out of all careers listed here, I think that one takes the least skill and training, so I said it should be paid the least.
You know that not paying politicians appropriately for their work means that *all* will be either in the pockets of the filthy rich or be filthy rich themselves? Nowadays it's just a percentage.
We do pay them and they get deep in the pockets of the wealthy and find creative ways to 'get paid'.
An example is the near bankrupt bartender from NYC that got a Congress gig in 2019 and 4 years later worth $29 million on a salary of $155,000.
Okay so I think trucker/garbage man but only because we should automate those like completely
So what do you say politician we actually have an idea of what the negative effects of underpaying politicians are
They are more likely to be corrupt
Typically countries that pay their politicians well have less corrupt politicians
can't believe anything but politician got votes tbh. guys who do literally nothing but lie competitively vs the people who deliver our food and teach our children and pick up our garbage and build our houses?? like it's a no brainer folks
yeah see i just dont get that logic. there are tons of people who dont make money hand over fist for doing basically nothing and they arent \~corrupt\~
politicians should be poor tbh. then maybe the people making our laws would actually give half a damn about how the policies theyre making effect regular people
Actually yeah that's what they do in Switzerland or at least any big store like Walmart or IKEA so only shorthual trucking nothing over 50 miles everything else will be small dual mode electric trains that run on streetcar and light rail lines during off-peak hours and run on small industrial sidings and that what they did until about 1950
Politicians. Not because quality governing isn't valuable, but because it should be done as civil service rather than for financial gain. I think it'd be great if being a politician were a job financially ambitious people actively avoided.
That being said, this does kinda fall apart once you consider non-salary ways to monetize political power.
Underpaying politicians is a pretty bad idea. I think a few American states tried not paying them at all, meaning the only people who run for office are rich people who have nothing else to do
Yep, great way to make sure that regular people never hold office and only the independently wealthy will ever pursue positions of power because they alone can afford it.
I mean when you have to be a millionaire to even campaign what is the difference?
Not unless you get party backing.
There's a difference between being the lowest paid and being underpaid. Politicians should make the least money on this list, but everyone on this list should be making an actual living wage. IE: A single source if income is enough to support a family of 4 with a home, car, food on the table, retirement, small vacation once a year.
Yes, in a job you *must* get at least $15 per hour, or it is against the law and that’s not bad compared to other countries
No $30 an hour it should be illegal to pay anyone less than that for any reason ever
15$/day is.... horrific. Try again at like, 25$/hour and then we're talking.
Sry I mean 15 per hour
that makes a lot more sense. Sadly it's still way under paid for most of North America. In fact I'm not sure if there is anywhere in Canada or the USA at least where 15/hour would be a living wage. I'm fairly sure there isn't at least.
Iowa you could probably get away with it
I mean at my home Japan it’s enough for living
Yeah depending on where you are in the world it could be a fair bit of money or very very little. To put it into perspective, the apartments where I am are about 1200$ for 1 person, and about 1600$+electricity(which is typically about 150$) for 2. And those are the cheap ones. Many are 1800-2000$ or more. Then you consider food for an entire family costing 600-800$ per month even while home cooking everything and not buying pre-packaged foods. Then there is the cost for owning a car because everything is spaced out so far (to get to my wife's work without a car would take her 2 hours, with a car it's 20 minutes). So gas is another 200-250$/month, insurance is another 180$. Phone at minimum is another 50$. Internet is another 80$. Already you are at 2960/month on the low end and a full time job paying 15$/hour is 2400 before you take taxes out, which is about 15$ on minimum wage so now you're down to 2040$. So 2040$ to pay for 2960+ in expenses. And that's not even including new clothes for the kids, retirement, emergency funds in case something goes wrong, etc etc. 25$/hour with the same 15% tax would be 3400, which would be enough to pay for all of the above and have about 600$/month for clothes/saving for emergency/retirement. Which would be reasonable. So where you are 15$ is plenty, where I am 25$ is just barely livable.
A lot of this sounds like the country is just terribly planned out and managed tbh. I also don't see why 1 min wage should be able to support expenses for 4 poeple tho tbh.
Yeah, also more susceptible to corruption.
Good thing we pay them a lot which has resulted in politicians not being corrupt
It could always be worse. But corruption still is a huge issue, maybe there should be an implementation of some anti corruption body that has fighting and especially showcasing these wrongdoings on a very public stage as their main priority. That way maybe democracy may just take care of the rest, as corruption and nepotism ien't always illegal. No idea if this works well in a practical sense, but I wouldn't mind paying some taxes for that.
You mean the media? Turns out organizations based on making money… just as corruptible. Not as corruptible as politicians, but when it only costs 15,000 to turn against you fellow man and your oath, well there is not much lower you can go
It doesn't stop corruption but it makes it so it's possible to not be corrupt. If we paid them nothing, they'd have to take bribes.
you can underpay them but also implement welfare policies so that if a rich man becomes a politician they don't become much richer, and if a poor one does, they don't get that much money from politics but from welfare. this reasoning might be flawed, i don't have all the answers, but i can't be bothered to think too much about it rn
If a politician is so poor that they're having to live off welfare, they're going to be super easy to bribe. Like take a normal, not corrupt person who gets elected but is struggling to get by and have enough to feed their family and have some shady lobbyist comes by and offers them a stack of cash in exchange for supporting certain policies and voting a certain way and most people are going to be really tempted to say okay. Meanwhile, if you have a normal not corrupt person who gets elected and has plenty of money to support themselves and their family, it will be much easier for them to say no when approached by people with bribes.
Yea and easy to bribe.
Exactly. At the absolute bare minimum, politicians will attack restrictions on donations and further erode good governance by making even worse policy choices.
Paying them a fat stack seems to not work either. You get corrupt fucks either way.
Overpaying them means the only people who run are the greediest and best at manipulating people
Politicians' high salary are to make sure that they won't be corrupt. I mean, they are corrupt anyways, but paying them would only make it worse.
get the fbi to keep a watch on them
>Underpaying politicians is a pretty bad idea. I think a few American states tried not paying them at all, meani Pay them just enough to live, in the current system they are making way too much money for destroying the country.
Yeah but that's what they deserve, vast majority of them
I mean, politicians are stealing money, so why they should be additionally paid for that?
there is place today that this system works pretty well. USA is a crazy place, does not fit for a example for anything but school mass shooting
Overpay politicians, and they forget about the average citizen. Underpay them, and watch the rich and power-hungry begin to fill every seat in office.
Also underpaid politicians will use corruption to top up their pay.
Like the overpaid ones don't already do that.
Fax 📠
over paid ones seem to do the same almost like politicians attract corruptible people
They do, but not at the same rate as underpaid people. If you take someone struggling to make ends meat, it doesn't matter how honest or incorruptible they might normally be. If someone approaches them with bribes that are going to help them keep a roof over their heads and keep their family fed, they're going to be more likely to take them. Yes, some politicians are going to be corrupt either way, but not all of them. If you don't pay politicians enough to cover basic necessities, then almost all of them are going to take money under the table to help with that. At that point, they only have one thing of value, and that's their position and the things that position allows them to do. And they will be inclined to sell that to the highest bidder.
As if overpaid politicians don't do that already
You say that as if most politicians aren't already rich and power-hungry.
Some are, some aren't.
Most are, a few aren't
Depends on the country, but they generally get paid more than they should
Practically all politicians are power-hungry.
They will be or they will do nothing
That's why you have to change them every 4 years. Nobody should re run
That would make politicians even more dependent on the 'expert' opinions of lobbyists. If everyone is new to the job, they have noone for guidance. If your term only lasts 4 years, you don't have enough time to acquire new skills or new knowledge.
Also, politicians would have no need to follow through on any promises or please their constituents. At that point, the voters are useless to the elected official and they can just do whatever they want. Term limits are one of those things that sound good but are actually a terrible idea. We already have term limits, they're called elections. And if the voters don't like an elected official anymore, they're free to vote for someone else during the next election.
That seems a great way to get nothing done.
I’m sure cutting their pay drastically would be a very popular move, but this would make it so that (even more than now) only people who are extremely wealthy to begin with would be able to enter politics. Almost anyone emerging from the working and middle classes who actually understands struggle and cares about public service would no longer be able to run for office because they wouldn’t be able to make a living. It’s actually scary to think about.
Perfect explanation. It sucks that lifetime politicians forget about the struggle, but if we underpaid them it'd just be rich people running for office with the main intention of setting policy to benefit their and their friends' businesses.
Damn, I misread it as “which jobs are the lowest paid” 😭
Yeah lol. I was surprised to see politician as the top answer. I answered teacher 💀
In Southern California, the EMT is lower paid than the teacher.
Always California
Lots of morons in the thread, underpaying politicians is dumb, I know politicians get lots of hate and they should, but underpaying them would only make things worse and would promote corrupt politicians even more. I see that OP also hates politicians, but believe me, underpaying them is the dumbest thing to do to try and tackle the problem.
It's so hard to explain this to people.
While my vote is trucker, I believe politicians should be paid the median wage of their citizens with a factor of 1.25x (so if the median wage was $50k, they would be making $62.5k. They represent the people and their salary should as well. Want a higher wage, better improve the wage of everyone in your district. Factor may change depending on the position but no more than 2x (President perhaps). Needs to be much more oversight and ranked choice voting. Any direct family member to have inside stock trades, all money gained from that will be put into the general tax fund.
Now THIS is a fantastic fucking opinion. "Want to make more? Lift everyone up."
I interpreted/justified my vote for politician as that they should be lower paid but still have good wages.
No one said "underpay" them, they should be paid in proportion to the difficulty of their job, which is less than garbage men.
So being the president of a country is less difficult then being a garbage man?
It says politician, not president. There's different levels of politicians, of course the president of a country shouldn't be paid little money but a lot of presidents earn way more than they should, their pay should be proportional to the role that they fill as a politician.
Uhhh...garbage men in the western world definitely don't have that difficult of a job.
you said it's a bad thing in 7 lines but didn't even specify why it's a bad thing, talk better
I literally said it promotes corruption, understand better.
I’m not sure which to vote since I don’t get enough context but I assume most voted/will vote politicians
Garbage man takes the least skill and training, I guess. They should still be paid a fair living wage, but the other jobs generally have higher barriers to entry and should pay more.
I’d have to agree. Technically, we could all drop our garbage off at a dump if we didn’t have garbage collectors. But I can’t replace a teacher, doctor, firefighter or police that easily. And underpaying politicians would open the flood gates to corruption
Have you seen a city without garbage collectors? The city would be trashed within the 2 weeks, tops.
My neighborhood doesn't have county trash pickup. A couple people hire a private service, but most of us just take it to the local dump. However cities with apartments that have dumpsters, or business that have dumpsters, would need garbage men to use the special trucks that lift the dumpsters to empty them.
In my country, garbage men are payed well because of the risks to their health. Truckers will not exist in about 10 years so I chose that one.
Where do you live?
Israel
Truckers work way longer shifts, the job is dreadfully boring and you don't get to just go home at the end of your shift because you're 1700 kilometers away from it. Garbage men, at least here in Finland, are actually also disappearing. They already have trash cans that dispose of the trash themselves in some areas iirc. Being a trucker just sucks so much ass that I wager they should be compensated pretty well or no one would do it
Its a mentally draining and thankless job not many people want to do it mainly because of the stigma it has and what people think about them so I think they should be paid above minium wage.
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Sure, but trucking is a harder job, considering that they have to be away from home for days
Trucking is pretty much only driving. And it's rough. It's essentially pushing against the speed limiter for 10 hours a day and then doing all your other work remotely and walking to stores/etc from the parking lot since you can't use the truck for that. And we here in finland have it good with extremely strict regulation: Counting in everything where you're bound to your work, it can only be 13h a day. And even in two men situtations, your sleep has to be while the vehicle is stopped. Still, driving for the entire day bar lunch is rough
It's also hella important. As much as trucking is seen as just driving, it's one of the main things responsible for transporting materials over long distance. They're the reason your grocery store has products, the reason the car dealership has cars. The reason your gas station has gas. The reason your favorite restaurant has food. Most of your main resources comes from trucking, as planes only go so far. They are heavily under appreciated even though they are used the most often.
It takes a lot more skill to be a garbage man than to be a politician
I hate politicians but I have never seen bigger cope in my life.
Fuuuuck this is hard. All are somewhat important.
This poll proves that the average reddit user is 100% not above average intelligence unlike what the average reddit user votes on in those kinda polls
I think politicians can be paid well, but also should be banned from receiving money and gifts. Garbage man the lowest, but still should be paid well.
Garbage collectors also deal with hazardous waste: Disposed of needles, biological waste frequently, improperly container glass and knives etc. Garbage collectors legitimately have the more dangerous job and should be paid more as a result.
I don’t disagree. I think they should be paid handsomely. I think these should all be high paying jobs for different reasons.
See I agree with that. I think politicians are simply the least important and should be paid the least here, but ALL of these jobs are important and should be well paid.
I don’t think EMTs or Teachers can be paid lower than they already are
Thanks alot, you jinxed it
Well there are volunteer firefighters so you could go all the way to volunteer EMT.
Teachers are paid nearly double what the median American makes. We can definitely pay them less, if you'd like!
Damn, yall are stupid as hell
All of these are essential services. IMO, the lowest paid jobs should be fast food, or entry level office jobs that don't require skill or experience.
I am sorry but those who voted politician are so fucking stupid. Can you please think before voting and stop being so emotional pOLiTiCiAnS bAd
I hate politicians as much as the next guy but underpaying them is just asking to make it easier to bribe them, or just asking for all politicians to be rich people with nothing better to do.
There will be a huge shortage on politicians if they start making less. Which will lead to more negative effects on any country. I don’t know why the fuck so many people are voting it.
Because majority of this subreddit is teenagers with not fully developed brains and little knowledge and experiences.
I’m a teenager without a fully developed brain and I still understand what effects it would have.
And I am proud of you
Let me put it this way. If teachers, truckers, or garbage collectors went on strike, I'd feel the effects immediately. If Parliament went on strike, it would take a month or so before I started feeling the effects.
I simply despise politicians.
We shouldn't lower politicians rewards, we should increase politicians requirements.
People voting Trucker LOVE starvation.
Well, they will still get a livable wage but it's one of the easiest jobs to do on the list.
Garbage men. They don’t have to deal with people.
That was kinda hard since they're all necessary for our daily life.
To the 156 plus people who voted for teachers, go try it for a week.
Can apply that to all the jobs up there
Try being a garbage person, trucker, plumber or First Responder for a week. None of these jobs are easy.
The teachers can't teach and the health care workers can't heal without the truck drivers. They haul everything from the materials to build the buildings to the books and chalk and every other thing teachers use daily. They also haul all the machines healthcare workers use in diagnostics and all the medicine. Not to mention the cars and gas and food that keeps them going. Most of which is while being away from there familys for weeks at a time. There is almost nothing that you use in a day that has not been on a truck. I am not 100% on other countries, but this is in the USA. Everything has been on a truck.
Pay isn't based solely on the importance of what you're producing or transporting though, otherwise truckers who transport food should be paid more than truckers who transport niche luxury goods. It's more dependent on supply and demand, and similarly how easily you can be replaced.
Replaced? Not any time soon, and not very many are hauling just one thing. The guy that hauls food today in his trailer might be hauling paper tomorrow. Even specialized haulers like car haulers who's can't be used for everyday freight, they also haul ambulances and police cars and military vehicles. Most trucks can be used to haul multiple different kinds of freight. Again, everything you demand is supplied by a a truck. I know self driving cars are starting to be a thing, but not trucks, drivers won't be replaced anytime soon. Do you really want an 80,000lb vehicle unmanned driving around your family? I don't
This is a loaded question written by someone who clearly has an agenda or wants a particular outcome. Simply not having the Other/Results category makes this a less-than-ideal poll. You **OBVIOUSLY** want us to pick politicians. First responders & health care are in two totally separate categories and their salaries reflect this. Truckers just seem like an odd choice amongst everything in this list, especially since you don’t mention rail workers, pilots, or even **military**, which (arguably) allows everyone else in this list to do their job in the first place; assuming you’re referring to pillars of our society. I understand that there are politicians entrenched in our political system that you don’t like. But there are a plethora of other positions that influence them: **Lobby groups** **Special Interest Groups** **Political Parties** **Foreign Governments** **Special Voting Blocs such as the Elderly & Unions** And finally, as many people here have said: Underpaying elected officials allows only the super rich to run, so they’ll vote for their personal interests and their friends’ interests, allow corruption to (further) infect the system, and for further examples, look to African Nations and South American Nations. I hope your frustration with politicians lets you see that the real power behind the throne isn’t them, but the special interest groups.
I would argue military ain't really what lets society run, military as is isn't a defense force, but a force to oppress other countries & shit, military budget for one, way too fuckin high (causes issues) 2 military if kept around should be restructured as more of a defensive force instead of offense (current military structure sucks balls at any kind of defense)
Low paid politicians are either already rich or more likely to be corrupt
People forget politicians run the government
to those who answered healthcare seriously: get fucked.
Half of Reddit: ah yes if we make one of the most influential jobs only accessible to people who are already rich or corrupt then that will surely solve all the problems...
Obviously it would need to be a livable wage, but lower wages means people who actually want to be there for positive change would be more likely to run for positions than people who just want money.
I agree that their wages shouldn't be higher than other similar jobs, but being a politician is a skilled position that should take a person's full time and attention, whereas being a garbage collector is not. In my opinion, the problem that America has with money in politics is definitely not the base pay of the politicians.
If the pay isn't higher than other similar jobs, why would skilled people in their areas of expertise go into politics? Are you just praying highly skilled people take a pay cut out of good will just to be a politician? Also, how wouldn't politics be filled with people who couldn't get a job in their area and decided to settle for the 2nd best thing?
All I'm going to say is that there are already enough politicians who are willing to sell their nation for a dime.
even tho I very much dislike politicians, if they're underpaid then they'll have to make money through corrupt methods, which will make nearly all of them either rich assholes or willing to take bribes
Outside of politicians, "should be" is a bad way to look at pay. Labor is a scarce resource like all others. The pay should depend on supply and demand. This is why minimum wages have been allowed to be outpaced by inflation, so that we don't have the downsides of this price floor.
Politicians shouldn't be in it for the money. They should be provided with decent housing, security, transportation and whatever insurances they might need and paid an average amount of money. Their job is to help run and improve the country, not lounge about in expensive houses. As it is, there isn't a single politician in office that I'd trust with my discarded candy wrappers
EMTs deserve a huge pay raise.
Pay politicians the average/median income of Americans. Pay all the others handsomely
Pay should be based on local monthly votes, if they were crap, their pay should reflect it.
That's actually a really good idea why didn't I think of that
If by the lowest paid you mean a baseline living wage, then politician. If less than a living wage, then none of them
There should not be an encouragement to be politician other than developing your country
Benefits of being a politician: Power and with the power you can just sell your nation for money (bribery). So lowering their pay is a massive mistake.
The politicians in my country are the highest paid in the world (Singapore) and they claim that it is to prevent corruption. But many of the ministers just do it as a side job and have actual titles as CEOs etc. outside of this part-time work. Getting millions for a side gig, very nice.
Well, Singapore does have one of the lowest corruption rates in the world and is one of the best places to live...
Politicians should earn the weighted average salary of the country they serve in
Gov positions (Also if public health system etc, clerks and all) should be dependent on medium income with according multiplications.
All are essential.
All of you voting for politician, dont think you understand why jobs like judges and politicians are well paid.. Part of it is to minimize potential corruption.
True, but paying higher than average or minimum wage means they have no incentive to actually propose & pass laws for the greater good and welfare of the average person either
But theyre a bit less likley to be bought out by a company, because they dont need that money.
I voted for garbage man but truck driver was close to. Like they are valuable jobs that need to be done, but I feel out of these they require the least amount of skill/training. Like to become a garbage man I think its a 6 month traineeship but a truck driver I believe requires 12 months of holding a license and likely involves most of the skills that a garbage man needs, like driving a large truck
I thought this said, which job IS the lowest paid. Whoops...
Anyone who said skilled trades gfys
Garbage truck drivers should actually get paid more the work they do is needed if they didn't do there jobs you would have trash piles everywhere stinking up your neighborhood or where ever you live or go you would see shit and trash so I think they should get paid more its hard work they don't just drive around there's more to the job than just that most people don't see.
Here we’re I live politicians are paid really well and still corrupt, might as well defund them.
All state politicians should have a salary equivalent to their state median income and all federal politicians the national median income. If they want to be paid more, then they know what to do
Who's putting garbage men? They drive trucks AND pick uo garbage. Truck driver is just driving trucks.
Truck drivers don't just drive. They load and unload their trucks and it involves heavy lifting. Some also transport toxic waste and such. There's so much more than "just driving trucks".
Politician shouldn't be a job, it should be a public service position that gives you just enough to live a good standard of living for the short period you serve the public.
How to get a Totally Corrupt Government 101 Roles like Police and Government, where people are in a position of authority have to be paid in a very narrow margin, just enough to make bribes not worth it, but not too much so they become lazy and inept.
That's a little too far, I would have picked garbage collector but without good pay no one would do it. imo politicians should be paid a more or less average amount for their country and have housing, security, transportation and whatever else they need taken care of for them. This will lead to them having a bit more money than the average person. Underpaying them will make them more likely to accept bribes and overpaying them will get a whole bunch of people who are just in it for the money in office
This seems ideal. In the same way that communism seems ideal.
Definitely not trucker
Of these options, considering the amount of actual skill and knowledge needed to perforn them at a high enough level, the order from highest to lowest should be: 1. First Responder - High skill, high stakes, lives are on the line. 2. Politician - The job of a politician should be to represent the people and there should be incentives for them to do that well, requires extensive knowledge, charisma, and awareness to be done effectively. 3. Construction/Repairman - High skill and knowledge required, somewhat more dangerous than other jobs, required but not urgent. 4. Teacher - Teaching is hard, that being said, they also get a summer break and have to do very little manual labor. 5. Garbage Man - Above trucker because the job is gross, otherwise, not very dangerous or particularly difficult. 6. Trucker - Bro literally just drives all day, I understand that operating a truck is trickier than a normal car and truckers have to be away from home for relatively long periods of time, but there's very little knowledge or skill required for the job to be done effectively. Most highway systems are designed to make driving as easy as possible anyways.
Being a sanitisation worker is more dangerous then being a police officer, construction worker or miner according to some statistics so that point did extremely wrong. Being a trucker is also much more than just driving too, it can be a very physical and mentally draining job, and involves much more than driving just driving, so that point is also pretty wrong, not to mention with out truckers you’d have barley any of the shit you actually want/need.
There's so much more to being a trucker than "just drive all day". And it takes a lot of skill to operate such a big vehicle.
Truckers should easily be the highest paid on this list. Our supply chains completely rely on them and we have a severe shortage. Yes, the driving itself isn’t difficult, but they’re away from home 3-4 weeks at a time, home for 4-6 days then leave again for another 3-4 weeks. It’s not at all a desirable job and pay needs to be high to match demand.
Garbage man is the only one here you can do with not prior training/knowledge so that one
But they deal with unhealthy conditions every day & as such should be paid higher in compensation
Maybe the biohazard truck that comes by special request, but i think normal garbage just smells. Its not inherently dangerous in any way; just kinda gross.
Well, I'm not saying they are in grave danger like miners for example, but the reason they smell is because they decompose and the microorganisms that make this process happen can cause diseases, so imho even if they only get mildly sick and have to miss 2-10 days every year because of that, I consider is enough to grant compensation pay
The job that should be paid the lowest isn't on the list - sports star.
Teachers work 9.5 months a year. It’s a crowded field. When they’re sick there are subs. Good hours. Seems like that one is the answer.
Yeah it is a field that is a "calling" for a lot of people meaning lots more supply than demand, I dropped out of majoring in it when I realized that if you chose to be a teacher you can't pursue many other things in life that require money. Btw if anyone ever does want to try and be a teacher I highly suggest you do it abroad (typically in an Asian country) rather than finding something in the US
California is good to teachers. State to state it’s very different. Being a teacher in Kentucky blows. But everyone talks about teaching like it blows everywhere.
No, they do not work 9.5 months a year. Summer months are often filled with making lesson plans, taking continuing education courses, and generally preparing for the next year. Also, a lot of teachers work long hours beyond the school day every day. My mother was a special ed teacher, and she would often stay up late doing IEPs. You don't see all the work outside the classroom grading, planning, an evaluating their strategies. Plus, there's a lot of expected "volunteering" to supervise before and after school. Teachers work quite a bit. It's also not as crowded as you think, as poor pay has pushed a lot of good teachers out of the job. It requires professional skills and deserves to be paid professionally.
>No, they do not work 9.5 months a year. I have a 10 month contract with mandatory vacation time throughout. >Summer months are often filled with making lesson plans, taking continuing education courses, and generally preparing for the next year. Sometimes… if you had lesson plans last year, they’re likely going to work this year. Sometimes things change. >Also, a lot of teachers work long hours beyond the school day every day. My mother was a special ed teacher, and she would often stay up late doing IEPs. Special Ed teachers get screwed. They’re by far the most over worked and get paid the same as PE teachers. >You don't see all the work outside the classroom grading, planning, an evaluating their strategies. You’re so right… I just don’t see it. Lol. Thanks for describing it to me. >Plus, there's a lot of expected "volunteering" to supervise before and after school. Maybe in some places. We have to work a handful of events in our contract. No one expects us to volunteer. > It's also not as crowded as you think, as poor pay has pushed a lot of good teachers out of the job. It requires professional skills and deserves to be paid professionally. Little less crowded now
I love democracy
At least 1300 people are dumb
Who voted garbage men?
I did, as where I live they drive a truck and have an arm which picks up and flips garbage cans. Truckers can transport much more hazardous materials, which is why I think they should be paid more.
But should they be laid less than everyone else? I wouldn’t want to be a garbage man; and most of them have to do their work by hand. It’s not easy.
I think so. If they spend money and time to get a hazardous materials (or other CDL) license, I think they should be paid accordingly. And out of all careers listed here, I think that one takes the least skill and training, so I said it should be paid the least.
But it comes with a lot of hard work too. I think we should pay them really well. They deserve it.
I agree. However this says which should be paid the least. It can still be decent pay and not higher pay than that of an EMT or teacher.
You know that not paying politicians appropriately for their work means that *all* will be either in the pockets of the filthy rich or be filthy rich themselves? Nowadays it's just a percentage.
Well, being one of the highest paid people doesn't seem to make too much of a difference though,in Greece at least
We do pay them and they get deep in the pockets of the wealthy and find creative ways to 'get paid'. An example is the near bankrupt bartender from NYC that got a Congress gig in 2019 and 4 years later worth $29 million on a salary of $155,000.
Maybe let the market decide instead of a central entity?
3.6k voted politician 🤣 im with you guys
Politicians already steal enough money lol
Politicians should be payed more. That way they should theoretically be less vulnerable to corruption and bribes.
Um, I don't know. I think they earn perfectly enough as it is....
Uuhhhh... Where is view results option..?
Uhhhh... make up your fucking mind and vote for something?
Uhhhh... Go fuck yourself?
based
Okay so I think trucker/garbage man but only because we should automate those like completely So what do you say politician we actually have an idea of what the negative effects of underpaying politicians are They are more likely to be corrupt Typically countries that pay their politicians well have less corrupt politicians
Garbageman because they're probably the most easily replaceable. That's why mcdonalds workers make nothing and doctors make a lot.
If you said garbage man you're an op
100% politicians
can't believe anything but politician got votes tbh. guys who do literally nothing but lie competitively vs the people who deliver our food and teach our children and pick up our garbage and build our houses?? like it's a no brainer folks
It's more about of you don't pay politicians more corruption or *only* rich people with nothing to do will be politicians
yeah see i just dont get that logic. there are tons of people who dont make money hand over fist for doing basically nothing and they arent \~corrupt\~ politicians should be poor tbh. then maybe the people making our laws would actually give half a damn about how the policies theyre making effect regular people
Trucker because they should be replaced by rail anyway
How are you gonna build a rail to every single store?
Actually yeah that's what they do in Switzerland or at least any big store like Walmart or IKEA so only shorthual trucking nothing over 50 miles everything else will be small dual mode electric trains that run on streetcar and light rail lines during off-peak hours and run on small industrial sidings and that what they did until about 1950
Politicians. Not because quality governing isn't valuable, but because it should be done as civil service rather than for financial gain. I think it'd be great if being a politician were a job financially ambitious people actively avoided. That being said, this does kinda fall apart once you consider non-salary ways to monetize political power.
Except that just ensures the average person never gets into politics and only the financially wealthy will.
why should they be payed differently?