Big Frick Dot Com

“Money can’t buy me love” – The Beatles

“But it does allow one to rent for the evening” – Big Frick

How many times have we heard it, the bible says money is the root of all evil? Folks quote it like they are seminary scholars. But if these biblical faux-fessors actually read the Good Book they would see that 1 Timothy 6:10 actually says “for the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil”. Big difference.

The evil comes not in the possession of money or even the striving for money. It comes in what you are willing to do for it and what you are willing to do with it. There is nothing inherently evil in having money or in enjoying the fruits of your labors. That’s capitalism. Certainly there are those whose sole purpose in life is to amass a greater fortune at any cost simply for the status that it provides. There are stories of exceedingly wealthy misers who pinched pennies with no regard for those less fortunate. John Paul Getty installed pay phones in his palatial home for guests to use and John Elwes the British Member of Parliament and inspiration for Dickens’ Ebenezer Scrooge reportedly went to bed when darkness came to save money and candles, wore old tattered clothes rather than spend money on new and would set out to kill the birds on his farms because they would steal his hay to build their nests. But some of the wealthiest capitalists on the planet are also some of the most magnanimous. Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are two prime examples of this having given away hundreds of millions of dollars to various charities and people in need.

It is not new for the poor to want to be rich and the rich to want to be richer. That drive for the creature comforts money provides is as old as the idea of money itself. But having money today seems to be the biggest crime one can commit against humanity. The wealthy are becoming “enemies of the state” with full support of that impression developed and fostered by the Democrats.

Bankers make too much money, CEO’s make too much money, Wall Street traders make too much money, so naturally Congress, set to strike while the iron is hot, is looking to set limits on private citizen’s income being paid by their employers. The fact is, if you want to really level the playing field everybody should be paid like most of these wealthy Americans are paid. No, I am not suggesting everybody be paid as much. Simply that everybody be paid in the same manner, incentivized pay structures for everyone.

The latest pay flap involves a Citi Bank energy trader who is now owed $100 million in contractually obligated incentivized pay. Is it too much to pay him? I don’t know. How much did he make Citi Bank? Oprah Winfrey is slated to make $250 million this year alone. Nobody in Congress is looking to have her pay slashed. And that is how it should be. Oprah is actually paid on an incentivized pay structure based on revenues her name can generate for advertisers. So why is it when an incentivized pay package is set up in business it is considered evil? All the recipient is doing is making a ton of money for his employer. If Citi Bank owes this guy $100 million it’s because he made them plenty.

Why not set it up so everybody is paid by what they actually do rather than by what they promise to do or what they are supposed to be capable of doing?

In non-union manufacturing facilities where the employees are paid not only by their own piecework output but the overall output of the line, it is almost unnecessary to have supervisors checking production levels. Workers whose paycheck are dependent on the performance of other workers are far more inclined to make sure everybody is doing their job correctly and at the proper pace.

Imagine going into a retail store where everybody is paid by the store’s sales. I’m guessing you wouldn’t have to wait long for some help provided by somebody who actually knew what the hell they were talking about. How about paying road maintenance crews by the foot rather than by the hour? You won’t see one guy with a shovel and four guys watching him, tying up traffic up for days to cold patch pot holes. How about paying union members by productivity? I’m guessing cars would be flying off the assembly lines in Detroit and new buildings would go up in half the time.

And how about paying our politicians by delivering on their promises rather than just making them. In business some draw against commission salesmen can actually end up owing the company money for poor performance. I think the same should hold true for elected officials.

You want to give the country a new health care plan? Great! It gives Americans less choice, less care and costs over a trillion dollars. Sorry Barack, Nancy, Harry and Barney. You’re going to be working for free for a long time.

These huge paychecks we read about are all based on incentive programs. Rather than taking away incentives for a job well done we should be taking a lesson.