Maybe Obama should work for $1 a year like Iacocca did

I've been reading up on the Chrysler "Loan Guarantees" of the 1970s that saved the company and the fact that Iacocca said he would work for $1 a year until the company turned a profit. We all know the President gets paid basically BEANS for the amount of responsibility he/she has, but what if he were to forego pay as a gesture to all Americans AND the Congress. Maybe even tie it in with the idea of volunteerism and public service. Just a thought. Of course he has his own wealth with his book proceeds, so I don't think they'd be starving, and he, the kids and Michelle of course need their health care insurance, we don't want anything to happen to them!

I realize he wasn't perfect, but a lot of the things Iacocca did made sense, and of course I love this quote from his 2007 book, Where Have All The Leaders Gone?, co-written by Catherine Whitney:

when I was a teenager. It's an interesting idea though.

and that most people would interpret it politically.

Iacocca did a lot of great things, but the President of the United States, he was not.

but there is something to be said for the gravity of someone foregoing a paycheck. I guess I can see how it could backfire on him politically, but I thought it an idea worth bouncing around.

to clean it up.

Cuz that is what Obama just signed on for. I believe he can pull it off, but the task is still huge. It seems odd that the US President makes something like 1/50th the pay of the average fortune 500 CEO. Paying them more might attract the wrong type, paying them less... might also.

in exchange for no prison time.

Obama should get double what his salary will be.

I work hard for my pay. Most US Presidents are independently wealthy, aren't they? Well, all are AFTER being president, but most are BEFORE. Sad fact. A poor man cannot buy the access necessary. At least not in the last century.

Give Obama a chance.

Mandated by Congress?

He's got kids he has to save for college, and he is most surely going to want to maintain his private properties while he is in the Whitehouse so I would say he will actually quite count on this salary.

They both made some good money off their books but I think Obama's salary should go towards the college education of Malia and Sasha.

that we paid him. I think it will be worth the $.

Where as, we should probably be trying to get our money back for the last 8 years.

Or just have everyone run the government with no pay. That'll get you bright people and competence for sure.

in actual fact, I don't think presidents should get a pension until they're 65...and why do they get 100% per year? when they are elected, they are in effect hired for life, as least in terms of guaranteed income. Something screwy about that. think about that - we will be paying Obama 200,000 a year for the rest of his life, maybe 30 or 40 years - if so, that would be 6-8 million. Maybe they should just get a top-up if they aren't earning so they don't become paupers...also, in theory, shouldn't it be index-linked for fairness?

Not to single him out, but Clinton makes hundreds of thousands/millions from speaking engagements, so why is the taxpayer giving him 200,000 in wages plus another 800,000+ in benefits? that's excluding SS protection..

http://liuzhao.info/reference/resources/pdf/98-249.pdf

Table 1. GSA Allowances for Former Presidents, FY2008 Enacted
Allowance Widows Carter Bush Clinton
Pension7 $0 $191,000 $191,000 $201,000
Staff Salaries 0 96,000 96,000 96,000
Staff Benefits 0 2,000 64,000 65,000
Travel 0 2,000 56,000 50,000
Rental Payments 0 102,000 175,000 516,000
Telephone 0 10,000 17,000 79,000
Postage 12,000 15,000 13,000 15,000
Other Services 0 83,000 76,000 65,000
Printing 0 5,000 14,000 14,000
Supplies 0 5,000 15,000 26,000
Equipment 0 7,000 69,000 35,000
TOTAL $12,000 $518,000 $786,000 $1,162,000
Source: Data provided by the Office of the Budget, General Services Administration, on January 24, 2008.#

friends' ill gotten money. And he cannot return the lives he destroyed, the wealth they made disappear...

:freak:

Article II section 1, the President is to "receive a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected."