Apple Computer

APPLE KEPT chief executive Steve Jobs’s remuneration package at $US1 last year – the 12th such move in a row – while four other members of his management team each received a $US100,000 ($113,000) raise in salary after the board decided they were underpaid.

Mr Jobs did not receive a bonus or equity awards in 2009, the computer maker said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. He has collected only $US1 a year in salary since returning in 1997.

The Harvard Business Review this week named Mr Jobs the best-performing chief executive in the US, praising him for delivering a ”whopping” 3188 per cent return to investors during his tenure.

Mr Jobs, who co- founded Apple in 1976 and was ousted in 1985, returned to the company as it was struggling to win sales for its Macintosh personal computer. He has since attracted buyers with redesigned Mac models as well as new gadgets, including the iPod and the iPhone.

Mr Jobs, 54, owns about 5.5 million shares and hasn’t sold any during his 12-year term as chief executive, Apple said in the filing. Mr Jobs, who took a 5½-month medical leave of absence in January, received $US4000 in compensation for business use of his private plane in 2009. That compares to the $US871,000 in plane-related compensation he received in the previous year.

Apple’s board of directors awarded salary increases to its chief operating officer, Timothy Cook, chief financial officer, Peter Oppenheimer, iPhone software engineering chief, Scott Forstall, and Bob Mansfield, who leads hardware engineering for the Mac.

After a compensation review, comparing Apple’s salary and performance to other companies, the board found the executives’ compensation ”was significantly below the median of peer companies”, according to the filing.

Mr Cook, who ran day-to-day operations at Apple while Mr Jobs was on leave, saw his base salary increase to $US800,000 from $US700,000. His total compensation, including stock and bonuses, was valued at $US14 million last year.

Mr Oppenheimer had a new salary of $US700,000, while Mr Forstall and Mr Mansfield each received $US600,000 in salary.

The four executives also earned bonuses equal to their new salary, according to the filing.

Bloomberg

Steve Jobs was compensated $1 for his work as Apple’s CEO in 2009, a tradition that has existed since 1997.

Steve Jobs officially made $1 in salary in 2009, continuing a tradition started in 1997. Apple disclosed this information in a preliminary proxy statement sent to its shareholders on Wednesday.

Jobs holds nearly 5.5 million shares of Apple’s stock, a position he has held steady since 2003, making his holdings in the company worth over $1 billion. He is also the largest single shareholder in The Walt Disney Co. at 7.4 percent.

Earlier in December, Jobs was named the world’s best-performing CEO in the January-Feburary 2010 edition of Harvard Business Review. He was credited with delivering a 3,188% industry-adjusted return since he rejoined the company as CEO in 1997.

Jobs was given the title “CEO of the Decade” by Fortune for his role in turning Apple into a groundbreaking technology leader and “the most valuable company in Silicon Valley.” He was also a finalist for Time magazine’s 2009 “Person of the Year.”

Apple’s annual shareholder’s meeting is currently scheduled for February 25, 2010.

via AppleInsider | Apple CEO Steve Jobs receives salary of $1 in 2009.

On Monday Gibbons held a meeting with ten legislators at his office to “brainstorm” about Nevada’s budget problems. It was supposed to last two hours but he left an hour into the meeting for an “engagement in Reno”. The “communications” director, Daniel Burns said he was unaware Gibbons had another meeting. Yeah, right.

This shows that Gibbons did not take the meeting very seriously. He and his staff like to pretend to have cooperation without doing much of anything to make it happen.

The budget problems are serious and more time should be given in discussing them with legislative representatives.

On the table are additional pay cuts of up to 10 percent and possible layoffs of as many as 2,000 state employee or about 10 percent of the total number. Serious enough to talk about.

On reading an advertisement for high calibre staff required for a start-up web development company, I was left feeling angry, exasperated and more than a little frustrated at the comments from the CEO – he wanted sales people to work on a commission only basis. So what’s wrong with that you might be asking?

Perhaps not a lot until you start to dig a little deeper. The CEO of this particular company wrote a blog lambasting all current unemployed sales people for not wanting to work for his company - these are the ‘excuses’ he finds incomprehensible.

1.       I am collecting unemployment’. Most folks have been laid off from their previous job, does anyone say fired anymore? So, these people collect unemployment and are unwilling to part their ways with a free handout, because a commission only sales position is somehow a tremendous challenge’.

2.       I am looking for a steady paycheck. I say Great! Please, generate enough sales for me and I will give you a steady paycheck. However, these folks look for a paycheck from day one. Now put on a business owner hat and you will know that it will be a few months before you realize if the sales person is even effective. So what takes place here is what I consider a substitute of one form of a payout (unemployment benefits) for another (paycheck).

3.        I am switching careers, this one actually makes sense. At least some folks realize that they should probably look for other means of income since sales profession has not been kind to them. Sometimes, knowing one’s own shortcomings and owning up to those is the foundation for making progress

‘So where’s your investment’? replied a MR Binkney on the blog page. ‘If you want people to work for 100% commission, where exactly is your buy in. If you’re looking for seasoned performers that give results, so does every other company and most will pay for it’.

A Mr Brynside went further: ‘Whenever I see this type of mentality, it is followed by a greedy individual who wants to ride on the back of hard-working sales people, while they reap the benefits, leaving the salesperson vulnerable’.

So for any employers hoping to employ people on a commission based salary, the good news is that it is possible. However to attract quality staff you might want evidence what sales can be achieved and offer an incentive, perhaps a descending salary until they close some deals. Sales people, like all other employees deserve respect and loyalty, but are all too often undervalued for the legitimate skills they possess – not everyone can do what we do and not everyone wants to do what we do (which is why there are multiple sales positions available even in a terrible economy) and NOTHING SELLS ITSELF, which is why a good sales person/team is needed for a company to succeed.

Good sales people are passionate about what we do and take pride and satisfaction from watching your profits grow. Therefore a structured salary, a little appreciation and some long-term benefits will go along way in attracting and retaining quality employees – after all we’re worth it!

I already mentioned that we do not work like most organizations. We are almost at the point where people decide their own salary (more on that topic in an upcoming post). Some are even contemplating making their salary public to everyone within the company (more on that also in an upcoming post). For now, I want to share some interesting discussion around what is called the “risk salary”.

Now that our leaders were happy with their salary – or at least responsible for them – Paulo had another, even more daring proposal, He called it “risk salary”.

“Each of you now has the correct salary, according to your own estimate of your worth,” he told managers at a meeting of company leaders in 1989. “I propose to pay you a little less, but in return will give you the possibility of earning more.”

Then he explained his new wrinkle. If Semco did well, an employee who agreed to risk a 25 percent salary cut – the limit – would receive up to 50 percent more. If Semco did poorly, he would suffer the 25 percent cut. So a manager who received, say, $1,000 a week could risk having it reduced to $750. On the other hand, he could, at the end of each quarter, get an amount that would bring his weekly salary to $1,500.

Maverick: The Success Story Behind the World’s Most Unusual Workplace

We are talking about implementing a similar concept. Below is how the proposed model would work.

Variable salary that fluctuates with the company's performance

This model was used by a few employees last year and the discussions around opening this model to everyone are under ways. Interestingly enough, although this model would be entirely voluntary employees are divided on the implementation of this proposed model. I should be able to share more details on this experiment in the months to come.

Yesterday was probably one of worst Fridays I ever had in my life. It was bit strange since I had a very good week prior to this day. I kept myself busy, met up with friends from school, and holiday parties at work was just fantastic (I’ve never had one before). But for some reason, I collapsed hard yesterday.

I ended up talking with a friend this morning about how horrible my Friday was and explained what happened during the day. It was bitterly cold, I missed my usual bus to metro station – thus had to wait 15 minutes for next bus and late to work. I met with my supervisor to discuss my performance rating, wasn’t too happy about how my rating came out to be (it wasn’t my supervisor’s fault, he put a good word but it’s the people that evaluates me, whom happened to be in PA). They don’t see what I do at work, yet they’re the ones that judge my performance, how weird.

After seeing my evaluation, I lost my motivation to work that day. Just very disappointed that I wasn’t evaluated correctly thus translates to the money. I think this is how it all started. The money. I’ve been telling people how they should not chase money when they’re looking for a new job. I EVEN posted something on this just days ago. Yet, here I am, depressed that I wasn’t treated professionally and disappointed about my raise = money.

I was talking to my friend about this and immediately realized how pathetic I was to thinking this way. This probably was the reason why I was so pessimistic that day. I didn’t have any energy, no motivation, no fun, just wanted to go home and crash. It was just bad day. My coworkers invited me to a social after work, but I didn’t go. I felt like I’d just pretend to have fun yet have this dark bitterness inside of me.

To sum it all. I need to be more positive. I thought I was very positive person, but I am far from being a positive & optimistic person. I also hate the fact that money can drive our emotions. I really wish I could just be happy about my salary, where I live, what I do, who I hang out with, and such. Yet, I’m selfish and want more. It’s just so pathetic way to live a life.

But yesterday is a history, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

I came across an interesting article by Zig Ziglar today in regards to the tendencies of individuals in sales organizations.  According to the findings of Mr. Ziglar the top sales people are seated at or very close to the front while the bottom-feeders tend to arrive late or at the last moment and unprepared.  In the article he notes these low-producing people are also the ones who most likely squirm in their seats, leave early or talk to the person next to them.

He goes on to mention a great point.  These bottom-feeders are typically the same people who arrive at an athletic or entertainment event wanting the best seat in the house.  Generally arriving in plenty of time and are irritated when there are distractions from anyone else.

This is my friend sounds to me like a Piker who is someone who holds back, looking forward to vacation time and giving very little effort at work.  In my line of work I have one person that comes to mind while I was reading Ziglar’s post.  In fact most recently he was talking about his recent trip to a professional sporting event, how the tailgating before the game was fun, how he was drunk 3 hours before the game, the annoying person in front of him, and then the after-game party.  All of this coming from the same person who shows up 1-3 minutes before his scheduled shift and he wonders why he is having a hard time producing.

I cannot help but chuckle out loud as to how right Zig Ziglar is on this.  The individuals at my work who are successful have two things in common.  They do whatever it takes, every time.  They are the people who sit in the front, who continuously want to learn, unlike the above-mentioned individual, they show up early to meetings and generally are the last people to leave.  I leave you with the closing comments from the article:

“In short, these people are winners because they plan to win, prepare to win and expect to win.  That’s a good approach to life.  Try it and I’LL SEE YOU AT THE TOP!”  

A mechanic was removing a cylinder head from the engine of a Range Rover when he spotted a well-known heart surgeon in his shop. The surgeon was there waiting for the service manager to come take a look at his Mercedes when the mechanic shouted across the garage: “Hey doc, can I ask you a question?”

The surgeon, a bit surprised, walked over to where the mechanic was working on the Range Rover. The mechanic straightened up, wiped his hands on a rag and asked: “So Doc, look at this engine. I open its heart, take the valves out, repair any damage, and then put them back in, and when I finish, it works just like new. So how come I get such a small salary and you get the really big money, when you and I are doing basically the same work?”

The surgeon paused, smiled and leaned over and whispered to the mechanic: “Try doing it with the engine running.”

If you study software engineering management, you learned about the importance of measuring different quantities to asses the quality of the software being produced. For instance, we measure things like unit test coverage, coupling, cohesion and cyclomatic complexity. In fact, just today I had to add unit tests to some code in order to achieve over 90% test coverage. These unit tests ensure that the code will remain functional as more changes are introduced by other engineers.

There is a need for metrics in any enterprise in which the producers are trying to achieve a quality outcome for the customers. Education is no different. But sometimes educational bureaucrats and teacher unions block the collection of measurements so that no teacher or educrat will be singled out for lowering the quality of education being provided to the students.

Consider this story from City Journal (The Manhattan Institute). (H/T ECM)

Excerpt:

Data analysis is far from perfect, and no one argues that it should be used in isolation to make employment decisions. But modern techniques can help us distinguish between teachers whose students excel and teachers whose students languish or fail. There’s just one problem with the data revolution: it doesn’t work without data. States must develop data sets that track the individual performance of students over time and match those students to their teachers.

Unfortunately, New York has deliberately refused to take that step. The state already has a sophisticated system for tracking student progress, but it doesn’t allow this statewide data set to match students to their teachers. No technical or administrative factors prevent the state from doing so. Only political obstacles stand in the way. The premise underlying the policies favored by the teachers’ unions, which govern so much of the relationship between public schools and teachers, is that all teachers are uniformly effective. Once we can objectively distinguish between effective and ineffective teachers, the system of uncritically granted tenure, a single salary schedule based on experience and credentials, and school placements based on seniority become untenable. The unions don’t want information about their members’ effectiveness to be available, let alone put to practical use, and thus far they’ve successfully blocked New York State’s use of such data.

Along with its refusal to improve its data system, the state has kept cities from adopting reforms. When New York City hinted that it would use its own data system to evaluate teachers based on student test scores, the state legislature passed a law banning the practice. Fortunately, that law is set to expire next year and may never actually be enforced, thanks to the city’s new reading of it, which frees city officials to use test scores for tenure decisions this year. Still, the legislature’s actions illustrate its opposition to using data in any way that would identify ineffective teachers.

This lack of concern for the well-being of the children reminds me of all the spending that Obama is doing. That spending will have to be paid back by generations yet unborn, just as the teachers sacrifice the children’s interests for their own job security. And the worst part is that the children vote for the teachers unions and the government spending – what else could they do after coming through the public school system?

By the way, for those of you who are old-fashioned, like me, you may be interested in some films showed to school children growing up in the 1950s in order to develop their moral character! Boy, that sure was a different world than today.

Even though managerial-level employees were hardest hit by the economic crisis on a global basis – with 50 per cent of organizations restructuring or considering restructuring at this level1 – fast-growth economies, like Turkey, Brazil, Middle East and South Africa are developing so quickly that the supply of senior talent cannot meet the demand. This has resulted in high salaries being offered to managers to attract the best managerial talent to fill their local deficit. “Managers in Brazil have greater spending power relative to other fast growing economies like India, Russia and China,” says Carlos Siqueira from Hay Group Brazil.

PHILADELPHIA, PA December 8, 2009 – As the world emerges from the downturn, a new report by global management consultancy Hay Group finds that where there is a scarcity of senior management talent, the laws of supply and demand have outweighed the impact of the crisis on senior managers pay, leading to greater pay gaps. In terms of management spending power, the Gulf States still dominate the rankings, although Chile, Romania and Turkey are surprising hot spots for managers.

Hay Group’s “Global Management Pay Report” provides a snapshot of two key indicators of the global talent market: managerial spending power and the pay gap between management and clerical workers in over 55 countries.

Philip Spriet, managing director for reward information services Hay Group comments, “The disparity between managerial spending power in high and low growth economies is likely to increase over the coming year. The full brunt of the crisis has yet to filter down fully to managers’ spending power. Managers whose governments have increased public spending to help organizations weather the crisis are likely to experience a rise in tax and living costs, and will feel the real impact on their disposable income in the coming years.”

Spending power – who has the money?
As expected, the oil-rich, tax free states in the Middle East (which take rankings one to six in the Global Management Spending Power Index ) have much higher levels of managerial spending power than in the UK, US and other countries in Western Europe.

This disparity is made even more acute due to the adverse effects of the economic downturn on advanced economies along with heavier tax burdens and higher costs of living; indeed the US and the UK languish at 30th and 43rd respectively in the Global Management Spending Power Index.

The countries at the top of the table tend to benefit from relatively high salaries, where the supply of senior talent cannot meet the demand, and where there are very low or no income taxes. In other economies such as Chile (7), Turkey (10) and Brazil (16), the spending power is further boosted by a low cost of living.

Pay gaps – who is the fairest of them all?
At the top of the table is Nigeria where there is a high demand for managerial talent and a lack of local experience in professional management roles, particularly in a multinational context.

China ranks second in terms of largest pay gap. William Lo from Hay Group China comments, “The war for talent continues in China even during the downturn and we expect that the pay market for senior managers won’t cool down anytime in the near future.”

Philip Spriet, managing director for reward information services Hay Group comments, “This reflects the generally high availability of lower-skilled workers in these markets and competition for senior talent. With specialist skills in short supply and huge competition to attract highly qualified executives there is an increasing gap between managerial and clerical level workers in developing economies.”

The lower rankings of the Global Pay Gap Index suggest more equality within the labour market and include a large proportion of Nordic countries. Sjur Teigland, from Hay Group Norway comments, “In Norway’s egalitarian culture one would find it difficult to accept the sort of high differentials between top managers and other staff that we see in some other developed economies. So I am not surprised to see Norway as the bottom end when comparing salary gaps.”

Click here to download the full Global Management full report.

Author : , WIJANARKO

CV. Global Solusi Media adalah sebuah perusahaan yang bergerak dibidang penjualan alat – alat / komponen listrik serta melayani jasa pemasangan panel – panel listrik ke pabrik – pabrik. Sistem penggajian dan cuti karyawan pada CV. Global Solusi Media saat ini masih menggunakan sistem manual, di mana perhitungan gaji dan sisa cuti karyawan dilakukan secara manual dan absensi masih menggunakan kertas absensi. Untuk menangani masalah tersebut dibutuhkan suatu sistem baru yang lebih efisien. Proses perancangan dan pembuatan program diawali dengan mempelajari dan menganalisis sistem perusahaan saat ini kemudian menyusun dan membuat DFD, ERD, table – tabel yang dibutuhkan, setelah itu membuat program. Perancangan program meliputi beberapa modul, antara lain: program absensi karyawan dengan menggunakan entry komputer dan program perhitungan gaji karyawan secara otomatis. Proses yang lain seperti : cuti karyawan, perhitungan lembur dan piket karyawan. Setiap user mempunyai kode user dan password berbeda untuk dapat menentukan menu program yang dapat diakses. Sistem operasi yang digunakan adalah Windows XP, pembuatan database dengan Microsoft Access XP, dan untuk pengembangan program menggunakan Borland Delphi 7. Dengan adanya program yang menangani sistem penggajian dan cuti pada CV. Global Solusi Media, proses perhitungan penggajian dan cuti karyawan menjadi lebih akurat sebab dilakukan oleh komputer secara otomatis, dimana dalam sistem yang lama masih menggunakan perhitungan manual. Program dapat menampilkan laporan – laporan seperti : laporan data karyawan, laporan absensi karyawan, laporan cuti karyawan, laporan kerja lembur, laporan gaji karyawan dan membuat slip gaji.

Keyword : furlough, salary, information system

Sumber : http://repository.petra.ac.id/1647/

Vietnam’s Foreign Exchange Control regime classifies transactions between residents and non-residents into two categories: capital and current. Capital transactions are those made for the purpose of transferring capital related to capital investment activities.[1] Current transactions are those made for purposes other than those related to capital investment activities and include the remittance of income from such investments.[2] I’m not going to discuss capital transactions at this point, only current transactions as I have some experience with them, and as they affect individuals coming into Vietnam, to work.

Current Transactions

All transactions involving payments or remittances of monies must be conducted via authorized credit institutions.[3] Remittance overseas must be conducted in foreign currencies. A non-resident may remit overseas any foreign currency in its capital account and, if it has a “lawful revenue source” in Vietnamese Dong, it may purchase foreign currency to remit that amount abroad.[4] Non-residents seeking to remit funds abroad must provide the authorized credit institution documents evincing a lawful source for such funds.[5]

If you’re working with a Vietnamese based company, that lawful source of income must be contractually paid in US dollars if you want to transfer that money out of Vietnam, and if you want the money not to count against your US$7,000 allowed through customs. Talking with several English teachers, and from my own experience, banks won’t let you deposit more than $7,000, nor your company deposit USD in your account, unless your contract specifically states you are to be paid in USD. That said, if you want to transfer any money outside of Vietnam, you have to have an account in Vietnam. The State Bank won’t allow any banks to transfer salary directly overseas. It has to be transferred into an account in Vietnam, namely your own, then you can transfer that amount overseas at your own expense.

When I started work here I dealt with this issue. It was a stressful time. It’s easy for international companies to juggle their payments overseas to avoid the complications of getting money out of Vietnam, but if you work for a local company, like I do, you have to deal with it. Costs to contemplate for transferring money overseas include a flat cable fee, a percentage of the amount transferred, and possible foreign exchange costs. It ends up costing about $25 minimum per transaction, so don’t transfer money lightly. I found that HSBC was actually one of the cheapest banks to work with while ANZ was probably the most expat friendly bank.

I’ve banked with HSBC before, and in combination with the price factor, I chose to work with them. Despite this decision, I was flummoxed when told that any overseas transfer might be subject to registration. When I asked what criteria affixed to registration I was told that it might be a large amount of money. When I pressed to know how much money I was told that it depends. When I asked what it depended on I was told that it was an anti-fraud/corruption mechanism and that I would be notified if I needed to register. Again I asked what amount triggered the requirement and was told it was not fixed. I then sighed and resigned myself to the red tape. It was nothing but an arbitrary application of an uncertain principle. Despite this lack of clarity-one which I figured would attach to any bank I might choose-I felt my measly transactions of a couple hundred, maybe thousand, a month would not trigger this registration requirement and opened an account.

[2] Ordinance 28 at Article 4.5, 4.6.

[3] Ordinance 28 at Article 7.

[4] Ordinance 28 at Article 8.

[5] 160-2006-ND-CP, Decree Providing Regulations for Implementation of Ordinance on Foreign Exchange Control, 28 December 2006, Article 5.1.

X Factor future is in jeopardy after Cheryl Cole has told Simon Cowell that she wants to quit the X Factor this year.

Simon Cowell The X Factor boss credits Cheryl Cole to part of the huge success for this years X Factor and is deeply concerned that the UK favourite Judge wants to give up being a judge on the ITV show.

Cheryl Cole has told Simon Cowell that she has loved being a judge on the show but wants to spend more time with her husband football star Ashley Cole and star a family while the timing is right.

Simon Cowell understands her reasons for wanting to leave the show but according to a source he is not happy about it and will do whatever it takes to keep her part of the show, which has even included an offer to double her £1.2 million salary.

Source

The Nevada Legislature meets every other year and the session usually runs 120 days or about 4 months. Their base pay is fairly low but their daily per diem is very nice. Here is what they get:

Each legislator is paid $8,777 per session or $2,194.25 per month for 4 months or annualized at $26,331.

Note: More than one fifth of all state employees make less than $25,000 annually and must work a  full year for it.

A legislator’s  daily per diem is $167 for a full 120 days.  This is $20,040 per session, $5,010 per month or annualized at $60,120.

Note: The average state employee pay is about $44,000 per year or $3,666 a month. Fifty nine percent make less than $50,000 a year.

In summary:

The maximum amount a legislator can receive in salary and per diem is $28,817 ($8,777 + $20,040) or $7,204 a month, annualized at $86,448.

However, it is the “expenses” category that significantly increases their overall remuneration. According to a Reno Gazette Journal article legislators were given an average of $45,307 in pay, per diem and expenses or $11,326.75 per month. When annualized the figure is $135,921 not quite as much as the governor though he works fewer hours in a year than they.

Note: Only about 2 percent of all state employees make $100,000 a year or more.

These figures show our legislators are collectively paid/given $2,854,341 each session (63 legislators). This might be included in the costs of the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LCB) the support agency for the legislature which are about $15,000,000 per year.  Wow!

When you consider state employee furloughs, higher insurance premiums and deductibles, and pay frozen indefinitely, state employees are definitely paying their fair share in these difficult times. And yet, few complain and understand that they too must shoulder some of the burden.

What about our Legislature?  Nope. Fiscal reality does not apply to them.

————————-

See my previous post: State Employee Pay for 2007 – less than you think!

It is the 13^th of December and I am already looking forward to the upcoming Major League baseball season.  I frustrate my wife because I am a fan of many players and not just necessarily one team.  Though I do pull for the St. Louis Cardinals I have kept up with players like Chipper Jones, Todd Helton, Ivan Rodriguez, etc. for quite some time.

I remember when Chipper Jones came up and it’s hard to believe that he has been in the league since 1994 and to know that he is in the twilight hours of his career.  I mean seriously how many more years will he be able to produce at the big league level?  I guess this is all part of the getting older process.  Watching games as a kid seeing your favorite rookie become a seasoned veteran on the verge of hanging his cleats up in the next couple of years. 

I think back to the early 1990s and the summer afternoons watching Cardinal baseball games or listening to them on the radio.  A part of me wishes I could have those summers back but reality tells me that I’ll keep moving forward.  There are many people who are haters of the baseball salaries and I’ve never quite been able to figure this out.

Maybe it’s because I had dreams of becoming a major league ball player as I transitioned from High School to Collegiate baseball.  I’m not for sure but I grew up looking at baseball as a business more than a hobby.  Unfortunately my playing days are over and I left the greatest game known to man on my own terms.  I realize that no matter how old I get I will always be a kid at heart.

Baseball players are entertainers and the game is their job.  Despite what others may think the game of baseball is a kid’s game but at the major league level it is more than a game it is a business.  The game is about championships, it’s about providing for families, it’s about a way of life.  We have people in our country who are 3^rd and 4^th generation military and my question is what is wrong with having blood lines in the major leagues?  What is wrong with your yearly salary coming from America’s past time?  Why complain about the salaries when people come to see these players entertain?

Thankfully the Major League Baseball Network is able to hold me over with historic games through their programming. 

2006 World Series Game 4** Yep I was there!

Story from USA Today. (H/T National Review via ECM)

Excerpt:

Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession’s first 18 months — and that’s before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.

Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.

The highest-paid federal employees are doing best of all on salary increases. Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009, the most recent figure available.

When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.

The average private sector salary is about $40,000. The average federal worker makes over $71,000.

If you have started to think about income protection insurance and why it may be useful to you then you may still be at the stage where you aren’t quite sure why yet. This kind of insurance policy was established to help people if they lost their salary by giving them a replacement income. This may be useful in three ways.
Author:
pubDate:Sat, 28 Nov 2009 19:50:17 -0600
Original Link:http://ezinearticles.com/?Three-Reasons-Why-Income-Protection-Insurance-May-Be-Useful&id=3338769