http://www.swissnews.ch/politics-new...-salaries.html

CHF12.50/hour or CHF12.7 million per year? Somewhere in between is considered a fair wage

Cool......a thread about salaries.....its been AGES since we've had one of those

Always high in demand, or not?

i still can't grasp my head around the salaries of CEOs amounting to millions! wahhh!? the only CEO i know worth his pay (though not swiss) is Steve Jobs!

I don't understand how the salaries paid to employees of private companies can possibly be any concern of the government.

Isn't that kind of thing entirely up to the market?

Only if the government let it be entirely up to the market...
Politicians can't controle the market economy, but they can make a couple of decisions about it if they see fit. Right or wrong is another debate, though.

I agree, it should be... except when companies are being bailed out with taxpayer dollars and the CEOs insist they are oh-so-clever that they deserve to be paid 25 million (essentially out of public funds).

Very often CEO salaries are based on the increase of the profitability of a company during the time that they are there. If the profit increases 100 Million, quite often that CEO would get 10%.

Steve Jobs is not a CEO anymore. There are many great CEOs around. Gates, Ballmer, Ellison just to name a few as a counterpoint.

I agree with this but the government has to stipulate that beforehand and then it is often difficult to get a good CEO that can lead the company out of trouble to do the job because they know they are not going to make any profit from it.

__________________
Living it up in Gersau.

maybe they can kick out everyone earning less than 4000chfs a month and give them L permits instead.

I guess this sort of torpedoes the usual argument that the reason the prices of groceries are so high is due to the big fat salary those folks at Migros and COOP are pulling down....

Also, Steve Job's salary was only $1 per year.

Yes, but perhaps you don't want to mention the other parts of his package...

fnarr, fnarr.

which is why he paid virtually no taxes on his other income. It was a straw man salary.

Hey, lookie me! I'm only earning $1 per year because I'm so selfless and wonderful!!! ($$ca-ching$$, $$ca-ching$$, $$ca-ching$$)

I know an ex Goldman Sachs partner who went on Tax Strike in the UK, he gave 105% of his income to charity for 5 years. He gave the extra 5% just in case they challenged any figures, he did not want to give them a penny.

I think that just about every 'salary thread' so far has been along the lines of 'Can I survive on this six-figure salary?'. I suspect that many of these should really read 'Look at the salary I have just got - losers!'.

I don't recall having seen a thread along the lines of 'How am I expected to survive on 12.50fr/hour?'

There often seems to be criticism of company bosses with very high salaries based on their company's profits, yet nobody seems bothered about the super-rich celebrities or sports people. Strange world isn't it?

__________________
"I'll say I can't tell you when, But if my spirit is strong, I know it can't be long, No questions I'm not alone, Somehow I'll find my way home" Rod

... or, for that matter, people who get paid 120+k to spend all day on the English Forum...

one of my clients was like that. except that he gave the money to me to find tax breaks for him. gotta love a client who is happy even to pay you 100 instead of the taxman 100.

I'm going to change my name into "Charity"!