There is nothing more aggravating than questions asked where statements should be made.
It would be like a kid saying “should we get McDonald’s for dinner?” when you damn well know the kid wants McDonald’s for dinner and is phrasing it as a question to make the suggestion sound much more innocuous than an opinion or wish or desire.
Similar to children, the media has this habit as well.
In an example by Pat Garofalo (perhaps related to Janeane), “Switzerland Clamps Down Hard On Executive Pay — Should The U.S. Follow Suit?”
What they mean to say is “Switzerland Clamps Down Hard on Executive Pay – The U.S. Should Follow Suit” but they want to make it sound like a news article and not an opinion piece.
Also, why should we be following Switzerland? Because they’re Europe?
If they’re so much more Euro-progressive than us, why don’t we follow suit and require men to own guns? After all, “between 2.3 million and 4.5 million military and private firearms are estimated to be in circulation in a country of only 8 million people.”
Well, that wouldn’t quite fit the picture of progressive Europeans, now would it?
So Switzerland voted to cap executive pay.
Passed with 68% approval, “shareholders will have the ability to veto executive pay packages, so-called ‘golden parachutes’ will be outlawed, and executives who defy the rules could see jail time.”
According to the “BBC’s Imogen Foulkes, in Berne…multibillion dollar losses by Swiss banking giant UBS, and thousands of redundancies at pharmaceutical company Novartis, have caused anger in Switzerland – because high salaries and bonuses for managers continued unchanged.”
By referendum, Switzerland has scurried to change the actions of private businesses…because two companies experienced losses. This isn’t even Enron or Madoff here.
According to the act’s supporters, it was spurred by “a social problem because the high wages got higher and the small ones sometimes just got lower. I think people have the support of the Swiss people because of that.”
The Swiss average wage is $73,500/year, and they’re concerned because a couple executives got bonuses?
This is why popular movements can be dangerous. Time and time again, Europe is subject to those.
It’s a good thing we’re not.
