Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Chronicles of Mitt: June 12, 2012

pen on paper: 'Dear diary'   Hello, human diary. It is I, Mitt Romney, your better.

Today I talked with radio unit Neil Boortz. He asked me what I believe he thought to be an intriguing question, which is whether or not I, as a person of fantastic wealth, would forego the usual salary of $400,000 a year if I were to become president. I do not think he understands that one does not become an individual of fantastic wealth by turning down $400,000 a year, but in any event I was prepared for the question, which I of course skirted, giving him instead the pre-prepared campaign answer:

'I do believe in linking my incentives and my commitment to the accomplishments of specific goals and I think that's true. I wish we had that throughout government, where people recognize that they are not going to get rewarded in substantial ways unless they are able to achieve the objectives they were elected to carry out.'

I am quite proud of that answer, which is why I have committed it to memory. I have been thinking quite a bit about how to run government more like, say, a hedge fund or other Wall Street firm, as befitting my own expertise and experiences, and I think that incentivizing government workers (including the presidency) would go a long way towards accomplishing this. Specifically, this means implementing a bonus structure for members of my administration.

Suppose I was to become president, and were to give myself an annual performance review. If I deemed that I had not been effective in the previous year, I would give myself a salary of $400,000, but perhaps a bonus of only three or four million additional dollars. If I deemed that I had been a very effective president, on the other hand, I would give myself the salary of $400,000 plus a much deserved, much larger bonus'say, the state of Florida.

This system would seem the most logical way to incentivize accomplishments and objectives for presidents and other top level government officials; it certainly has resulted in great financial successes for the companies of Wall Street. We will be doing a dramatic downsizing of various government departments if I become president, so paying large cash bonuses to those cabinet members who fire the largest number of workers seems by far the most effective system for that downsizing.


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