Mike's Minute: We will never not be jealous of people with money

I was going to suggest we are petty, but I have been saved by the Brits. 

They are having a couple of debates over money. 

One is involving a woman called Sue Gray, who has quit, and the other is over the role of Cabinet Secretary, which is the country's top civil servant, a job which is currently vacant given the incumbent stepped down for health reasons. 

As it turned out, Sue Gray was earning more than the Prime Minister which, for reasons I'm not entirely sure about, needed to be turned into a scrap. 

There are plenty of civil servants here who earn more than the Prime Minister and we don’t seem to have a problem with it. But it appears we don't like it if the Prime Minister is a bit wealthy. 

But I'll come back to that. 

The Cabinet Secretary in Britain is paid $200,000 a year and a bloke called Lord Gus O'Donnell, who used to do it, is busy running a campaign arguing it's grossly underpaid. 

As for Ms Gray, she was on $170,000 a year while the Prime Minister is on $166,000. When this was revealed she became a distraction, so she quit. 

Ironically, she has a new job that no one seems to understand, which is one of the ironies of this whole jealousy driven nonsense. Would you rather a person in a high-performing role got more in a job you understand, or they get less in a job you have no idea just what it is they do? The fact they may or may not do anything is beside the point, right? 

Which brings us back to the current Prime Minister here, who because he sold a couple of rentals, is clearly far too wealthy so we need a good b*tch about that as well. 

The fact the National Party Prime Minister before him was a mile more wealthy again never really seemed to bother anyone, so maybe it’s the post Covid / Cost of Living angst that got so many so upset. 

If you want something to exercise yourself with, how about the Prime Minister who ran the country into the ground then scarpered to write a book and wander the speaking circuit, creaming it by making money from her ineptitude and our subsequent economic misfortune. 

What's worse? A civil servant working God-knows how many hours for $200,000, a Prime Minister on $484,000 but with a couple of properties he made money on, or a fly-by-nighter who came second in one election, locked us down for the second, buggered it up in record fashion and then fled to make a fortune telling people how kind she is. 

Some people and jobs are worth the money. Some aren't. 

But jealousy is a wasted emotion. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I was going to suggest we're a bit petty in
this country, but I've been saved, fortunately by the bricks.
They're having a couple of debates over money at the moment.
One's involving a woman called Sue Gray who's quit, and
the other is over the role of Cabinet Secretary, which
is the country's top civil servant, a job which is
currently vacant given the incumbent step down for health reason.
Sue Gray, as it turns out, was earning more than
the Prime Minister, which, for reasons I'm not entirely sure about,

(00:22):
needed to be turned into a scrap. There are plenty
of civil servants here, of course, who earn more than
the Prime minister. We don't seem to have a problem
with that, but we don't like it. It appears that
the pms are a little bit wealthy. But I'll come
back to that. The Cabinet Secretary in Britain has paid
a couple of hundred thousand dollars a year, and a
bloke called Lord O'Donnell who used to do it, is
busy running a campaign arguing it's grossly underpaid. As for

(00:43):
Miss Gray, she was on one hundred and seventy thousand
dollars a year the prime minister's one hundred and sixty six.
When this was revealed, she became a distraction. So quit. Ironically,
she's got a new job that no one seems to
understand what it means, which is one of the ironies
of this whole jealousy driven nonsense. Would you rather a
person in a high performance role get more in a

(01:04):
job that you understand, or they get less than a
job that you've got no idea just what it is
they do. But because it isn't more than the Prime minister,
that then looks okay. The fact that they may or
may not do anything is beside the point, which brings
us back to the current Prime minister here, who, because
he sold a couple of rentals, is clearly far too wealthy,
so we need a good bitch about that as well.

(01:26):
The fact the National Party Prime minister before the current
one was a mile more wealthy again never really seem
to bother anybody. So maybe it's this post COVID cost
of living anks that's got so many people upset at
the moment. If you want something to exercise yourself with,
how about the prime minister who ran the country into
the ground, then scarpe it to write a book and
wander around the speaking circuit, creaming it by making money

(01:48):
from her ineptitude and subsequent economic misfortune. What's worse a
civil servant working god knows how many hours for two
hundred thousand dollars a year, a prime minister in New
Zealand on four hundred and eighty four thousand dollars a year,
but a couple of what is he made money on?
Or or a fly by nighter who came second in
one election locked us down for the second bucketed up
in record fashion, fled to make a fortune telling people

(02:10):
how kind she is. See, some people in jobs are
worth the money, some aren't. But jealousy is a waste
of emotion. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen
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