Singaporeans will be doling out their two cents worth of opinions, over the next few days. The hot-button topic? The government-appointed panel's recommendations on political salary cuts. The Prime Minister says he will accept the recommendations.
The proposed cuts range from 20 per cent to 53 per cent. The PM himself gets a 36pc annual salary cut, from $3.07 million to $2.2 million, while the President's is a 51pc cut. PM Lee is believed to be still the highest paid politician in the world.
Here's insing.com's story on the topic, with a rather cheeky headline, "Ministers' huge salaries slashed":
http://news.insing.com/tabloid/ministers-huge-salaries-slashed/id-4a253f00
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I don't know if anyone has ranked politicians in any listing of "most stressful jobs". I guess politicians in a war-torn country, or in one where they risk being killed or kidnapped, will feel highly stressed compared to those in a stable society like Singapore's.
Anyway, what are the most and least stressful jobs in a typical context?
A two-part article (3 Jan and 4 Jan) in ST's "Classified Ads Recruit" page claims that the 10 most stressful jobs (not ranked, and presumably these are civilian jobs) are:
Commercial pilot
Public relations officer
Senior corporate executive
Photojournalist (especially if he or she is on the frontline of danger)
Newscaster
Advertising account executive
Architect
Stockbroker
Emergency medical technician (emergency paramedic)
Real estate agent
As for the 10 least stressful jobs, the article claims these are:
Audiologist
Chiropractor
Computer programmer
Dental hygienist (this is the person who assists the dentist in the diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of dental practice)
Dietitian
Mathematician
Occupational therapist
Software engineer
Speech pathologist
And...
last but not least on this list (remember, there's no ranking)...
Philosopher (the article says: "Many philosophers work in the academic realm, teaching at colleges and universities. Teaching allows philosophers to enjoy flexible schedules, the opportunity to conduct research and an intellectually stimulating environment where they are surrounded by others who enjoy philosophy. Also, after philosophy professors achieve tenure, their jobs remain stable.)
So, who wants to be a politician if one can become a philosopher? Well, there's this cautionary joke...
A newly minted philosophy major went job hunting. He first tried his alma mater, then universities elsewhere in his search for employment but in vain. He then tried other occupations but still hit a wall.
Having run out of options, he swallowed his pride and took up the offer of playing a bear in a costume at the zoo. He was locked up in a cage, where he was supposed to imitate various bear-like movements to entertain visitors.
To his horror, another bear appeared in the cage and started approaching him. He panicked and started to pee in his pants. That was when the other bear said: "Don't be afraid. I'm also a philosophy major."
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