Yes, if you follow the news on a regular basis you'll find something like this almost every week. It came to light in Holland that the heads of the police department in Amsterdam make a lot of money. Way more then the norm the government itself advised. That's called the 'Balkenendenorm' and is set at €188.000. The idea is that managers in the public sector don't make more then that. In practice no such thing happens.
Chief commissioner Welten, executive chief Gorissen and head administration Schonfeld make respectively €262.841, €212.292 and €200.331. The city of Amsterdam also pays a large amount for Weltens villa in the village of Warmond! To top it off the Amsterdam police department is in the process of making cuts. The workers union of the police was naturally infuriated when this news came out and commented that they were working hard to avoid lay offs under the current economic situation.
It's really scandalous. Lots of businesses, institutions or government sectors are in financial turmoil and not functioning properly yet when you put them through a looking glass you'll often if not always find some greedy grabber at the top. The people who actually do the work often get paid a minimum and have the most risk of being fired. And with government institutions, eventually it's the taxpayer who always gets the bill. Don't you just love capitalism?
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