A week ago, I reported that Apple icon Steve Jobs has a salary of only $1 per year. But Arnold Schwarzenegger made even less than that as Governor of California. While his official salary was $206,500, he gave it all back to the State, resulting in a real salary of $0.
[Source: Knapp, Andrew. Govs' salaries range from $1 to $206,500. Stateline. Downloaded 1/16/11 from: http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=207914]
But in Schwarzenegger's case, foregoing a salary is only half the story. Arnold's real sacrifice as Governor was in the form of opportunity costs. If they were not in office, many politicians would make average salaries, but Schwarzenegger would be making movie-star salary. Each year in office for Arnold meant a year without appearances in blockbuster films, and that missed opportunity is a huge cost.
Arnold Schwarzenegger recently told an Austrian newspaper that he missed an estimated $200 Million in movie income during his stint as Callifornia Governor, during his seven-year stint as governor. [Source: "Arnold - Being the Governator Cost Me $200 Million," TMZ. Downloaded 1/16/11 from: http://www.tmz.com/2011/01/16/arnold-schwarzenegger-governor-california-200-million-dollars/]
I am not a resident of California, and I do not have any strong feelings about how Arnold Schwarzenegger did as Governor of that state. But I do believe that people should generally spend their time doing what they do best. So I have to ask: Was California best served seven years of Governor Schwarzenegger, or would the state have been better off if Arnold had kept acting and simply donated his $200 Million of income for the period to the state's treasury?
Whatever you think of Arnold Schwarzenegger, though, you have to respect him for making a huge personal sacrifice in order to serve his state. Besides acting, he could have spent the past seven years on a beach in the Bahamas. Instead, he worked through legislation, budgets, and all the other tedious tasks of a governor.
Sources
"Arnold - Being the Governator Cost Me $200 Million," TMZ. Downloaded 1/16/11 from: http://www.tmz.com/2011/01/16/arnold-schwarzenegger-governor-california-200-million-dollars/
Knapp, Andrew. Govs' salaries range from $1 to $206,500. Stateline. Downloaded 1/16/11 from: http://www.stateline.org/live/details/story?contentId=207914
Posts
