Adverse selection

Another quote from George Bush to Robert Draper via the New York Times --

“I’ll give some speeches [after presidency], just to replenish the ol’ coffers.” With assets that have been estimated as high as nearly $21 million, Mr. Bush added, “I don’t know what my dad gets — it’s more than 50-75” thousand dollars a speech, and “Clinton’s making a lot of money.”

He thus indicates that earning a mere $400K a year, with zero work expenses, has depleted the "ol' coffers" -- and implicitly explains the likely view of both him and Cheney that they have sacrificed for their country by taking lower salaries than they could have earned in the private sector.

With performance related public sector salaries they would of course be bankrupt by now. It also points to a market failure, as in an ideal world we collectively would have found a way to pay Bush and Cheney enough to stay in the private sector -- and saved a lot of death and destruction.