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I found an article written in 1998 that showed the fabulous earnings of Microsoft chairman Bill Gates when he was head of his giant soft-ware company.

The article estimat-ed a fortune of US$55 billion (Bt1.85 trillion) and, considering he had made this bundle in the 23 years since Microsoft was founded in 1975 and that he worked 14 hours in every business day since then, Gates made about $300 per second. The article said that at this rate if, on his way into the office, he dropped a $1,000 bill on the ground, it was just not worth his time to bend over to pick it up. The assumption was that in thefew seconds it would take to retrieve it, Gates would make more money just heading off to work. Well, let's leave aside the world's richest man.

I gather that as of last year, the UK prime minister's aggregate pay is now close to the $400,000 salary of the president of the United States. Wow! Given that some heads of state and heads of govern-ment are working around the clock, that means they earn $33,333 per month, $1,111 per day and $46.29 per hour. At an exchange rate of 33 per dollar, if the chiefs were in Thailand, they would live a more than comfortable life earning Bt1,527 per hour.

In comparison, our Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej earns a salary of Bt120,000 a month, Bt4,000 a day or Bt166.70 per hour.

Even though his pay is miles above the minimum wage - below Bt200 a day in some provinces, slightly higher in others - he is not consid-ered rich enough to savour lavish banquets every day. Maybe that explains why he is always cranky.

So if Samak drops a Bt1,000 note on the ground - accounting for one-fourth of his daily wage - he should definitely bend down and pick it up, if his wide girth permits.

Uh! I forgot. As prime minister, he has many followers, and he could order one of them to pick it up for him. Despite a relatively low income, being prime minister still has some important advantages.