Last week, this newspaper ran a list of the salaries of some of the chief executive officers at Bermuda insurance companies. The publication of such lists is usually accompanied by outrage at the hugeness of the figures, even though the men and women (mostly men) listed have responsibility for the careers of thousands of people and the fate of billions of dollars.

Since the list was prepared from publicly available data, it omitted many of the Island's top earners, who work for private enterprises that are not required to disclose their employees' salaries. One can only imagine what some of the hedge fund boys make, for example, let alone the private equity guys. A number of private individuals based in Bermuda earn the kind of money that makes the insurance executives' salaries look like peanuts.

Most importantly, the list omitted the growth in value of the CEOs' shareholdings and stock options, often the major component of top people's compensation packages.

At the same time, a survey landed on my desk, carried out by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. It reported total annual remuneration in 2007 in a number of job categories for several countries around the world, not including Bermuda. It made interesting reading.

For instance, human resources directors in the UK earned an average of $654,600, while their US counterparts earned only $561,280. Weirdly, given the importance of IT in the modern age, UK IT managers earned $147,916, while US IT managers pulled down $126,498. If these numbers are to be believed, it is no wonder that there is a worldwide shortage of IT staff. The job doesn't pay anything like enough.

HR and IT were the only two categories in which the UK led. In most other categories reported, the US was the top payer, as you might expect. This tells you something about how the UK works, where non-operational jobs often rank higher on the corporate scale than do positions at the sharp end.

American CEOs averaged 2007 remuneration of $2,973,980; their Japanese counterparts, interestingly enough, earned just $283,480, or slightly less than one-tenth. American finance directors earned $684,568; the Japanese equivalent $194,204.

The tax bite is critical to understanding these numbers. German sales executives, for example, topped the charts with annual remuneration of $80,154, but income tax and social security levied on that number was reported at an average of 45.7 percent, leaving the average German sales exec take-home pay of just $43,523, less than the average Bermudian takes home.

The Germans topped the poll in the sales executive category. Net of tax, this is what sales people in other listed countries took home: the UK, $56,372; France, $42,064; the US, $39,421; Brazil, $20,888; China, $19,375; Russia, $15,441; and India, $5,151.

These figures should make you feel better about yourself. Although the cost of living in Bermuda is high, I would guess that the average sales person on the Island takes home much more than his or her American counterpart - plus, American prices are almost as high as Bermuda's.

The figures above are for executives. Imagine what regular people must make. I can give you only one example based on personal knowledge. A teacher I know in the UK, a man in his 50s with all the experience and knowledge in his profession that suggests, considers himself lucky to earn $48,000 a year before tax. Since he doesn't belong to a union, his better-than-average performance is reflected in better-than-average pay.

After income and social security taxes, this fellow takes home slightly less than half his gross pay, or about $2,000 a month. Then he has to pay council tax (a head tax everyone resident in the country has to pay), value added tax, gasoline tax, etc., etc.

It's no wonder that, according to another survey I read, the average Briton has saved $57 as he or she approaches retirement. That's right: $57. You can't exactly blame them, though. With the combination of low pay and high tax, how could anyone save money?

And yet, for the last 10 years, Britons have consistently voted for governments that vow to raise taxes. Even the Conservative Party is virtually a socialist organisation and will promise only not to reduce taxation, for which it is roundly criticised all the time by everyone in sight.

Mind you, Bermudians didn't vote in sufficient numbers at the last election to put into office a party that promised to ease taxation on the lower-paid. There must be some truth in the notion that you get the government you deserve.

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A note to the under-25s. You now have until July 5 to submit your entry in the Nelson Mandela 90th birthday competition. Write a letter to Mr. Mandela of 400 words or fewer, or a poem of one page, saying why he has been such an inspiring figure and send it to mandelaspromise@yahoo.com. The best entry wins a motorcycle, the runner-up an iPod, and some of the best entries will be published in this very fine newspaper. Get on the case, young 'uns.

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We lost a great one this week: comedian George Carlin. You will probably have read elsewhere of his great love of language, and how little he thought of what he called "soft language", such as "bathroom tissue" for "toilet paper" or "occasional irregularity" for "constipation".

We may, therefore, only guess at what he would have made of this newspaper's headline on Tuesday: "George Carlin Passes". He would have greatly preferred the headline in The New York Times: "George Carlin Is Dead".