WHEN his time as São Paulo's mayor finishes at the end of the
year, jokes Gilberto Kassab, he will look for work in the
garages of the city's municipal assembly. This month the city's
legislature published, for the first time, the salaries of some
of its 2,000 employees. Half the 700 people named, paulistanos
were surprised to learn, take home more each month than the
assembly's chairman, who earns 7,223 reais ($3,508) after tax.
As well as parking attendants, the fat cats included press
officers and a nurse in charge of a drop-in clinic for municipal
workers who earns 18,300 reais a month after tax, 12 times the
average private-sector wage. Their pay cheques were boosted by
annual increments, long-service bonuses and the practice,
standard in Brazil's public sector, of claiming a large pension
in your early 50s and staying on the job.  Publication of the
data angered public-sector unions, which claimed it put their
members at risk of theft or kidnap. Taxpayers doubtless feel
that the robbery has been inflic