Congress Gets A Raise
Monday, December 22, 2008 Labels: government 5 commentsAccording to Taxpayers for Common Sense lawmakers get an automatic pay raise every January, and this year is no different. The problem this year is that the economy is in the dumps and they giving bailouts like they are going out of style.
Members of Congress will be receiving a $4,700 pay increase this year, even though more than two million of their constituents have lost their jobs. Congress has set up a structure where they automatically receive a cost-of-living adjustment or pay raise every year unless they act to stop it.
Story
BOOOOOO
Nothing else need be said. :)
Just a question of curiosity for everyone. Are any of us volunteering to give up our pay raises? I'm not. I have no faith that the employer would give the pay raises back in the future if voluntarily given up with the employer asking for it.
So, who should be asking Congress to give up their raises? I think that would be the taxpayers through notes to their respective congressman. But no one should be asking them to give up their raises that has not already given their own raises up.
People loosing jobs and creating new jobs for people is - to me - a different discussion.
I think we ought pay Congressmen (Congresspeople [B.S.]) a milluion dollars...tax free, a year.
But the catch is that they can only meet to conduct business one day a year.
They will not be able to meddle with private citizens or private enterprise (very much) and the amout of money saved by the taxpayers would be tremendous.
So, who should be asking Congress to give up their raises? I think that would be the taxpayers through notes to their respective congressman. But no one should be asking them to give up their raises that has not already given their own raises up.
Because they're responsible for this mess. They ought to count their blessings that they are still employed. In less politically correct times, people like Barney Frank would have been hauled into the street, their assets seized and liquidated, and then ended up being sold into slavery (think Rome).
Theres a difference between my income and a governmental official... they work for me.
If I do not like the quality of work they are doing, they should not get a pay raise (they should be getting fired).
I know of many government workers who do not even get a cost of living pay raise, some have missed out for over 5 years...
Why should an elected official get that increase when others do not.
I see elected officials the way I see a waiter or waitress: You know the wage/salary that you are going to earn before taking the job, but how well you do the job impacts how much you take home. Tip's, in my book, are NOT required, you have to work for it, and you have to provide service that is outside of your basic job function.
If congress is unhappy with their paycheck, step aside and let someone else do the job... or maybe the "perks" of the job are too good, in which case, you dont need a pay raise.