Congress gets a pay raise

[Wags]

Doc wrote:
> If it means we pay them more and then insist
> on real ethics reform I think its worth it.

Since when did "insisting" on anything to the U.S. government ever coincide with ethics?

You're also forgetting that after they retire from Congress, they almost inevitably get cozy jobs on the boards of a bunch of multinational corporations with millions in compensation from that.

...And they still get free health care and giant pensions and speaking fees and all sorts of other perquisites.

As for privacy, they've got too much.

I'd gladly give them the pay raise if they'd surrender their privacy. If the general public knew who wrote each piece of legislation and if all of our legislators meetings and phone conversations were broadcast to the public, maybe some of our legislators would show a bit of decency every once in awhile... just to keep from being impeached.

OK, seems we agree. By "insisting" in this case I think it means passing better laws governing ethical behavior, preferably without the usual loopholes.

I did not forget about the cozy jobs in big corps. If you reread my second statement you'll see where I say I want to stop the revolving door between multinational corps, Wall Street and legislators.

As for health care, I think it should be a basic right for every American. I think its not only the morally correct thing to do, especially in a country as wealthy as we are, its also necessary to have a rational universal health care system in order to control costs and make us competitive with the rest of the world. Pensions? People who work and pay taxes their whole life should be able to live out their last years without the stress of having to eat cat food and wear three sweaters. Legislators do better than than that, but so do the private sector executives.

Concerning privacy, I'd like to try and separate their personal privacy from the idea of open government. As far as information about legislation there are plenty of sources for that, but don't expect the news media to help you with it. Here's a place to start:

Legislative Research Guide

[Wags]

Black Landlord wrote:
Yeah, I'm not with you there either wags.
A true public servant would be willing to sacrifice some degree of excess in order to serve. You seem to be justifying graft as a rational response to jealousy of the salaries of others.
I will agree that a few thousand a year to adjust for inflation is not enough to form a lynch mob about.

I'm not justifying it, just pointing it out. I pointed out several areas where I think public servants already make significant sacrifices to serve. I don't think they make a whole lot of money when compared to the private sector people in similar leadership positions. Here's the crux of my argument:

We need to attract the best and brightest into public service. If it helps to pay them commensurately then I'm for it.

[MacMagus]

> I'm not justifying it, just pointing it out.

No, you're being an apologist. That's worse.


> I pointed out several areas where I think public servants already make significant sacrifices

I doubt you'll find anyone else here who thinks that our legislators are not adequately compensated for the 60 or so half-days they might actually come to work.


> Here's the crux of my argument: We need to attract the best and
> brightest into public service. If it helps to pay them
> commensurately then I'm for it.

In fact, I think the opposite is true. Bring their compensation back down to the original $6 bucks/year token salary they had, make them pay for all of their own expenses, eliminate any and all privacy that they have outside of their home-bathrooms, make accepting ANY compensation or gift from anyone not in their immediate family during their tenure a criminal offense and we might just get some genuine altruistic public servants showing up.

Until and unless that happens, the overwhelming majority are gonna be dirtbags. Throwing more money at them ain't gonna fix that.

[Gutenberg]

Sorry, Mac Magus, but I disagree that the overwhelming majority of people in Congress are dirtbags. I know a few representatives, one senator and one ex-senator, and they are all fine people, very smart, extremely hardworking, and could have made bags more money in the private sector. They are most decidedly not crooks. Yes, they are paid well but they receive no more than a corporate VP, say, they have much more responsibility and the glare of the spotlight is intense. They never get a weekend off. Add to that the fact that many loudmouths feel they just have to pick a fight with you, and you could not pay me enough money to take that job.

Also--no one I know works harder than Congressional staff. Good Lord, what a job. Congressional staffers burn out very quickly.

[MacMagus]

> Also--no one I know works harder than Congressional staff. Good
> Lord, what a job. Congressional staffers burn out very quickly.

Having worked in that field for awhile and being friends with people who work on Capitol Hill, I can whole heartedly agree with that. THOSE folks deserve more money. Want to double the national debt in a hurry? Pay Congressional staff by the hour with overtime and holiday-pay and have them report their real work-hours.


> I disagree that the overwhelming majority of people in Congress are dirtbags.

Aw heck, some of them are certainly not dirtbags OUTSIDE of their jobs and most of them are people whom -- upon meeting them -- immediately impress a person with their strong and likable personalities... but they ARE dirtbags. Professional dirtbags and deeply impressive scoundrels.

How they come across to you is part and parcel of it. Blink and they'll screw you six ways from Sunday and you'll thank 'em for it.

[Mac-A-Matic]

As long as they have a "D" after their name, it's all good with Gutenberg.

[swampy]

Maybe Bush will veto the bill if it passes the Senate? Boy would that piss a lot of Ds off!! LOL

[Mac-A-Matic]

A friend is an Analyst for a democratic congressman. I think he makes close to $100K.

That's nothing to sneeze about - no matter how much work he does.

I know cops and firemen who work harder and have a better chance of getting killed in the line of duty who make nowhere near that much.

Not to mention the soldiers that are getting killed.

Or teachers.