I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view

I can not agree with you in 100% regarding some thoughts, but you got good point of view

Such a fun and informative blog! Please visit my site when you can.

*see http://www.povertyusa.org for more

while I think Congress should approve the min wage hike, I don’t think they should be banned from a raise themselves if/when they do approve the hike. it seems that the arguments here are that Congress is overpaid – I would disagree. But I would agree with the fact that they don’t deserve a raise if they can’t also agree on giving a raise to the working class as well

Perhaps a good starting point would be a multiple of 10. The currrent $165,200 divided by ten gives $7.94 an hour (assuming 40 hrs a week and 52 weeks a year). If they want to make more than $165,200, then they’ll have to raise the minimum wage above that – if they think that minimum wage is too high, they’ll have to reduce their own salaries.

he needs to be fired. imagine if we could hire and fire politicians like we can hire and fire employees?

> The Last Election

Suppose there are no returns,

and the candidates, one

by one, drop off in the polls,

as the voters turn away,

each to his inner persuasion.

The front-runners, the dark horses,

begin to look elsewhere,

and even the President admits

he has nothing new to say;

it is best to be silent now.

No more conventions, no donors,

no more hats in the ring;

no ghost-written speeches,

no promises we always knew

were never meant to be kept.

And something like the truth,

or what we knew by that name –

that for which no corporate

sponsor was ever offered –

takes hold of the public mind.

Each subdued and thoughtful

citizen closes his door, turns

off the news. He opens a book,

speaks quietly to his children,

begins to live once more.

http://www.poemsforfree.com/polipo.html

GOP Blocks Lawmakers’ Cost-of-Living Increase

(CNSNews.com) – After being pounded by Democrats last year for accepting pay increases while not boosting the minimum wage, Republican congressmen Tuesday returned the favor by preventing an annual 1.7 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) from taking effect this year. “There will be no COLA adjustment,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said Tuesday after GOP members of Congress, led by House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), promised to block the annual $2,800 pay hike. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) “ran their own ads attacking [Republican] members on this,” Blunt explained. “Because of that, their members are going to suffer in terms of not being able to have a COLA.”

Roy hales from Springfield, Missouri where he got his start as the Recorder of Deeds…. Springfield is famous for 7 out of 10 televangelists you could name; the home of the Assemblies of God (locally referred to as the Ass. of God), John Ashcroft and Bass Pro Shops (Johnny Morris, a boy who made good by taking his father’s millions made selling liquor at “Brown Derby” stores once the blue laws were relaxed and turning a failed grocery/hardware store into an outdoor recreation supply store with TIF financing – - Roy had a part in that deal, too….)

The infamous James G. Watt, Reagan’s Secretary of the Interior was a frequent visitor to Casa de Blunt.

Roy’s not hurting for bread……

Basically they bank most of that $165k (which they don’t deserve).

I would do that job for free.

And you do? Please, get off your high horse. This Congress has been a disgrace, no matter how you spin it: The least amount of days worked, and the lower number of meaningful issues addressed (Terri Schiavo, anyone?). What they were busy with, was the lining their pockets with lobbyists’ money (Tom Delay, Duke Cunningham), or chasing pages (Mark Foley).

So please don’t tell me this congress was busy with their “high profile job”. It sounds like a bad joke.

[...]it’s the end result of many hours and long nights of work, compromise, and negotiations.

See above.

So I think they deserve a raise – it’s only a measley 1.7%. that doesn’t even keep up with the cost of inflation each year.

Their salary range already puts them above a meaningful decrease in purchasing power due to inflation.

based on the educational level of most members of Congress, their pay and benefits are standard/the norm if you ask me.

Rubbish. I know many, many (most of my circle of family, friends and acquaintances, as a matter of fact) who are college graduates and do not make that kind of money.

When in the six-figure range, for most of them it is their household income -and usually when both spouses work.

[...]go to college if you want a raise in your wages; that’s what the congressmen did and they deserve their minor pay raises each year just like the rest of us.

See above.

Plus I wouldn’t have much of a problem with them giving themselves a raise, if they were not such hypocrites and raised the minimum wage too.

Are we to believe that at $165,000/yr inflation will eat on your purchasing power, but at $5.15/hr it won’t? Please.

It’s really sad when someone tries to make me feel sorry for those who make a comfortable salary, while kicking down the poor.

hence, lesson of the day – go to college if you want a raise in your wages; that’s what the congressmen did and they deserve their minor pay raises each year just like the rest of us.

Comment by steve — January 30, 2007 @ 4:50 pm

Well put steve, but your logic has some flaws as well…

The mean wage earner in the U.S. is substantially less than of the more disproportionate populous who earn wages influenced by a Degree. still, just because you have a degree, it does not automatically qualify you for a 6 figure income with questionable ethics. Subsequently, Boehner does not have a leg to stand on…

He, Boehner is a public servant, hence the term public, and this means that he WILLINGLY took on this responsibility, and as such are subject to the rules and restrictions that come with that occupation.

It SHOULD NOT be garanteed that ANY congress man or woman should get an reais automatically. This is unsound because the mean wages have remained stagnant for 10 YEARS!!! By his logic alone, the average wage should be somewhere near the $10 range “if” they are adjusting because of inflation???

I think that the members of congress should be tested and show their sincerity by denying themselves wage increases for the next decade, while revisiting the retirment funds for ALL past sevring congressmen and women to determine if there are any substantial savings that could be gained by eliminating those funds to members who have exceeded the benefits afforded to them by the citizens of America…

I wonder if he would still choose to server in an environment that is NO DIFFERENT than my High School Civics class???

We need Nancy in the White House to clean up there also!

I echo the first poster: Call in the WHAAAAMBULANCE.

These guys are so out of touch, they are disgusting.

BTW, since they continue t refer to the Democratparty, even the msm is picking up the term, I think we should start referring to them as repubs. Rethugs, and repugs are more to my liking, but they are too inflammatory — just a little insult, like repub, will be tit for tat and their use of democrat.

So I think they deserve a raise – it’s only a measley 1.7%. that doesn’t even keep up with the cost of inflation each year.

And as for those of you who criticize retirement vesting in only 5 years – a lot of good jobs out there have that same benefit, so Congress isn’t that far out in left field on that. based on the educational level of most members of Congress, their pay and benefits are standard/the norm if you ask me. they may not be minimum wage – but hell, I don’t know anyone who’s gone to college who’s making minimum wage. hence, lesson of the day – go to college if you want a raise in your wages; that’s what the congressmen did and they deserve their minor pay raises each year just like the rest of us.