NationStates Jolt Archive

multiple people claim that our *wonderful* members of Congress, the people representing us in the government, are(to quote someone) whiny, overpaid bastards. I happen to agree.

Does anyone know what the salary of a member of Congress is?
155,100. Even higher for the Speaker or the Minority and Majority Leaders

site reference:
http://www.yourcongress.com/viewarticle.asp?article_id=39#How%20much%20do%20Representatives%20and%20Senators%20get%20paid

The salary of the President?
400,000(as of 2003)
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/fedprssal.html

The VP?
roughly 200,000
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/fedprssal.html

A Cabinet Member?
170,000
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/fedprssal.html

All of these are higher than my dad, stepmom, and my mom's salaries COMBINED.

These people are getting paid much much higher than the people they represent/govern/help. Does this seem...wrong to you?

You have to ask yourself. Are these people doing brain surgery? Nope. Curing a deadly disease? No. Dying to protect our people from other people who want to harm them? No. Putting their life on the line in any way? Nope. Well, you can't count the crazy people trying to kill them; it's because they aren't doing their job in the first place.

I know, I know...Congress does make the laws. They provide a valuable service. As a worker I also provide a service. A prostitute does as well. I get paid minimum wage for being a bagger at the local grocery store. the prostitute gets paid what the pimp gives her. The Congressman, however, gets paid more than I or the prostitute would ever make, even if I somehow got made manager, bought the place, and opened up a new store in another town(or if the prostitute kills her pimp, and opens her own brothel that "services" 250,000 people a year).

I think that the salary of ALL elected/appointed politicians(on the national level) should be based upon the people they represent. If they represent the whole nation, base it upon the whole nation.

To figure out the salary of one of these politicians, we would take the average salary of the people they represent.

EXAMPLE(Purely hypothetical):
Take a House Rep from....Kentucky. Let's call him Billy Joe Bob Jones.

Now, in the state of Kentucky, there are three thousand people. Based on the last census twelve of them make $8 million a year. Nine-hundred eighty-nine of them make $50,000. Five hundred make $30,000, two hundred make 15,000 a year, and finally 1100 are on welfare and have no income whatsoever.

A handy-dandy chart:
12.........................$8,000,000
989........................$50,000.00
500........................$30,000.00
200........................$15,000.00
1100.......................$0.000000

We average these numbers up.
*jepoardy music...do do do do duh duh duh do do do do doot do do do do do dun da dun dah dun dun dun boom boom*

Billy Joe Bob Jones is currently making $155,100. Based on my example, he should be making almost a third of that, $54484(rounded up from .333). Feel free to check my math on this.

Hell, if they made this, I'd be willing to toss them a bonus for every law they passed that somehow DIRECTLY benefitted me(like a car salesman who gets a regular salary, plus a commission of whatever he sales).

I like my idea because it provides a real incentive for a national-level politician to help me(financially speaking); not line their own pockets while helping rich people get richer.

$155,100 or 54484.....which one seems right to you?

If it were up to me, our nation's politicians would earn over 100 times what they currently make. America already suffers from a brain drain as the most intelligent youth go into investment banking and consulting rather than the public realm where they are most needed. This is a simple matter of money: a good investment banker can earn a seven digit salary within 10 years of entering the field; however, an excellent politician's salary peaks at roughly the points you gave. The only way to get America's smartest and most motivated young people to go into politics is to give them an economic incentive. This is done through money. Unless one has particularly strong charitable motivations, economic intution suggests that one will choose the career which gives them the most overall utility (basically, job pleasure plus money). Politics is a tough world that gives little job security, pleasure, or money.

Therefore, less talented people end up in politics. This is a shame, as there is far less competition for offices and machines end up taking over the political world. Also, many of the people who do go into politics see an economic incentive that many overlook: kickbacks. Thus, when salaries of politicians are decreased, they tend to supplement their perceived lack of official income with some "unofficial" bonuses. This can only be cured by a large increase in the official income of politicians.

Therefore, we have established that your plan would both decrease the quality of politicians in our country and increase the amount of corruption, while saving a minimal amount of money compared to the government's other ridiculous expenditures. Thankfully, a little bit of thinking about the law of unintended consequences limits intelligent whining about politicians' salaries.

And one more thing... having lived in both Washington, DC and Texas for some time, I can assure you that the cost of living is far more in DC than anywhere in Texas. $155k/year is nothing inside the beltway. Anyone with a congressman's experience and resume could earn at least that in the private sector (likely in consulting).