Sure, a 1.9% raise doesn’t seem like all that much, really. A drop in the bucket as you say, and probably approximately equivalent to the increase in the cost of living, such that in constant dollars, there is no increase at all.

But if inflation is justification for a cost-of-living adjustment in Congressional salaries, then it is certainly justification for an adjustment in the salaries paid to the poorest Americans, the ones who are barely scraping by and can’t afford to have their pay effectively CUT by inflation.

For reference, the best year to be on the minimum wage was 1968, when the wage (in 1996 dollars) was $7.21.

When I was in High School in the early 80s earning my $3.35/hour after school, I was earning a 1996 adjusted rate of between $5.90(1980) and $5.06 (1984), and that’s the last time the wage has been over 5 1996 dollars except for the year 1997, the last time the wage was increased (to $5.15, or $5.03 in 1996 dollars).

In 2005, the wage is $4.15 in 1996 dollars, the lowest buying power of the minimum wage since before 1955 (I don’t know how much before, I can only find constant dollar references back to 1955).

So the rich get richer, the politicians keep their buying power, while the poor have programs cut and have the lowest buying power for their minimum wage in the last 50 years.

Where, exactly, is the compassion in “compassionate” conservative?

Liam

Other entitlement classes are those who want wars, and prisons, and police protection, and fire departments, and potholes fixed in their streets, and reliable water and sewer systems, but do not want to be asked to pay for any of it. Members of this class can also be referred to as “Bush supporters”-like the man they revere, they do not give a damn about how this country is going to pay the bills that they are so merrily racking up.

The heavy weight of these entitlement-class Americans will eventually drag the country right down to Buenos Aires, and I suspect it will be sooner rather than later.

John- I’m not surprised so much as appalled.

Ann- The solution is rather simple, really. Find, support, encourage, and elect people who are not greedy asswipes. Find people who want to serve faithfully instead of those groomed in the status quo.

Simple solution…hard to implement.

Shea- Yes, that is painful stuff. They are obviously UNDERpaid…

Windspike- I totally agree. We need new blood.

Paul- Wise indeed. Let’s hear it for wisdom.

Doctor Life- Are you sure you read this correctly? I don’t remember religion being an issue here. Nor was envy. I trust you’ve found a way to reconcile the vast discrepencies in the Bible you revere. Or perhaps you have an audiotape of the Bible read by Jesus himself. That would be the only real way of knowing anything that came from his mouth and mind, as the text you refer to has been rewritten many times over. I do recall some bits and pieces about greed, helping the less fortunate, honoring other people…maybe you should send some copies to the legislature.

Wait, on second thought, bad idea. Laws based in religious doctrine aren’t any better than what we have now…

Lorax- thanks for setting the good doctor life straight.

More people should act as those locals did and maybe we’d have a legislature worth voting for.

Thanks for the comments.

I think this post is about the materialistic greed in Congress, not the jealousy to earn as much.
Although…j/k.

Ken,
It seems almost impossible for there to be any checks and balances in a system this large. That’s definitley a huge problem. I heard something this week about a small town whose representatives at the state level tried to give themselves a raise and the locals protested and won.

My $.02. Excellent post.

I guess they need to be compensated for the trauma of undergoing the surgical procedure to remove all traces of integrity, honesty, and common sense from their brains.

Here’s the trouble. In politics, one rises in direct proportion to one’s usefullness to others. So, I suck up to A, B, and C. I need help to carry out their goals, so X, Y, and Z help me help A; U, V, and W help me with helping B; and R, S and T help me help C. Now 3 guys are beholden to me for my help, but I am beholden to 9. When I get to the top, I’m going to need help to stay there. That means I owe even more people. I cannot have my own agenda, because I have to worry about the next election, and keeping my seat. So the people who helped me get there own me. Sadly, the people who put me there are not, as we would expect, the voters, but the power brokers.

Figure a way around this, and you’ll bring Utopia to earth.

If I did, I don’t know how I’d make ends meet!

Just kidding.

Congress is full of assholes. Big surprise.