Is Congress Paid Enough?

That is the question a couple of our representatives are asking.

This was Steve Sutherland, freshman representative from Florida:

"If you think this job pays too much, with those kinds of risks and cutting me off from my family business, I'll just tell you: This job don't mean that much to me. I had a good life in Panama City.'
"...He added that 'if you took the hours that I work and divided it into my pay,' the $174,000 salary would not seem so high."

Source

Seems like he doesn't even want the job anymore!



Also mentioned in the above article is Sean Duffy, who in March told a town hall meeting that it was a struggle for him to pay his mortgage and student loans. He went on to say, that he probably had more debt than anyone there.

So how rich is Sean Duffy?

Here's a rundown of Duffy's finances, from the 2009 disclosure form he had to file with the government: his family of 7 (wife plus six kids) is carrying between $250,000 and $500,000 in mortgage debt; between $50,000-$100,000 in student loans; between $15,000-$50,000 in credit card debt; and between $100,000-$250,000 in debt related to the family vacation home, a cabin not too far from his primary residence in Wisconsin.

The Duffy family lives in a 5-bedroom house sitting on 5 acres in Ashland, Wisconsin. The home has a market value of $247,000. They also own a 2-bedroom cabin in Iron River. That house is valued at $229,000.

Yes, that's right. He owns TWO homes, both valued over $225,000. So, two giant mortgages, over $15,000 in credit card debt.

I guess it's more difficult to survive on a measly $175,000 salary when you have no concept of living within your means.

What say you all? Should we give them a raise?

Making decisions about this country shouldn't be made by people that make thousands of dollars per hour.

For doing nothing....

It's a shocker it's all in the toilet, give the reigns to a farmer or a truck driver. I bet they know more about how things work.

Everyone thinks there is some mastermind behind some plan, its not like that, we are really messed up folks.

People in congress should be paid nothing

They should be able to be elected and ousted daily by the voters as well.

Everything could be done over the internet.

No need to meet in a building wasting tons of money on travel and other needless expenses.

There are plenty of intelligent people out there who would be public servants for free.

It's time the governmental system caught up with technology.

It's time people wised up.

reply to post by JPhish


I agree with you, that there is no reason for all of them to travel to Washington to debate and vote - at one time it was necessary but now is just a show.

It would be easy to read over bills, debate, and vote all from their homes, and it would also help keep them away from lobbyists.

Indeed, the entire process of campaigning and election could be done online, for very little money and without the assistance of political parties, corporate contributions, etc. Of course, that topic could fill its own thread.

reply to post by quango


Really? Average working person (365 days a year - 104 days for weekends = 261 days) Vacation varies, but don't forget congressmen are not in congress every day it is in session either.

Days in session for congress

Looks like around 112 days for the House and Senate this year.

Median household income for the USA (2009) is $50,221.

Census

They are complaining about $174,000 per year?

Not to mention that generally one has to have some wealth to even run and have a chance to get into office.

The whole premises that congress is underpaid is utterly ridiculous , and I have not even covered their pensions, health plans and "expense" accounts.

Virtual Congress!!

Dragons den that!!

I very strongly disagree with the idea of people in congress making nothing, or being elected and ousted often. As is, most Americans do not have the time in the day to understand the scope and depth of corruption in congress. the more often people are elected the less time they have to achieve thier own personal crazy ponzie scheme. I hate to say it, but this is one of those things that makes monarchy safer in many aspects. with only a few in power, certainly they will work to benefit theirselves and their friends, however, the scale of corruption will be smaller, and qith a longstanding monarch, the wellbeing of the country has a direct impact on thier own lives long term. whereas modern politicians are more like day traders. Jump in and jump out, making as much money as you can, hopefullly not busted for whatever horrific crimes you engage in, and no matter what you do, a full 25% of american people will support you based on the letter in front of your title, be it an R or a D. Not to mention, we should look at history. bad monarchs face beheading and rebellion. bad congress leads to a slow painful decay for the country at large as each legislative body adds thier own economic damage onto those of previous generations of government. Not to mention, a monarchy can be overthrown for the low low price of a single bullet, personally, i cannot afford the more than 500 bullets and plane tickets necessary to reform the US government, beyond the fact that Odds are new ones will replace the old as face as one can realistically fire.

There was a time in this country when Congress was mostly populated by people that had common sense; farmers, soldiers, teachers and small businessmen.

Now Congress is populated by people that have no sense; mostly politicians and lawyers.

Serving in Congress was meant to be an honor, not a career.

Well, they're wealthy, so I imagine the usual crew from ATS will be falling over themselves to increase their pay at the expense of the poor.

reply to post by quango


Well I for one think we should all donate a $1 coin to the poor creature..

When we've collected around a million we should put them in a crate and then drop them on the ungrateful little F'ers head.

BTW, then we take them back.

tdechnically speaking, that time never existed in the united states at a federal level, they have largely always been in big business or lawyers

www.archives.gov...

reply to post by theXammux


I don't think an ill-informed populace is reason enough to switch to a monarchy styled government. I tend to like the rules of our system now. I'd be more in favor of somehow limiting the participation of those citizens who choose not to pay any attention. Or in plain English, maybe not everyone should vote.

I find your analogy of Congress as daytraders apt.

reply to post by theXammux


Careful, the natives get restless when you poke at their creation mythology. Just nod and accept that it's selfless patriots all the way down.

Tell these two dickwads to go work the line in mid-August at some manufacturing house that has no air conditioning, no Congressional cafeteria that has never heard the word 'lunchmeat' let alone served it, and no damn aids running around at your beck and call making sure your life's all cushy . . .

Tell them to get their feeble whiney asses down in some coal mine and breath in the dust . . .

Tell them to go muck out a barn . . . drive a combine through a field for 24 hours straight to get the crops off before a rain . . . work a fishing boat in 30-foot swells . . .

Tell them to go slice lunch meat at a deli counter for eight hours a day, five a week, 48 a year . . . don't forget to add in the holidays worked . . .

Tell them to work the emergency room or in some hospital cleaning up after car accident victims . . . sick kids . . . dying grandparents . . . wiping arses . . . sponge bathing . . . hearing the cries of a child dying of some horrid disease . . ..

Tell them to go collect garbage, service a car, scrub a floor, teach their snot-nosed rich--bitch spoiled kids, drive a truck, wash a window while up 40-floors . . .

TELL THEM TO GET A REAL JOB

Better yet . . . tell them to shut their damn pie holes and thank their lucky stars they've got jobs where in all reality they don't work a lick outside of the few months every few years where they scramble around, lie like rugs, cheat, falsely promise and generally whore themselves out in any way they can to ensure they get re-elected to that nasty horrible $174,000 a year job.

I'm gonna puke.

while I do consider myself in awe of the theoretical potential of the American republic, the failing in logic is so laughable I find it difficult to understadn how anyone can not see it. Since the last world war, the American republic has not gotten 500 people to admit to an actualy WAR. If we cannot get 500 people to admit to a serious confilict as obvious as Iraq, Korea,or Vietnam being a war, how could anyone logically expect better than 300 million people to be vigilant in keeping their leaders accountable for their actions?

Think of the telephone game so often played among children. with one or two people the sentence is often modified very little. trying to play this game with 500 people is a horrible idea!

Don't get me wrong, the solutions to the American probem are actually quite easy to acheive, they would simply require a great mass of people to devote a little bit of time. For instance, if everyone here joined the republican party and at the state and local level completely uprooted its delegates, then, everyday people could come into power, and overthrow the party's ruling elite, with one party much less corrupted the other would have no choice but to follow. The reason I would suggest republican rather than democrat, (apart from some smaller party rules making every day fellows like you and I stand no realistic chance) it boils down to campaign contributions. The republican party has a larger percentage of its donations coming from low to middle income individuals, rather than high income individuals, or corporate interests.
At this point, whatever the party once stood for would be meaningless, and a group could be elected into power that could bit by bit break down and weaken the corruption grown in the shadows of the last 200 years.

However, this will never happen, because as talking monkeys in the modern age, self-righteously blaming others favoring a different letter seems to be much easier and more fulfilling. In essence, ego will lead to the end of this age, just as it did the last, and the one before that, and the one before than, and the one before that...

reply to post by GoalPoster


Spot on GP.. I was thinking the same thing.. They would like for us to think that they need more for their less then 4 month a year job.. further more, most won't tell you they have a inside information stream to let them know when to invest in whats coming down the pipe.. but they don't call it insider trading... humm.

Besides regardless of what we think... they will vote for a raise for themselfs regardless.

Boneheads they are! Just born again Boneheads
Jesse

reply to post by theXammux

There was a time way back when, unfortunately lawyers have always have always had their grubby little paws into the founding of a country. The originals signers of the Declaration of Independence put the lawyers at a slight disadvantage.
Signers of the Declaration

a quick overview of the founding of america as explained to jaded retards

a long time ago a fw good guys got together with a neat (not so)new idea for a government! However, to spread this idea they needed many loud powermad moneywielding psychos to actually propel their idea into existence. And when a few less retarded people stood up to point out the failings of this newly corrupted plan (we'll call these antifederalists) they were drown out by biased sensationalist media drowning in the influence and money of these new moneyweilding psychos, and thus a good idea was tweaked to make corruption and apathy much easier to achieve. And now, boys and girls, after 200 years of more corrupt psychos trying to screw the masses for a little money and power, the system has become so incredibly corrupt, that it is doomed to fail, dying like a victim of tuberculosis. a cough then weakness, insanity, and a slow death

Uh, Yeah. Correct you capitalization, spelling and grammar and I'll come back to grade you essay again. No need to thank me, I give all my students the same opportunity..

Oh, how adorably clever of you! I think the message is understandable enough, despite by general apathy toward grammar and spelling. I guess I didn't expect my thoughts to be so difficult to translate through the sea of spelling errors I didn't bother to correct, and lack of proper capitalization. In the future, I will do my utmost to remember that some have difficulty understanding what I'm trying to say without proper grammar to guide them.

tank yu so muhc for shwoeeng me my mitsayke