Dang Democrats and their labor laws!

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by MrFun
No, don't lower wages or salary -- but dramatically increase the minimum wage for all workers.

Thank god economic morons like MrFun aren't in positions of power.

Oh wait. The democrats won

[Nubclear]

Minimum wage should be abolished, slavery returned (only for Mexicans and blacks, though) and child labour laws repealed.

Distortions of the free market

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Originally posted by Drogue
Actually there could be something of an issue here - do reps have any responsibilities in their home state? I know our MPs wouldn't be able to work a 5 day work-week in London, since they have at least one working day each week in their constituency. Being a politician isn't a typical 9-5 job, you can't measure what they do by how many hours they are sitting in the house. They have a lot of responsibilities (at least here) outside legislative sessions, and when you count that, they probably *do* work harder than most people in the country.

Also there's the commute. If Congressmen moved completely to DC people would be up in arms about not representing the people of their home state. Yet how many people in the US commute from Alaska to DC every week? The simple truth is that the more time spent in DC is less time spent in your constituency, and you have to decide which is more valuable to the people you represent. Too much time passing legislation and you lose sight of who you represent and what you need to be judging legislation on. Too little time spent there and not enough gets done. It's a balancing act.

Congressmen are supposed to be much more the voice of their constituency than say Senators. So there is that.

On the other hand out of touch with reality legislation does seeem to be a Dem strong suit so you got that as well.

Finally you got the need for the Dems to make up lost ground (a lot of freshmen Dems) The longer they're exposed to time in DC the better chances they have of being bought by the local DC lobbies.

[Dis]

Originally posted by Drogue

I want to see a company manage to hire 435 people with predominantly top degrees, experience and often many other job offers paying $8 an hour. If you want good people, you have to pay a decent wage. I'm not aware of many politicians taking a pay cut when they leave power...

that's becaus they are paid off by big businesses and special interest groups. They have a cushy job waiting for them when they are finished. All they have to do is vote a certain way...

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by Tassi
Minimum wage should be abolished, slavery returned (only for Mexicans and blacks, though) and child labour laws repealed.

Distortions of the free market

I certainly hope (a) you're joking and (b) you realize your joke isn't funny.

[Kuciwalker]

Are you a clone of MrFun? Because you have his sense of humor.

[Zkribbler]

Why Kuci! That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Are you a clone of MrFun? Because you have his sense of humor.

ouch.

[Impaler[WrG]]

Also there's the commute. If Congressmen moved completely to DC people would be up in arms about not representing the people of their home state. Yet how many people in the US commute from Alaska to DC every week? The simple truth is that the more time spent in DC is less time spent in your constituency, and you have to decide which is more valuable to the people you represent. Too much time passing legislation and you lose sight of who you represent and what you need to be judging legislation on. Too little time spent there and not enough gets done. It's a balancing act.

As far as I know none of them have any official duties in the states or constituencies they come from. They just need to be legal residents of that area to be eligable for election their.

How do people imagine things were done shortly after the nation was founded, transportation was horse and buggy, the trip would have taken days each way. All members of congress and their families LIVED in the capitol. Thouse long resesses were what they used to visit their home states and districts and it worked just fine. The modern members of congress have just goten used to a relitivly resent lifestyle made possible by commercial aviation.

And even if one ascribes to the notion that a representivive should base legislation on the ever changing public opinion of their constituency (as oposed to their internal beliefs), one could not be so Naive to belive that they base these desisions on pressing flesh with the average voter on a weekly basis. It comes from survey, polls and other scientific measures of public opinion. Flesh pressing been nothing more then a campaiging method for more then a hundred years. Ofcorse they make every effort to make people belive they are being influenced because people want to be told that.

They need to suck it up and get to work, I hope this first 100 hours thing goes off well. They should give it a cool name like "shock and awe", focus on something like 6-12 core bills and use it as campaign platform "Look at what we acomplished in just 100 hours" and use republican voting records against them "Senator Ebinuser Scrugg (R) voted against the 100 hour package on 10 of 12 bills, payed for by the campaign of Jacob Marly (D)"

[Lancer]

The less time politicos spend in Washington the better for the American people.

[Zkribbler]

Junkets to Bohol for everyone!!! Where the women are beautiful and the liquor is cheap!

[Lancer]

If only.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Lancer
The less time politicos spend in Washington the better for the American people.

Sorry, but the less time they spend working and instead raising campaign money, the worst it is for the country.

This last congress is the best possible example of that.

Anyone here deluded enough to think that congresspeople "commuted" before the turn of the century?

[Dinner]

The really crappy part is close to 1/3 of those 107 days of work consisted of a "work day" which lasted less then one hour. The Republican controlled 109th Congress really was the laziest and most do nothing Congress in the history of the United States.

[Nubclear]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


I certainly hope (a) you're joking and (b) you realize your joke isn't funny.

what the...