President Obama plans to return five percent of his salary to Treasury.

[MrFun]

I think every Congressperson (Democrat and Republican) should follow Obama's example and give five percent of their salary back to the Treasury. That still won't help pay off the debt, but it would show that congresspersons are human and actually give a fuck about the country.

[giblets]

And repeat until they have no salary.

[Hauldren Collider]

Congressmen already get paid ****ing nothing considering their (average) level of education and qualifications. Approximately half of the House of Representatives has a PhD, J.D., or M.D, along with something like 60 senators. Most could be making twice as much in the private sector. And remember, they have to own two houses, one of which is in an incredibly expensive area. At times they have to work essentially 24/7. If you have kids, there's no ****ing way you're sending them to DC public schools, so be prepared to pay out the ass for a DC private school.

The hours suck, the pay sucks, the constant commuting to and from your home state sucks, and to top it all off, Congress itself is almost as popular as the Taliban.

People complain about the revolving door in congress where congressmen leave and work as Washington lawyers or lobbyists. They complain about the overall quality of their representatives. Why is the first reaction, then, to cut pay, rather than increase it?

[Wiglaf]

Most 40 year old JDs aren't worth even 160k

[Aeson]

Congressmen already get paid ****ing nothing considering their (average) level of education and qualifications. Approximately half of the House of Representatives has a PhD, J.D., or M.D, along with something like 60 senators. Most could be making twice as much in the private sector. And remember, they have to own two houses, one of which is in an incredibly expensive area. At times they have to work essentially 24/7. If you have kids, there's no ****ing way you're sending them to DC public schools, so be prepared to pay out the ass for a DC private school.

The real question is why people keep voting for these douchebags. Not that they might want to pay them less. That is perfectly understandable given their job performance.

They don't have to own two houses. Just because you continually repeat a verifiably incorrect statement doesn't make it correct. They need to have a residence in their home state. This doesn't have to be a house that they own. They need a place to stay near enough to work in DC. This also doesn't have to be a house that they own.

People complain about the revolving door in congress where congressmen leave and work as Washington lawyers or lobbyists. They complain about the overall quality of their representatives. Why is the first reaction, then, to cut pay, rather than increase it?

Paying them more wouldn't mean much of anything in regards to attracting more qualified applicants or getting them to do a better job. It would still be the ones who are most willing to bend over for party platform and campaign donations that would fill the spots, because that's what's required to get elected.

[regexcellent]

Most 40 year old JDs aren't worth even 160k

People making less as 40 year old JDs aren't the ones we want running the country.

They don't have to own two houses. Just because you continually repeat a verifiably incorrect statement doesn't make it correct. They need to have a residence in their home state. This doesn't have to be a house that they own. They need a place to stay near enough to work in DC. This also doesn't have to be a house that they own.

For ****'s sake why does this distinction matter? DC area housing is expensive whether you own or rent. It doesn't ****ing matter and you know it. Then there's the problem of travel to and from their districts every single ****ing weekend. They can either pay for it partly out of pocket and partly out of their meager travel allowance or pay for it out of campaign funds served up by big donors.

[MRT144]

I dont know reg, you gotta be a pretty terrible person in some regard to be a highly paid lawyer.

[Hauldren Collider]

People making less as 40 year old JDs aren't the ones we want running the country.



For ****'s sake why does this distinction matter? DC area housing is expensive whether you own or rent. It doesn't ****ing matter and you know it. Then there's the problem of travel to and from their districts every single ****ing weekend. They can either pay for it partly out of pocket and partly out of their meager travel allowance or pay for it out of campaign funds served up by big donors.

It's nice to be reminded why I put Aeson on ignore.

[regexcellent]

I dont know reg, you gotta be a pretty terrible person in some regard to be a highly paid lawyer.

Fair enough.

[Aeson]

For ****'s sake why does this distinction matter?

I understand that being correct in your statements isn't a big deal to you or HC. Some people do care about making factually correct statements though.

DC area housing is expensive whether you own or rent.

Which is of course why everyone who rents in DC area can also afford to buy a house in DC area ... right?

You are also missing the obvious distinction between maintaining a residence in your home state, and owning a house in your own state.

It doesn't ****ing matter and you know it.

Of course this doesn't matter to you. You're a partisan sheep, and HC is part of your herd, so his factually incorrect statements are beyond question in your estimation.

For those who aren't so pathetic, it matters because the phrasing implies a set of requirements that are not the actual requirements. It matters because it illustrates HC's silver spoon perspective on the world, where a "residence" is synonymous with "a house you own". It matters because the phrasing HC uses implies much more necessary cost than is actually necessary.

Then there's the problem of travel to and from their districts every single ****ing weekend. They can either pay for it partly out of pocket and partly out of their meager travel allowance or pay for it out of campaign funds served up by big donors.

I am sure if we examine the issue more closely you will see that "every single ****ing weekend" is also a factually incorrect claim.

[Aeson]

It's nice to be reminded why I put Aeson on ignore.

Because of your willful ignorance and emotional inability to deal with critique.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Seriously. HC has more epistemic closure than Oerdin.

[Hauldren Collider]

Aeson's a useless idiot. He has two modes of operation: Idiot pedant, and idiot godwin. I put him on ignore after he spent a page and a half arguing that my opinion about immigration isn't actually the opinion I have repeatedly stated, held, and defended and I actually just hate brown people. Kuci and I are also honestly sick of his schtick of pretending that the efficient market hypothesis applies to literally every economic force, e.g. "Well OBVIOUSLY it's good that people are starving--that's just the market having its way!".

[Aeson]

I am useful in at least some regards ... such as having my posting style used as a red herring to distract the conversation away from verifiably incorrect claims made by intellectually dishonest posters.

[MichaeltheGreat]

I think every Congressperson (Democrat and Republican) should follow Obama's example and give five percent of their salary back to the Treasury. That still won't help pay off the debt, but it would show that congresspersons are human and actually give a fuck about the country.

Actually, they should get off their mother****ing asses and grow the **** up and realize nobody is getting a monopoly on policy. If they ever did, it'd last one or two election cycles before they blew it and watched the new majority undo everything the old majority did. Since Billy doesn't get to make everyone play by his rules and Johnny doesn't get to either, they should stop the strutting and posturing, enact the Simpson-Bowles recommendations and start from there.