want a job with 36 weeks of vacation?

[chevysoldier]

Be a US Representative.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4339276

Edited December 2, 2013 by chevysoldier

[smccrory]

Good. Give them the whole fucking year off. Better for everyone.

And take that damned pay and life-long benefits back. It's shameful. END CONGRESS WELFARE NOW.

[TopLeft]

And take that damned pay and life-long benefits back. It's shameful. END CONGRESS WELFARE NOW.

+1

[magley64]

I still think we should just abolish congress, direct vote on every law... Representatives are for suckers.

Edited December 2, 2013 by magley64

[jbot]

only asians should vote. whitey ain't getting it done.

 

END WHITE POWER NAO

[redkow97]

I still think we should just abolish congress, direct vote on every law... Representatives are for suckers.

 

I actually don't hate this idea.

 

- We're at a point where the technology to support such a system would be relatively affordable, and only dropping in price.

- this would control lobbyist groups by making the voters the person they need to lobby to, rather than career politicians. Just cut out the middle man, and force the lobbyists to educate voters.  Although I bet they could buy more votes for a lot less money from many Americans.

- people who are disinterested in the system would have no one but themselves to blame.  Literally.

- lobbyist groups would still write legislation, but assuming people actually read it (how likely is that?) it wouldn't be passed based on under-the-table deals.

[Connie14]

The biggest detriment is the lack of concern or education by the population at large. How many of the laws are actually read by our lawmakers? (Not all of them, and they are getting paid to not read that garbage).

I would vote to disallow attorneys to be in Congress. They have a vested interest in making extremely difficult and complex laws, so they can propagate the profession.

[bloodninja420]

Any time someone brings up the populist gimmic about congressional pay, I die a little inside.  Why?  Because the person bringing up the pay probably has fiscally conservative inclinations, but they're wasting their time on what isnt even a rounding error in the federal budget. 

 

Medicaid

 

Social Security

 

Disability

 

State Employee Pensions

 

 

Congressional salaries are a red herring designed to distract you from the fact that the above-four programs are time-bombs that ready to rob my generation, and especially the generation of my kids, of their wealth. 

[smccrory]

Any time someone brings up the populist gimmic about congressional pay, I die a little inside.  Why?  Because the person bringing up the pay probably has fiscally conservative inclinations, but they're wasting their time on what isnt even a rounding error in the federal budget. {...} Congressional salaries are a red herring designed to distract you from the fact that the above-four programs are time-bombs that ready to rob my generation, and especially the generation of my kids, of their wealth. 

 

...Hey, don't forget defense at nearly 25% of the national budget...

 

But that still doesn't change the fact that people don't believe they're getting their money's worth with congressional pay.  It's not just populist - it's thought about how to wire up incentives to draw out desired behaviors.  The problem is not everyone agrees what those desired behaviors should be.  Some are delighted with obstructionist, anti-productive sessions.  Others would like real problems to be solved in a collective, sustainable form.  I fall in the 2nd camp.

[magley64]

LoL. Not important enough to matter? Right, because paying someone to be my representative and to start chucking useless laws is knit-picking.

Whatever.

 

nit-picking...