Congressional Pay

Last night I was watching the Glenn Beck program and he was talking about ways for the government to save money. One of the ways he talked about was limiting the pay of those in Congress to the average pay of what those in the military are making. While I like the premise, I think that it is flawed. I do not think that he has thought this through enough, although I have not read his book Broke yet so I do not know.

Personally I think a better method would be to tie Congressional pay to the median income of the district or state that they represent. Federal "servants" like the President and those in the military could never make more than the median income for the United States as a whole. Right now, that would mean a salary of around $50K a year for enlisted military (a huge pay increase) and the President (a huge pay decrease) (Officers should be paid on a scale that starts them at 10% above the median income and goes from there). Senators would be paid no more than the median income for the state that they represent, and House Reps would be paid no more than the median income of the district that they represent.

I think that this would serve several goods. First and foremost, Congress critters would no longer work to get people dependent on government programs. Welfare and state aid in general decrease median wages for areas therefore by encouraging state aid, Senators and Representatives are deflating their own wages. It would be in the best interests of all involved to set policy that keeps people employed and increases the chances that they would set policy to keep higher paying jobs in their areas. Providing these opportunities for those that they serve is in their best interest, and it would necessarily decrease the need for entitlement programs. The more you can do for yourself, the less you need government.

This also takes the keys to pay raises for themselves away from Congress. The only way they get a pay raise is if the economic situation of the areas they serve improves. Imagine how fast we would see common sense policy in place if they pay of those setting policy actually depended on the policy that they set. I have a feeling the budget would be balanced every year, and policies that forced companies overseas would be eliminated, or at least left to the discretion of the states.

I don't know, I just think that this makes more sense than the current way things are done and the way that Glenn Beck was proposing. My guess is though, this current bunch of leeches would just se the federal minimum wage at $200 per hour and say we tried. That would then force all business out of the area and the median income would be $0 though... Guess what they would be paid... :)

Prayers,

Pisio