"No, you don't get a raise...I do."

[debgeisler]

The U.S. Senate today voted to defeat a proposed raise to the minimum wage -- a raise that would have been the first in a decade.

And yet, as Lou Dobbs notes, the House voted to give themselves a raise last week. And, funny, Congress has managed to give itself pretty regular raises over the last decade.

But screw the lowest paid workers. They don't do nearly as much posturing as our representatives.

Sez Dobbs,

For some reason, our elected officials decided against holding a news conference. Maybe that's because they didn't want to draw attention to the fact that they raise their own salaries almost every year while refusing to raise the pay of our lowest-paid workers.

May I recommend you check the voting record of your own representatives on various issues? The United States Senate roll-call vote for the minimum wage amendment is illuminating. Sixty votes were necessary to accept the increase. Only 52 voted in favor...

Comments

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Mine both voted Yea.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

I am pleased to see that both of New York's senators voted yea. And I am unsurprised to see that all the nays were preceded by 'R'

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Well, technically they must have voted to give the next Congress a raise, since they're no longer allowed to give themselves raises, ever since the "Rip Van Winkle" amendment was ratified.

While it is insensitive, at least, for Congress to raise its own salaries at the same time denying a minimum wage increase, I also think Congresscritters deserve to make a pretty good salary. The job is full time and costs quite a bit to fulfill. Complaining about Congressional salaries is a tradition going back to the beginning of the current government. (I've been reading a history of the House of Representatives.)

I have a feeling that most people, if asked how much members of Congress should earn, might say something like, "Nothing; they're all crooks." Well, if you underpay members of Congress, you give them way too much incentive to make up the difference somehow. History shows that no law will prevent them from doing so by hook or by crook.

Besides, the amount of money we pay those 535 people (and their staff), while considerable, wouldn't really go very far spread out over the entire population.

[madfilkentist]

A minimum wage increase doesn't give anybody a raise. Congress doesn't have the magic power to make people's work worth more. What a minimum wage law does is make it illegal for some people to work at the rate which their skills can draw, while providing those whose skills are valued above that level from competition.

You can complain about unemployement. You can complain that the minimum wage isn't high enough. But don't complain about both.

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

While it is insensitive, at least, for Congress to raise its own salaries at the same time denying a minimum wage increase...

Oh, it goes beyond insensitive. It is the sort of public relations nightmare that this Congress has proven itself capable of time and again.

I don't disagree that members of Congress deserve deecent salaries. Nor did I suggest spreading out their salaries over any other population.

But focusing how many people in this country live below the poverty line...and how low the current minimum wage is...would go a long way toward convincing us that maybe, just maybe, our government still sees itself as "of" the people.

At the very least, they can learn to pay better attention to timing!

[debgeisler.livejournal.com]

You can complain about unemployement. You can complain that the minimum wage isn't high enough. But don't complain about both.

I didn't.

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Both Minnesota's senators, yes, even Repub Coleman, voted Yea.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

I like having senators I agree with...

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

Crap. Employers don't pay what a job is worth, they pay what they can get someone to accept. People accept less than they are worth because "it's better than nothing."

Even assuming minimum wage ever actually reflected what a job was worth, it hasn't been adjusted for inflation in a decade.

You can complain about unemployement. You can complain that the minimum wage isn't high enough. But don't complain about both.

What's the point of having jobs that don't pay enough to live on?