I'm a posting roll right now, so here is more outrage for you: a headline describing the $410 billion spending bill just passed the Senate caught my eye. Looking into some of the provisions, I see that Congress increased its own budget by 10%. Ten percent is a whopping increase. Last I checked, the number of people and employees in Congress didn't change much, let alone by 10%. You really have to wonder where that money goes.
Perhaps most insulting, is that included is a provision denying lawmakers the automatic cost-of-living pay increase they are due next Jan. 1. At first glance, foregoing a cost of living increase is at least recognizing the citizenry face a tough time making ends meet* right now. But consider that inflation is likely to be negative this year. Congress really didn't give up much, if the increase was slated to be zero did it? I don't know the exact cost of living formula Congress uses, but it is conceivable that their salaries would actually be reduced if the CPI went negative, which of course means the Congress in effect voted itself a raise in real terms. I'll stop ranting now, otherwise I will probably say something to regret later.
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*I tried in vain to find the correct spelling of the phrase "ends meet". Apparently there are several stories from which this idiom is derived. One story is about a Depression era (how fitting!?) sausage maker who used too much filler in his sausages and couldn't make the "ends meet" referring to the links between sausages. Another tale involves a sausage maker who couldn't make a profit unless he used the ends of the meat meaning the nose and tail. At that point, I gave up looking for the origin and spelling of the phrase.
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I love this. They spend $1.4 trillion, packed with earmarks worth billions, with more on the way (as promised by Pelosi), and they have the audacity to appear frugal by denying themselves a couple of thousand dollars a year?
ReplyDeleteBravo, Congress. I wonder what Congress would say if some other privileged group, say CEOs of major corps, who, mired in debt, borrowed heavily from the taxpayer, only to spend that money frivolously and then promised to freeze their salaries? I'm sure Congress would approve.