December 20, 2011--Parlemeto
With anti-government sentiment running high. I am surprised that so little is being said about the best part-time government job in the world--being a member of Congress.
This was not always the case. Our founders, their "intent" these days very much in Tea Party and Conservatives' minds, did not envision a professional cadre of politicians. In fact, they stood for the very opposite. In order to avoid European-style tyranny--a permanent aristocratic class--they expected citizens to devote part of their lives to public service, not to think about making a career of representing the people.
During the Constitutional Convention, for example, Benjamin Franklin asked his colleagues to consider not paying elected government officials anything for their service. Other Founding Fathers, however, decided otherwise.
So, in the spirit of compromise, from 1789 to 1855, members of Congress received only $6.00 per day while in session, except for a period from December 1815 to March 1817, when they received $1,500 a year. Members did not receive an annual salary until 1855, when they were paid $3,000 per year.
From then on salaries and later benefits began to soar. By 1907 members' salaries had climbed to $7,500 per year. In 1932, at the height of the Depression, it was $9,000. In 1955, $22,000. Then in 1969, congressional pay rose to $42,500 per annum. $75,100 was what they were paid in 1985. In 1991 they took home $125,100; $150,000 in 2002; and currently members of Congress are paid $174,000 plus gold-plated heath care insurance and various travel and staff expenses. They also receive a generous pension, which only encourages long-term service.
For this remuneration members do not even have to be present in Washington or do anything at all day-to-day to get their money. When they are running for higher office, for example--like Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at the moment and John McCain and Barack Obama the last time around--they are rarely at the Capital but still the paychecks keep coming. They do not have to show up, sign in, or punch a time clock to get paid.
But while I was doing my little research about the history of congressional salaries and after my ranting here about how being a U.S. House or Senate member is the best government job in the world, I read about the actual best part-time government job in the world--to be a member of Italy's Parlemeto.
While average Italian citizens are being forced to tighten their belts, their leaders continue to wallow in taxpayer-subsidized luxury.
Their take-home pay ranges between $18,000 and $27,000 a month. But there is more--their heath care is even more golden than in the United States, they do not have to pay for travel within Italy, and in more cases than not are given cars and drivers.
And there are a lot of them. In contrast to the much more populous U.S. where there are 535 members of Congress, in Italy there are 952. But we spend only $7.00 per capita for our representative whereas in Italy they cost $34 per member of the Parlemento.
There is not as yet a Tea Party or Occupy di Borsa Italiana in Italy; but perhaps once enough citizens there find out that on top of this self-approved generosity, their representatives are also allowed to keep their day jobs as lawyers, businesspeople, and even journalists, we may see some action in the streets.
This was not always the case. Our founders, their "intent" these days very much in Tea Party and Conservatives' minds, did not envision a professional cadre of politicians. In fact, they stood for the very opposite. In order to avoid European-style tyranny--a permanent aristocratic class--they expected citizens to devote part of their lives to public service, not to think about making a career of representing the people.
During the Constitutional Convention, for example, Benjamin Franklin asked his colleagues to consider not paying elected government officials anything for their service. Other Founding Fathers, however, decided otherwise.
So, in the spirit of compromise, from 1789 to 1855, members of Congress received only $6.00 per day while in session, except for a period from December 1815 to March 1817, when they received $1,500 a year. Members did not receive an annual salary until 1855, when they were paid $3,000 per year.
From then on salaries and later benefits began to soar. By 1907 members' salaries had climbed to $7,500 per year. In 1932, at the height of the Depression, it was $9,000. In 1955, $22,000. Then in 1969, congressional pay rose to $42,500 per annum. $75,100 was what they were paid in 1985. In 1991 they took home $125,100; $150,000 in 2002; and currently members of Congress are paid $174,000 plus gold-plated heath care insurance and various travel and staff expenses. They also receive a generous pension, which only encourages long-term service.
For this remuneration members do not even have to be present in Washington or do anything at all day-to-day to get their money. When they are running for higher office, for example--like Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul at the moment and John McCain and Barack Obama the last time around--they are rarely at the Capital but still the paychecks keep coming. They do not have to show up, sign in, or punch a time clock to get paid.
But while I was doing my little research about the history of congressional salaries and after my ranting here about how being a U.S. House or Senate member is the best government job in the world, I read about the actual best part-time government job in the world--to be a member of Italy's Parlemeto.
While average Italian citizens are being forced to tighten their belts, their leaders continue to wallow in taxpayer-subsidized luxury.
Their take-home pay ranges between $18,000 and $27,000 a month. But there is more--their heath care is even more golden than in the United States, they do not have to pay for travel within Italy, and in more cases than not are given cars and drivers.
And there are a lot of them. In contrast to the much more populous U.S. where there are 535 members of Congress, in Italy there are 952. But we spend only $7.00 per capita for our representative whereas in Italy they cost $34 per member of the Parlemento.
There is not as yet a Tea Party or Occupy di Borsa Italiana in Italy; but perhaps once enough citizens there find out that on top of this self-approved generosity, their representatives are also allowed to keep their day jobs as lawyers, businesspeople, and even journalists, we may see some action in the streets.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
4:37 AM
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