Congress Demands CEOs Work for Free, but Want More Money

This from The Hill.

... they will get a $4,700 pay increase ... watchdog groups are not happy about it.

“As lawmakers make a big show of forcing auto executives to accept just $1 a year in salary, they are quietly raiding the vault for their own personal gain,” said Daniel O’Connell, chairman of The Senior Citizens League (TSCL)...

Rep. Harry Mitchell ...sponsored legislation earlier this year that would have prevented the automatic pay adjustments from kicking in for members next year... the bill... failed to make it out of committee.

“They don’t even go through the front door. They have it set up so that it’s wired so that you actually have to undo the pay raise rather than vote for a pay raise,” Ellis said...

In the beginning days of 1789, Congress was paid only $6 a day, which would be about $75 daily by modern standards. But by 1965 members were receiving $30,000 a year, which is the modern equivalent of about $195,000.

Currently the average lawmaker makes $169,300 a year, with leadership making slightly more...

Ellis said that while freezing the pay increase would be a step in the right direction, it would be better to have it set up so that members would have to take action, and vote, for a pay raise and deal with the consequences, rather than get one automatically...READ MORE>>

Currently, the way the system is set up is that Congress gets an automatic 2.8% wage increase without even having to vote on it. This needs to be stopped.

I'm a free market guy and as such I feel that job performance should dictate wages (and raises), so do we really think that members of congress are deserving of a 2.8% raise?

With only 20% of Americans satisfied with Congressional performance shouldn't they get a 2.8% pay cut instead?

If you feel as I do, please contact your Congressman/Congresswoman and tell them that you're unhappy about them receiving a pay raise and you'd like congress to pass a bill that requires them to always vote on pay increases.