sethnintendo said:
mrstickball said:
According to some congresswomen, they absolutely need that $170,000/yr salary to survive.
But at any rate, I agree. It should be a service to the American people to have such a high level of federal service. I say eliminate or significantly reduce salaries for congress, senate and presidency.
Oh, and Onibaka - you don't quite have a grasp of why the American medical system fails. It is not because we don't have a centrally planned service, but because of systemic problems with how our system works - a universal system would only make it worse, not better. Our private insurers cost $5,000/yr per person while our government plans cost between $7,000 and $8,000 per person per year. Costs would only go up, not down, with further government planning (and Obamacare is proof of this atrocity). Rather, to fix the problem we need to reform the entire system from who provides it, how they provide it, the regulations around our drugs, doctors and service centers, and of course, significantly reducing Medicare payouts which are intrinsically tied to hospital performance. |
With the medical plans Congress gets I can see logic in reducing their wages to about 20-30k per year. Since they don't even have to worry about medical bills and get the best coverage. Congress should also get paid less if they are fat, unhealthy, have a pre-medical condition, etc.. since the average American would be turned down or have to pay way more for bare minimum coverage.
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It always gets me that congress/senate and most all government employees have private benefit plans via COBRA and various public pension systems that utilize opportunities that are illegal for other Americans. As a state employee, I never had to pay into Social Security, yet as a private worker, I am forced to pay into it (which pays out a LOT less than my public retirement account did - you could retire after 30 years and get 50% more than if you worked 40 years under Social Security).
