No Rise in Minimum Wage
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 20, 2005
WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (AP) - Two proposals from Democrats and Republicans to raise the minimum wage to $6.25 an hour were rejected on Wednesday by the Senate, making it unlikely that the wage, $5.15 an hour since 1997, will rise in the foreseeable future.
In the ideal world (according to me):
Members of Congress shall be paid minimum wage during their freshman term and recieve a wage increase (25 cents for house, 75 cents for senate) every re-election (read: positive performance review by electors). Overtime rules apply, but it is the responsibility of the House Speaker and Senate President to meet wage quotas and curb overtime.
Committee chairman and party leaders (whips included) are exempt from overtime rules and recieve $1 more per hour in addition to their level of pay.
House Speaker and Senate President recieve yearly salaries comensurate with modal national salary at their experience level in that particular leadership position (i.e. entry-level).
Previous government or leadership experience is not applicable to wage or salary considerations.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: October 20, 2005
WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (AP) - Two proposals from Democrats and Republicans to raise the minimum wage to $6.25 an hour were rejected on Wednesday by the Senate, making it unlikely that the wage, $5.15 an hour since 1997, will rise in the foreseeable future.
In the ideal world (according to me):
Members of Congress shall be paid minimum wage during their freshman term and recieve a wage increase (25 cents for house, 75 cents for senate) every re-election (read: positive performance review by electors). Overtime rules apply, but it is the responsibility of the House Speaker and Senate President to meet wage quotas and curb overtime.
Committee chairman and party leaders (whips included) are exempt from overtime rules and recieve $1 more per hour in addition to their level of pay.
House Speaker and Senate President recieve yearly salaries comensurate with modal national salary at their experience level in that particular leadership position (i.e. entry-level).
Previous government or leadership experience is not applicable to wage or salary considerations.
posted by iHabitus at
12:38 PM
1 Comments:
Sounds good, but I think the "Party Leadership" payscale would be in violation of overtime laws. There's a certain minimum wage you have to make to be exempted from overtime and I don't think a dollar over minimum wage would meet it. Otherwise...
Honestly, I can't really get too worked up over this sort of thing anymore. Well, that's a lie, I can, but I try not to. I don't really pay much attention and when some new (or old) injustice catches my eye, well, I just try to look somewhere else.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I think sticking one's head in the sand is a desirable thing, it's just that caring too much about these things just leads to depression and/or cynicism. I'd rather spend the time examining myself and rooting out the seeds of injustice I find there (and believe me there's plenty of them). And the great thing about turning a critical eye on myself, rather than the outside world, is that with myself I can actually do something about it.
And that's what I don't like about obsessing over the state of the world (or rather, obsessing over the negative aspects of the state of the world), I can't DO a damn thing about it. Well, usually, not a damn thing. You and I both know that our government is bought and sold to the highest bidder, so why fret over it, since we're not high bidders?
Then again, maybe there is something I could do about this issue, but it wouldn't have a thing to do with Congress. A democratic business plan would garuantee (sp) a decent wage for everyone, or at least do a better job of it than our government can. BE the change you want to see in the world, right?
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home