This should disqualify Boehner...

[Larry Gude]

...from the Speakership if he doesn't tell this guy 'Thanks but, no thanks."




Boehner under fire: First cut should be lawmakers' salaries - TheHill.com

“There has to be a visible gesture that people can immediately relate to,” said Pete Sepp, the executive vice president of the conservative National Taxpayers Union.

“And cutting pay would be one of the best symbols, because unlike virtually anything else the federal government does, when Congress spends money on its own salaries and benefits, people can make a direct comparison to their own situation,” Sepp said.

Have we not yet had enough of vapid, empty symbolic gestures???


I'd be happy to DOUBLE their pay today if they do the freaking JOB of cutting this insane spending and borrowing.


Jack Ass;

“[The symbolic moves] create images that build the party’s reputation and say, ‘This is what Republican rule means and these are things we stand for,’” Binder said. “These are symbolic things that a Speaker would want to do to set a tone or a message.

We stand for empty, vapid, symbolic gestures?



CUT spending. CUT borrowing. REDUCE government.


Stand for that, jack ass.

 

[hvp05]

Have we not yet had enough of vapid, empty symbolic gestures???

I'd be happy to DOUBLE their pay today if they do the freaking JOB of cutting this insane spending and borrowing.

Agreed. Why spend time nibbling when, for the same amount of time, you could eat the whole cake?

People put the new Rs there to tackle health care, the deficit and help steer us back on course... not to be "symbolic".

 

[twinoaks207]

You don't play politics much, do you?

It's all about who makes the best "vapid, empty symbolic gestures".

I'm not holding my breath that things are going to be much different -- not until we get more people in who aren't either Republican OR Democrat, and who could give two sh*ts about the "party's" national agenda. It will probably end up being another dose of "same sh*t, different day".


(so, am I depressing enough for ya now? Sorry, still so disgusted over the idots that got re-elected in Maryland. We got some change, I still have no hope!)

 

[hvp05]

It will probably end up being another dose of "same sh*t, different day".

As is being discussed in another thread, people like Ron Paul are not afraid to stand up and say what frankly needs to be said.

His son will now be joining him in the other wing. And there are the other TEA Party-supported folks. They are our best hope - and I do have hope in them. If they, too, cave all may be lost after all.

 

[Larry Gude]

You don't play politics much, do you?

It's all about who makes the best "vapid, empty symbolic gestures".

I'm not holding my breath that things are going to be much different -- not until we get more people in who aren't either Republican OR Democrat, and who could give two sh*ts about the "party's" national agenda. It will probably end up being another dose of "same sh*t, different day".

Wel, I damn well am holding my breathe!!!

Get on with it, John!!! Cut! Slash! Chop! Jihad!!!!!

 

[ImnoMensa]

Wel, I damn well am holding my breathe!!!

Get on with it, John!!! Cut! Slash! Chop! Jihad!!!!!

They should cut their staff by half.
Cut their junkets by half.
Boehner should turn down the Speakers jet and fly first class on any airline he wish's.

 

[MMDad]

All elected officials should be paid from the budget surplus. The only way to have a surplus is by cutting waste, having business friendly policies, and ending income redistribution in order to have economic health.

If our congress critters made $10 million each due to having a thriving economy and a balanced budget, that would be fine with me.

 

[SamSpade]

I'm happy with symbolic gestures if they follow through because we've mentioned countless times that we don't see how Congress can legitimately go about cutting costs while refusing to contain their own. The biggest news item about Obama lately has been the cost of his Mumbai trip, in the tens to hundreds of millions - in a year when *billions* are spent almost daily.

It's a lot of money, but we have pork projects that blow more money. Comparatively it's almost chicken feed.

But it does piss us off to see people crow about reducing spending while wasting their own. We're not crazy about seeing public officials pay for personal assistants that do very little even though their portion of the city or state or national budget is trivial.

By the way - most earmarks, those legally sanctioned "bribes" that everyone hates - amount to pennies on the dollar in the budget. Actually, fractions of a penny on the dollar. But millions and billions is still too much to waste. We don't like them even though eliminating them altogether really wouldn't save a lot of money.

A totally vapid gesture would be brown bag lunch day. Cutting a few million out of their budget would be felt, even if it barely dents the overall picture. I like the idea partly because it serves our Congress as a personal reminder what we are holding them to.

 

[Larry Gude]

They should cut their staff by half.
Cut their junkets by half.
Boehner should turn down the Speakers jet and fly first class on any airline he wish's.

WHY??? What does that help? One of the MANY stupid, dumg ass things Obama did was allow the ridicule of the auto execs and how they got to the hearings. Execs don't fly in their corporate jets for any other reason than the corporations can not afford for them to be tied up and unproductive flying commercial.

Don't we wanna pay and reward the hell out of people for doing a good job, a job focused on saving TRILLIONS at the expense of a few thousand dollars????????

Good lord!

 

[Larry Gude]

I'm happy with symbolic gestures if they follow through because we've mentioned countless times that we don't see how Congress can legitimately go about cutting costs while refusing to contain their own. The biggest news item about Obama lately has been the cost of his Mumbai trip, in the tens to hundreds of millions - in a year when *billions* are spent almost daily.

It's a lot of money, but we have pork projects that blow more money. Comparatively it's almost chicken feed.

But it does piss us off to see people crow about reducing spending while wasting their own. We're not crazy about seeing public officials pay for personal assistants that do very little even though their portion of the city or state or national budget is trivial.

By the way - most earmarks, those legally sanctioned "bribes" that everyone hates - amount to pennies on the dollar in the budget. Actually, fractions of a penny on the dollar. But millions and billions is still too much to waste. We don't like them even though eliminating them altogether really wouldn't save a lot of money.

A totally vapid gesture would be brown bag lunch day. Cutting a few million out of their budget would be felt, even if it barely dents the overall picture. I like the idea partly because it serves our Congress as a personal reminder what we are holding them to.

I feel like a stranger in a strange land. You folks have odd ideas about how to achieve success. I have no want for symbolism. I have want for results. Big ones.

 

[TurboK9]

Agreed. Why spend time nibbling when, for the same amount of time, you could eat the whole cake?

People put the new Rs there to tackle health care, the deficit and help steer us back on course... not to be "symbolic".

I like cake. Maybe they can just steer us toward cake.

 

[twinoaks207]

I like cake. Maybe they can just steer us toward cake.

Hey, wait a minute! Wasn't the whole point of the recent election to try and replace some of those "let them eat cake" type people?????















PS -- If it's coconut cake, count me in! Nobody else in my family likes it so I never get to have it!

 

[TurboK9]

Hey, wait a minute! Wasn't the whole point of the recent election to try and replace some of those "let them eat cake" type people?????

No, no. The point was to replace them people that know you either eat it or have it. They were trying to do both, by taking it away from those that bake the cake. So we had neither. I want my cake dammit, so I can eat it or keep it however I choose. I baked the friggin' thing after all.

 

[twinoaks207]

No, no. The point was to replace them people that know you either eat it or have it. They were trying to do both, by taking it away from those that bake the cake. So we had neither. I want my cake dammit, so I can eat it or keep it however I choose. I baked the friggin' thing after all.

Ok, thanks, I get it now...I should bake my own coconut cake and not tell anyone that I have it. Then I can decide whether to eat it all on my own or let it turn into one of my green mold science experiments...

 

[Lenny]

I'd be happy to DOUBLE their pay today if they do the freaking JOB of cutting this insane spending and borrowing.

One consequence of raising the salary of a Congressman is that the maximum allowable salary of others in the Federal employ raise to a similar level. Members of the Cabinet, higher ranking officers in the military, supplementary bonuses for physicians and other professionals in Federal healthcare, etc. are all tied to the level of a Congressman's salary. Increasing a Congressman's salary will echo thousands of times for other Federal employees.

 

[Larry Gude]

One consequence of raising the salary of a Congressman is that the maximum allowable salary of others in the Federal employ raise to a similar level. Members of the Cabinet, higher ranking officers in the military, supplementary bonuses for physicians and other professionals in Federal healthcare, etc. are all tied to the level of a Congressman's salary. Increasing a Congressman's salary will echo thousands of times for other Federal employees.

As I understand it, the number of members of congress is pretty much written in stone right now. Constitutionally. The number of federal employees, not so much. I'm not real big on a system where government employees are doing better than regular Joe's. If some people need to be cut, so be it. I am still happy to pay billions to save trillions.