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Mo' money
So, I found out how much my raise at work is going to be. It's not as high as my pipe dreams hoped it would be, but it is still substantial.
It got me thinking though. This is the first truly substantial raise I've gotten while at this job, and while some of the raises (or lack thereof) were my fault (poor performance or poor attitude), I have to wonder... what would it be like if I was, say, in Congress?
Every year, Congress has to vote against automatically increasing their own pay, and if they don't vote it down, they get a pay raise. Every year. Well, hold on, many people get a pay raise every year. Maybe it's not a lot, but it's there, right? Well, yes. But those people don't get to decide whether they get their own raise, do they? And those raises certainly aren't guarenteed.
But Congress does. Every year, they have to specifically vote against giving themselves more money. Now, go out and find 20 people who work for a living. Doesn't really matter what they do. Fry cook, businessman, newspaper reporter, whatever. Ask them if they could, every year, decide for themselves to give themselves more money (whether an increase in an hourly pay or an increase in salary), regardless of their actual performance, would they do it?
Now, most people aren't dopes. And most people do have that tiny bit of greed, or that nugget of belief that they aren't being paid enough. So, I'm willing to bet that if you did ask those 20 people if they would give themselves a better income every year, they would say "Hell, yes, where do I sign?" But people making minimum wage have to hope that Congress gets off their collective fundaments and votes for an increase in minium wage.
I mean, it's not like we're ever going to hear about Congress cutting "employees" are we? "Due to the nature of the current economy, each state will be going down to one Senator and we're also looking at significant layoffs in the House of Representatives. We hope that these layoffs will result in a leaner, more responsive Congress, able to meet the demands of a modern government."
Psssh... yeah, that'll happen.
It got me thinking though. This is the first truly substantial raise I've gotten while at this job, and while some of the raises (or lack thereof) were my fault (poor performance or poor attitude), I have to wonder... what would it be like if I was, say, in Congress?
Every year, Congress has to vote against automatically increasing their own pay, and if they don't vote it down, they get a pay raise. Every year. Well, hold on, many people get a pay raise every year. Maybe it's not a lot, but it's there, right? Well, yes. But those people don't get to decide whether they get their own raise, do they? And those raises certainly aren't guarenteed.
But Congress does. Every year, they have to specifically vote against giving themselves more money. Now, go out and find 20 people who work for a living. Doesn't really matter what they do. Fry cook, businessman, newspaper reporter, whatever. Ask them if they could, every year, decide for themselves to give themselves more money (whether an increase in an hourly pay or an increase in salary), regardless of their actual performance, would they do it?
Now, most people aren't dopes. And most people do have that tiny bit of greed, or that nugget of belief that they aren't being paid enough. So, I'm willing to bet that if you did ask those 20 people if they would give themselves a better income every year, they would say "Hell, yes, where do I sign?" But people making minimum wage have to hope that Congress gets off their collective fundaments and votes for an increase in minium wage.
I mean, it's not like we're ever going to hear about Congress cutting "employees" are we? "Due to the nature of the current economy, each state will be going down to one Senator and we're also looking at significant layoffs in the House of Representatives. We hope that these layoffs will result in a leaner, more responsive Congress, able to meet the demands of a modern government."
Psssh... yeah, that'll happen.
no subject
Best quote ever. I'm still laughing.
no subject
Lovely too, how they don't seem to be docked for days they don't show up. Kinda like how all those laws, (marijuana criminalization anyone?) are passed when there's like 3 guys there to vote yes or no.
Most people lose a day's pay if they don't show up.
Fuckers.