Obama to take $20,000 pay cut in solidarity with federal workers - Polidicks

[QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;40148488]I have to say this all the time, but lobbying is a necessary function of any government that serves the people. Its what allows the people to actually appeal to the government and try to have any influence. The problem is the people who are lobbying and how.[/QUOTE]Well, there goes my idea! :v:

idea: make it illegal for presidents and congressmen to accept any money outside of their half or so million dollar salary. (ok taking a dollar found on the ground and little shit like that would be fine)

[QUOTE=meppers;40148648]idea: make it illegal for presidents and congressmen to accept any money outside of their half or so million dollar salary. (ok taking a dollar found on the ground and little shit like that would be fine)[/QUOTE] Funny, it would require Congressmen and presidents to pass such a law. [editline]3rd April 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=scout1;40148596]"And by the job they've been doing the past couple years, they don't really deserve any paycheck" Completely obliterating the possibility is certainly not helping, although I don't know where you get the idea that everyone in congress is rich to start with. There's [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colleen_Lachowicz] at least one that FP has heard of[/url][/QUOTE] I said they didn't deserve it, not that they should not get it. And there's a thing called "the exception, not the rule".

[QUOTE=Eudoxia;40148590]Texas looks like a pretty nice place to live in and not the backwoods theocracy it's usually depicted as.[/QUOTE] Most of what you hear on facepunch is bullshit, most here are right, but they generally aren't idiots.

He should grow a pair and reduce his pay to a respectable $0k per year seeing as the benefits of being president outweigh any salary imaginable by the public.

[QUOTE=OvB;40148531]Texas state Legislators only make $7,200 a year, with $128 per diem. However they're only in session 140 days a year.[/QUOTE] Doesn't that kind of make it so only only the rich become texas state legislators? You can't live on $7200/year and if you're a politician you can't work a full-time job at the same time. Sounds like the only people who can get into politics in Texas are those who have big bank accounts/investment earnings/etc to bankroll their term.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;40148671] I said they didn't deserve it, not that they should not get it. And there's a thing called "the exception, not the rule".[/QUOTE] Well there isn't going to be any exceptions if you want to bump the congress wages down to non-existence

I don't know why this is rated funny I know I wouldn't enjoy having 5% taken off my paycheck, let alone 20k

[QUOTE=meppers;40148648]idea: make it illegal for presidents and congressmen to accept any money outside of their half or so million dollar salary. (ok taking a dollar found on the ground and little shit like that would be fine)[/QUOTE] pretty sure taking bribes is already illegal.

[QUOTE=deggie;40149230]I don't know why this is rated funny I know I wouldn't enjoy having 5% taken off my paycheck, let alone 20k[/QUOTE] Because during his tenure as president he also gets an expense account among other things. Also just being the president means you can write a book later and have people buy it... so there really isn't a practical limit on the amount of money the president could earn. I guess he could also play the stock market and write pardons for himself or work with the VP to have HIM write it for each other or something weird (sort of what people thought Ford did for Nixon before everybody realized it was actually cool).

[QUOTE=Aetna;40149187]He should grow a pair and reduce his pay to a respectable $0k per year seeing as the benefits of being president outweigh any salary imaginable by the public.[/QUOTE] To be fair if I was president for like a week I would probably end up wanting to disappear from the face of the Earth.

[QUOTE=scout1;40149322]Because during his tenure as president he also gets an expense account among other things. Also just being the president means you can write a book later and have people buy it... so there really isn't a practical limit on the amount of money the president could earn. I guess he could also play the stock market and write pardons for himself or work with the VP to have HIM write it for each other or something weird (sort of what people thought Ford did for Nixon before everybody realized it was actually cool).[/QUOTE] to my knowledge, Congressmen are paid less than they would make as lawyers. The President is paid more, but anyone whos a good enough lawyer to be President would be taking a pay cut.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;40147754]Did you forget lobbies?[/QUOTE] The fact 'lobbying' has been defined as a "[B]necessary evil[/B]" in all of my political college courses is what worries me. It's that they know it's really bad, but are basically going "it's required because congress is too busy/stupid to educate themselves and form opinions over topics" .. which I thought was their job in the first place.

[QUOTE=Doom14;40149746]The fact 'lobbying' has been defined as a "[B]necessary evil[/B]" in all of my political college courses is what worries me. It's that they know it's really bad, but are basically going "it's required because congress is too busy/stupid to educate themselves and form opinions over topics" .. which I thought was their job in the first place.[/QUOTE] Do you have an alternative solution to getting peoples' problems addressed?

[QUOTE=Protocol7;40148021]So what exactly would reducing their salary accomplish?[/QUOTE] It'll remind them that [i]they[/i] work for [i]us,[/i] and not the other way around.

[QUOTE=Doom14;40149746]The fact 'lobbying' has been defined as a "[B]necessary evil[/B]" in all of my political college courses is what worries me. It's that they know it's really bad, but are basically going "it's required because congress is too busy/stupid to educate themselves and form opinions over topics" .. which I thought was their job in the first place.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=Doctor Zedacon;40148488][QUOTE=ExplodingGuy;40148361]Yes, they're just going to make it up via [del]bribes[/del] lobbying groups, anywho. Which leads into what I was thinking: increase the pay of politicians, and illegalize lobbying. Make sure they have a personal stake when it comes to legislation. Probably won't work as well as I would like, but an idea none the less.[/QUOTE]I have to say this all the time, but lobbying is a necessary function of any government that serves the people. Its what allows the people to actually appeal to the government and try to have any influence. [quote]The ethics and morality of lobbying are dual-edged. Lobbying is often spoken of with contempt, when the implication is that people with inordinate socioeconomic power are corrupting the law (twisting it away from fairness) in order to serve their own conflict of interest. But another side of lobbying is making sure that others' interests are duly defended against others' corruption, or even simply making sure that minority interests are fairly defended against mere tyranny of the majority. For example, a medical association, or a trade association of health insurance companies, may lobby a legislature in order to counteract the influence of tobacco companies, in which case the lobbying would be viewed by most people as justified (duly defending against others' corruption). The difficulty in drawing objective lines between which lobbyists are "good lobbyists" and which ones are "bad ones" is compounded by the cleverness with which lobbyists or their clients can speciously argue that their own lobbying is of the "good" kind.[/quote]The problem is the people who are lobbying and how.[/quote]

How will he possibly survive with a paycut like that? ... :suicide: Obama sure is a man of the people.

The government pays for a lot of things for the President and even though he does not have a huge salary he still ends up living like a billionaire.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;40149190]Doesn't that kind of make it so only only the rich become texas state legislators? You can't live on $7200/year and if you're a politician you can't work a full-time job at the same time. Sounds like the only people who can get into politics in Texas are those who have big bank accounts/investment earnings/etc to bankroll their term.[/QUOTE] They're only in Austin for 140 days out of the year. They all still have jobs in their home towns. If they were full time legislators they would need a bigger salary to live off. They get paid in the end around ~38,000 (I'm not sure of the actual numbers) for 140 days of being in session. [quote] In a statement, Senator Wentworth said: The people of Texas have made it clear that they want low-paid, part-time citizen-legislators representing them in the Texas Legislature by repeatedly voting against constitutional amendments aimed at increasing the $600 per month salary legislators are paid. As a result, legislators almost without exception have simply continued to earn a living doing the same thing they did before they were elected. In my case, that has been representing clients as a lawyer. [3] [/quote] [url]http://www.laits.utexas.edu/txp_media/html/leg/0205.html[/url] Of course, like the last paragraph says, it opens the door to aggressive lobbying.

You know we never had a salary for the President. They often left the office with a good chunk of debt. They had no congressional budget or anything. All staff had to be hired from the president's pocket. Yes back then made a lot of sense.

[QUOTE=Flash;40150587] Yes back then made a lot of sense.[/QUOTE] This is not ideal, it discourages poorer people from ever attaining this office.

[QUOTE=scout1;40147724]We pay them well above the average so they're [I]not[/I] susceptible to outright corruption.[/QUOTE] How does paying them well detour corruption? I honestly feel like the political system in America would be vastly improved upon if you were payed nothing and it was based on a volunteer basis. At least for general positions like legislatures and congressmen.

Give him credit for solidarity.

[QUOTE=OrionChronicles;40151300]Give him credit for solidarity.[/QUOTE] It's like flipping a penny off to a beggar and then claiming you're a charitable person.

[QUOTE=theo0001;40150962]How does paying them well detour corruption? I honestly feel like the political system in America would be vastly improved upon if you were payed nothing and it was based on a volunteer basis. At least for general positions like legislatures and congressmen.[/QUOTE] But that pretty much guarantees that [I]only[/I] the rich can hold office. If anyone else held office, he'd either be living at a relative's or friend's house, or in an alleyway across the street from the capitol building.

[QUOTE=smurfy;40147612][url]http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/03/us-usa-obama-pay-idUSBRE93213G20130403[/url] Don't know if I could live on a meagre $380,000 a year[/QUOTE] Now make every person in the house, Senate and whatnot take that pay cut.

[QUOTE=theo0001;40150962]How does paying them well detour corruption? I honestly feel like the political system in America would be vastly improved upon if you were payed nothing and it was based on a volunteer basis. At least for general positions like legislatures and congressmen.[/QUOTE] Because most people can't afford to live on [B]no pay.[/B] If your living conditions are meager, you're a lot more likely to take a $100,000 bribe than you would if you were comfortably living in a 3-story home.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;40147901]I don't recall anyone running for political office for the money. [editline]3rd April 2013[/editline] I take that back. For the money paid for them for the position, not the money lobbies pay in gifts.[/QUOTE] People don't go into politics for the salary, but they do go in it for the money usually and the future business. They make connections and when they leave they can use their connections to make major profits. Besides presidents and congressmen have a salary for life I believe even when they leave office.