He’s not alone: AOC and others have argued lawmakers should be paid more in order to protect against corruption and make the job more accessible.

  • @oDDmON
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    5610 months ago

    What about the rest of us, who manage to scrape by on 60K or less after y’all have already taxed away a third of it? Where’s our relief you whiny shit? 💩

    • @MoonManKipper
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      2810 months ago

      It’s about the market I’m afraid - someone with the attributes necessary to be an effective politician is likely to be able to use those skills to get a top management job in a big company and earn > 200k easily. If the gap between that and the politicians salary is too great then the only people who become politicians will have other strong other motives, which may be noble, but are often narcissistic or corrupt.

      • @schmikle
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        1010 months ago

        We run into the same issue with university professors. Especially with studies like economics, engineering or IT.

        • 520
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          -810 months ago

          University professors don’t dictate national policy.

          • @[email protected]
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            1210 months ago

            That’s not what they implied… And heck, they are the ones who teach the people who will eventually dictate national policies!

            • @takeda
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              510 months ago

              Seeing what supposedly educated politicians are saying, I have a doubt they attended a single class.

            • 520
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              010 months ago

              Bold of you to assume politicians are getting STEM degrees. Most don’t even understand the basics of computer networking.

              • @[email protected]
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                210 months ago

                Original text I replied to:

                We run into the same issue with university professors. Especially with studies like economics, engineering or IT.

                Now let’s simply it for you:

                It's an issue with ALL professors and especially the ones in economics, engineering and IT.

                What’s funny is that there’s plenty of politicians that study economics so that’s one field out of three that were mentioned, and the vast majority of politicians go to university so that’s covered in the first part.

    • mars296
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      1510 months ago

      To be fair, they do typically need staff that are paid by themselves. They need a residence in DC and their home state too.

      • @Pocketyeti
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        4410 months ago

        Build them dormitories in DC.

      • @Ensign_Crab
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        1910 months ago

        Let them live in their cars like Americans, then.

        • @Bernie_Sandals
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          10 months ago

          Not legally possible afaik

          Edit: I’m wrong, thank you to Knightfox for providing context as to why exactly I am.

          • pewter
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            510 months ago

            Who makes the laws?

          • @Ensign_Crab
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            110 months ago

            It’s not legal to live in your car in many places. No one cares about making sure that doesn’t happen in any other context, and we shouldn’t care when it’s the sociopaths who make sure wages stay low for everyone else.

            • @wolfpack86
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              310 months ago

              They could easily change the laws to make it legal in dc

            • @Bernie_Sandals
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              10 months ago

              I meant because Representatives and Senators have a bunch of special rules around mailing and mailing addresses. I’m sure there’s another rule requiring them to have an actual residence in DC as well, not just a PO Box, for example.

              Edit: Also you do realize that if politicians aren’t paid well by the government then all of their money will come from the private sector right?

              • @Ensign_Crab
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                210 months ago

                I meant because Representatives and Senators have a bunch of special rules around mailing and mailing addresses. I’m sure there’s another rule requiring them to have an actual residence in DC as well, not just a PO Box, for example.

                No one cares if anyone else can afford to maintain the minimum requirements for their job.

                Also you do realize that if politicians aren’t paid well by the government then all of their money will come from the private sector right?

                They already take bribes, and we already pay them too much. Every cent these pieces of shit earn that is greater than the minimum wage is an insult to everyone who works for a living in this country.

              • @[email protected]
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                110 months ago

                I’m sure there’s another rule requiring them to have an actual residence in DC as well, not just a PO Box, for example.

                This is not true, they don’t have to have a residence in DC. Also, the House only is in session about 4-5 hours per day, ~160 days a year and they aren’t actually required to show up (they might not get reelected if they are skipping but voters rarely actually care)

                https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/report-cards/2022/house/missed-votes

                With that kind of schedule I’d fucking commute or like many congressmen, I’d sleep in my office.

      • ivanafterall
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        1110 months ago

        The staff aren’t paid out of the members’ pockets. They have a budget for running their offices.