Congress gets $4,100 pay raise

[Juan_Bottom]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington ... e-me_N.htm

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress members in 2008 will receive salaries of $169,300, a boost of $4,100 over the salary they have had since January 2006.
That 2.5% increase is mirrored by similar raises for associate justices of the Supreme Court, who will see their pay go from $203,000 to $208,100, and Chief Justice John Roberts, whose pay will rise to $217,400 from $212,100.

The salary figures were published in Tuesday's edition of the Federal Register.

Last year was the first since 1999, when the pay was $136,700, that members of Congress did not receive a cost-of-living allowance raise along with other federal employees. Democrats, newly elected to the majority, had vowed to block an increase in their paychecks until Congress raised the minimum wage.

This is amazing... all while doing the exact opposite of what the public wants them to do...

[jpliberty]

It's always interesting when the supporters of such pay raises attempt to justify the extravagance.

One standard argument is that it is necessary to pay congress critters so well because they have the costs of keeping a second home in DC (poor babies are saddled with owning 2 or more homes, not like their more fortunate employers, the citizens, who are lucky having only 1 home).

Another common defense is that we must pay alot in order to attract good people, and that in any event, all of em could earn so much more in private industry. Yeah, right, they all are geniuses, sought after for their brains, their talents

[Caleb the Cruel]

Where did all the money go? The banks don't have it. The car companies don't have it. The insurance agencies don't have it. The retail industry doesn't have it. I certainly don't have it. Where'd all the money go?



Oh...Congress.

[Restricted]

Where did all the money go? The banks don't have it. The car companies don't have it. The insurance agencies don't have it. The retail industry doesn't have it. I certainly don't have it. Where'd all the money go?



Oh...Congress.

China, you fool!

[timmytuttut88]

4000$ really isn't that much considering how they were already payed 160000+

[Restricted]

4000$ really isn't that much considering how they were already payed 160000+

The fact that they are getting raises in the first place is the bad part.

[Juan_Bottom]

re

Where did all the money go? The banks don't have it. The car companies don't have it. The insurance agencies don't have it. The retail industry doesn't have it. I certainly don't have it. Where'd all the money go?



Oh...Congress.

Much of it still has not been made available....
BUT the monies that were already made available is being sat on by the banks. So there still isn't any money. It's pathetic.

[The1exile]

Where did all the money go? The banks don't have it. The car companies don't have it. The insurance agencies don't have it. The retail industry doesn't have it. I certainly don't have it. Where'd all the money go?

Oh...Congress.

A bit of an exaggeration. While you can easily argue that a pay rise for congress is not justified, the whole total cost a) only totals about $1.7 million which is a minute drop in the ocean next to the auto industry and bank bailout plans and b) as a percentage is more or less in line with inflation.

[jpliberty]

Where did all the money go? The banks don't have it. The car companies don't have it. The insurance agencies don't have it. The retail industry doesn't have it. I certainly don't have it. Where'd all the money go?

Oh...Congress.

A bit of an exaggeration. While you can easily argue that a pay rise for congress is not justified, the whole total cost a) only totals about $1.7 million which is a minute drop in the ocean next to the auto industry and bank bailout plans and b) as a percentage is more or less in line with inflation.

Understood. Still, taking exception to congress giving itself a raise is logical and important. Alone in the world, legislators decree their own rate of pay, retirement and sundry benefits. It's a fiat salary and compensation system. They say what they will have and so be it.

[Juan_Bottom]

You asked where the money went;
Where'd the bailout money go? Shhhh, it's a secret
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081222/ap_ ... rets/print
The first half;

WASHINGTON – It's something any bank would demand to know before handing out a loan: Where's the money going?

But after receiving billions in aid from U.S. taxpayers, the nation's largest banks say they can't track exactly how they're spending the money or they simply refuse to discuss it.

"We've lent some of it. We've not lent some of it. We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it,'" said Thomas Kelly, a spokesman for JPMorgan Chase, which received $25 billion in emergency bailout money. "We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to."

The Associated Press contacted 21 banks that received at least $1 billion in government money and asked four questions: How much has been spent? What was it spent on? How much is being held in savings, and what's the plan for the rest?

None of the banks provided specific answers.

"We're not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking," said Barry Koling, a spokesman for Atlanta, Ga.-based SunTrust Banks Inc., which got $3.5 billion in taxpayer dollars.

Some banks said they simply didn't know where the money was going.

"We manage our capital in its aggregate," said Regions Financial Corp. spokesman Tim Deighton, who said the Birmingham, Ala.-based company is not tracking how it is spending the $3.5 billion it received as part of the financial bailout.

The answers highlight the secrecy surrounding the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which earmarked $700 billion — about the size of the Netherlands' economy — to help rescue the financial industry. The Treasury Department has been using the money to buy stock in U.S. banks, hoping that the sudden inflow of cash will get banks to start lending money.

There has been no accounting of how banks spend that money. Lawmakers summoned bank executives to Capitol Hill last month and implored them to lend the money — not to hoard it or spend it on corporate bonuses, junkets or to buy other banks. But there is no process in place to make sure that's happening and there are no consequences for banks who don't comply.

"It is entirely appropriate for the American people to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent in private industry," said Elizabeth Warren, the top congressional watchdog overseeing the financial bailout.

But, at least for now, there's no way for taxpayers to find that out.

Pressured by the Bush administration to approve the money quickly, Congress attached nearly no strings on the $700 billion bailout in October. And the Treasury Department, which doles out the money, never asked banks how it would be spent.

"Those are legitimate questions that should have been asked on Day One," said Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J., a House Financial Services Committee member who opposed the bailout as it was rushed through Congress. "Where is the money going to go to? How is it going to be spent? When are we going to get a record on it?"

Nearly every bank AP questioned — including Citibank and Bank of America, two of the largest recipients of bailout money — responded with generic public relations statements explaining that the money was being used to strengthen balance sheets and continue making loans to ease the credit crisis.

A few banks described company-specific programs, such as JPMorgan Chase's plan to lend $5 billion to nonprofit and health care companies next year. Richard Becker, senior vice president of Wisconsin-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp., said the $1.75 billion in bailout money allowed the bank to temporarily stop foreclosing on homes.

But no bank provided even the most basic accounting for the federal money.

"We're choosing not to disclose that," said Kevin Heine, spokesman for Bank of New York Mellon, which received about $3 billion.

[luns101]

Could this be considered Congress bailing themselves out?!!

[radiojake]

Where did all the money go? The banks don't have it. The car companies don't have it. The insurance agencies don't have it. The retail industry doesn't have it. I certainly don't have it. Where'd all the money go?



Oh...Congress.

Where did the money go? It's an interesting thought because I've often thought of the question 'Where did the money come from in the first place?'

In this computerised banking world, Countries can rack up over a trillion dollars in debt, yet i would doubt that there is even a trillion dollars even printed out into notes.

This ''global financial crisis' is another control mechanism. The war on terror is losing it's shock and scare value. Better give everyone something else to be scared about.

[Napoleon Ier]

Ahh...makes perfect sense. The Vast Right Wing Global Conspiracy orchestrate a collapse in housing prices leading to a Recession so that they can what, justify the biggest expansion of neo-socialo-Keynesian policy since the New Deal?