Congresscritter Explains How It Is Real Real Hard To Scrape By On $174,000 Per Year

Here is your regular reminder that Democratic Congresscritters can be craven grasping money hounds just like their GOP counterparts! Happy Friday. Retiring Representative James Moran (D-VA) is very sad that he has been forced to limp along on a mere $174,000 salary for the last four years. 

"I think the American people should know that the members of Congress are underpaid," he told CQ Roll Call. "I understand that it’s widely felt that they underperform, but the fact is that this is the board of directors for the largest economic entity in the world."

Dude, you do know that if you were actually the board of directors for a ginormous company, approximately 9/10 of you would be fired for incompetence and the remainder of you would only be kept on as figureheads while a competent CEO and CFO did all the actual work, right?

Moran has some Deep Thoughts about how to shower more coin on the Do Nothing Congress he is a part of. Perhaps, he mused, it could be pegged to what other federal employees make? Great plan, Moran, except that the average salary of a federal worker is about 45% of what your lazy lot already make.

The Office of Personnel Management reported that as of September 2012, the average salary for a full-time, permanent, non-seasonal position was $78,467. The comparable figure for December 2010 was $76,701.

The median salary — the point at which half are above and half are below — is now $74,714, up from $69,550 in 2010.

We are down with this. Here you go, James Moran. We'll drop your salary down to $78K, just like a federal worker, and then you can get the regular raises they get, which happen about every completely whimsical time Congress does not cockblock their raises. Why, you'll be back up to $174,000 in no time at all, and by "no time" we mean literally never.

Moran also thought maybe the poor denizens of Congress could make a little extra scratch by getting a per diem like state legislators do. Also a super cool idea, except that state legislators make anywhere from zero dollars to about $95K, so even piling sweet-ass per diem monies on those salaries doesn't get your state counterparts anywhere close to $174K.

And let's not forget that being a member of Congress isn't just about collecting six figures for doing nothing. Naw mang, it is also about getting undeservedly showered with money from people that want to own you, and you are so not afraid to be bought. Over half of the Congress is worth over $1 million, which is not a number that applies to the rest of us, usually. And while Mr. Jim Moran hasn't kept pace with that, he is worth mid six-figures, so looks like he's been able to scrimp and save some portion of that $174K per year.

You'll have to forgive us, because we can no longer write about this as we're unable to see the computer screen through our tears of rage and laughter over the hubris of this guy thinking he is just a working class stiff like the rest of America. STFU, Moran.

[ TPM / Roll Call ]