Published by the Foundation for Economic Education
March 14, 2010 | Subscribe via RSS
“A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay.”
Read the rest of the article here.
Jim Powell discusses Progressive Republican Theodore Roosevelt's big-government record, Gene Callahan pleads for maturity in public-policy discussions, Gerald O'Driscoll looks at the Fed's recent conduct, Steven Horwitz explains the idea of unintended consequences, Kevin Carson gazes deep into the health care system, and Joseph Stromberg takes another look at John Locke.
by Kevin Carson
by mnolan
Reviewed by George C. Leef
Reviewed by Tim Stonesifer
Reviewed by Art Carden
Reviewed by Bettina Bien Greaves
by Gene Callahan
by Steven Horwitz
by Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr.
by Jim Powell
by Joseph R. Stromberg
by Charles Johnson
by John Stossel
by Thomas Szasz
by Burton W. Folsom Jr.
by Sheldon Richman
Comment by Carl Clegg on 19 December 2008:
How about their pensions? It’s possible for a Congressional pension to exceed a member’s final salary after a few years of COLA increases. They also wrote into the tax code another $3000 deduction for a second residence which no one can claim unless they are a member of Congress. The IRS spends over $100,000 a year to maintain two special customer service centers to assist lawmakers in filing their own tax returns. Despite this expense, the majority don’t file their own taxes…presumably because it’s too complicated. If that’s not enough, the taxpayer is also paying between $1.2 and $4 million annually to run the staff office of each Congressman and Senator. This includes postage, full-time staff members, and office expenses but excludes the lawmaker’s salaray and the huge committee budgets. For more interesting and disturbing information on this topic, visit http://www.ntu.org.