Thursday, July 28, 2011
Congress members make more than three times what the average American makes

I have often made the suggestion that elected officials should make no more than the average their constiuents make.
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The Taxpayers Protection Alliance (TPA) and Our Generation (OG) advocacy groups released a report Wednesday showing that federal legislators earn 3.4 times more than the average full-time American worker, and are among the highest paid legislators in the industrialized world.

The report compares congressional salaries and benefits with what private sector workers receive, and with those of foreign legislators.

According to the report, members of Congress receive an annual salary of $174,000 — which alone puts them in the highest-paid 5 percent of U.S. workers. They also, however, receive a host of additional benefits that put their total annual compensation at around $285,000. By comparison, the average full-time American employee earns just $50,875 annually.

The report also compared the American ratio of legislator pay to citizen salary with the same ratios in 13 developed countries, including Spain, Norway, France, the UK, Sweden, Australia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan. Of those 13, only Japan had a higher ratio. On average, legislators in other countries receive salaries equal to 2.3 times the average wage.

“Congress has run up a $14.3 trillion debt and a $1.5 trillion deficit, yet they are still among the best compensated employees in America,â€