District judges and lawmakers now earn $169,300 a year

Fark every single one of them, right in the ass.

BTW, dumbmitter, TFA points out that Congress is already getting the raise, the only reason they put it into the auto bailout for the judges, is because it's the only legislation they are likely to pass before the end of the year.

I thought all of Congress's raises were automatic. That way they don't have to vote on it. Voting yourself a pay raise always looks bad. Better to have it happen automatically.

TFA: Even with the raise, judge earn far less than lawyers at big firms, just as members of Congress make less than most lobbyists.

Has anyone ever seen an AP article that did not have political commentary stuck in it, either subtly or--in this case--blatantly?

Swine

ekdikeo4

$170k isn't that much money compared to what a partner in a medium-to-large sized law firm takes down.

But the hours are MUCH better, and the... gratuities are more significant.

Even with the raise, judge earn far less than lawyers at big firms, just as members of Congress make less than most lobbyists.

Yeah, and cops on the take make less than drug lords ;)

ne2d

Relativity is the reason some CEOs (and lawyers) make $50 mil+ a year. Their pay increase gets much more massive as they approach the speed of light.

ekdikeo4: BTW, dumbmitter, TFA points out that Congress is already getting the raise, the only reason they put it into the auto bailout for the judges, is because it's the only legislation they are likely to pass before the end of the year.

Does it strike you as at all farked up that someone who makes $169k a year needs a raise to adjust for the cost of living while almost 7% of Americans are out of the farking job?

I thought all of Congress's raises were automatic. That way they don't have to vote on it. Voting yourself a pay raise always looks bad. Better to have it happen automatically.

Right. That law went into effect a few years before 27th Amendment to ban pay raises within a session. Unfortunately the amendment technically bans votes, not pay raises, and since they voted on the perpetual pay raises before the amendment it's all legal.

Massachusetts pulled the same kind of trick. Politicians persuaded voters to agree to an amendment to set legislative pay at the median household income or something like that. The catch is, voters didn't set their pay. Voters set the constitutionally guaranteed minimum pay. Aside from automatic adjustment for inflation, politicians can have as many add-ons as they vote themselves as long as it's not called salary but instead "expenses" or "bonuses." They get a bonus, for example, for getting a committee chair or some other fictitious or real "leadership" position. They get paid extra for expenses if they considered going to work that day. But they can never, ever have their pay cut below that constitutionally guaranteed minimum.

We need term limits and session limits.

Winktologist

When is the last time someone tried to bribe a common worker for a "not guilty" verdict?

Myself personally, I'd never accept a bribe, unless it was at least six figures of course. But our judges need that money. And the Congressmen too, even though they get bribed legally every day of the week, and twice on Sunday. Our government would come to a screeching halt if these people didn't get to suckle on our teats, and then where would we be? I'll tell you where we'd be. They wouldn't be handing out our money to Wall Street banks by the truckload, that's where we'd be.

Winktologist: Does it strike you as at all farked up that someone who makes $169k a year needs a raise to adjust for the cost of living while almost 7% of Americans are out of the farking job?

Well, we could cut their pay to $42,000 and attract the kind of job applicants who are too ignorant and incompetent to land a halfway decent job at a private firm making four times that, and who are susceptible to bribery and graft.

ZAZ

I would not be surprised to see that they passed a law banning the repeal of the automatic pay raises. It could have happened already, and we just don't know about it on account of the facts being buried in several million words of unrelated legislation.

It's not like anybody reads this stuff before they vote for it. They don't get paid enough for that.

kronicfeld

susceptible to bribery and graft

In my experience, this susceptibility transcends all income ranges and wealth strata. It boils down to one's own integrity, self-image, and level of desperation.

But at 42k a year, I'd be desperate.

/so bribe me already

They're using emergency reasoning to flush through pork. And the People continue to tolerate it.

The cost of living has not increased this year by anything CLOSE to 2.8%, it will likely go up by zero percent next year.

I hope every single one of you gets raped by a bear.

GaryPDX

They're using emergency reasoning to flush through pork. And the People continue to tolerate it

Most of them are blissfully unaware they're being robbed.

GaryPDX: They're using emergency reasoning to flush through pork. And the People continue to tolerate it.

Not for too much longer, I'll bet. Our government looks too much like executives flying private jets with hats in hand to ask for more money.

I sense a disturbance in the Force ;)

If the CEO's of companies that were "mis-managed" need to forgo their pay or raise, shouldn't members of congress be held to the same standards?

The whole lot of them needs to eat several large bowls of penises. Each.

SpinStopper: I sense a disturbance in the Force ;)

Careful, people will think your crazy for thinking that. Trust me, I know.

The whole lot of them needs to eat several large bowls of penises. Each.

Barney Frank will get right on that.

I'm trying to imagine this Car Czar telling this industry how to do things. I won't be buying a government car, that's for sure. My confidence level in government is very limited.

Winktologist: Does it strike you as at all farked up that someone who makes $169k a year needs a raise to adjust for the cost of living while almost 7% of Americans are out of the farking job?

Those 7% should have gone to law school apparently then.

Hard to find qualified judges, as pointed out above, when the financial incentive is so much greater for them to be in private practice.

DEALS DEALS DEALS!!!



FREE MONEY for EVERYONE!! If you run right down today and buy one of Uncle Sam's New Cars!! No down payment!! No interest!! Bankruptcy OK!! Bad Credit OK!!

/The Fed selling cars..uggghh!!

Judges are horrendously underpaid.

GaryPDX

My confidence level in government is very limited

The government used to craft some very efficient programs and engineer tremendous oversight into them on the cheap. But that was back before the lobbyists wrote all the legislation.

GaryPDX: I won't be buying a government car, that's for sure.

Every time you post, a piece of my soul dies.

filth

Judges are horrendously underpaid

So are teachers, firefighters, and general practitioners.

Out of that group, though, I'd rather be a judge.

hillbillypharmacist
Every time you post, a piece of my soul dies
You've got one big-assed soul, that's for sure.

Gary
Not that you're outspoken next to me :)
/still waiting for 1.49/gallon to fill my tanks

Marcus Aurelius: Out of that group, though, I'd rather be a judge.

you just want to wear a robe and bang a gavel.

KaponoFor3: Winktologist: Does it strike you as at all farked up that someone who makes $169k a year needs a raise to adjust for the cost of living while almost 7% of Americans are out of the farking job?

Those 7% should have gone to law school apparently then.

Hard to find qualified judges, as pointed out above, when the financial incentive is so much greater for them to be in private practice.

Exactly. I have no problem with judges getting the raise, it keeps the experienced ones in place, makes it a (more) competitive field, and possibly with the benefit of the prestige on the resume gets people to consider it rather than more lucrative private practice.

(btw, very similar situation in healthcare where primary care docs=judges and specialists=private/corporate lawyers. We NEED more highly talented primary care docs, however the pay isn't often good enough to recruit them, so all just about anyone who can goes into a speciality.)

The lawmakers getting a raise on the other hand....

So you expect people who go through four years of college and then do the work to become judges to not have a 6 figure salary?

Marcus Aurelius: I thought all of Congress's raises were automatic. That way they don't have to vote on it. Voting yourself a pay raise always looks bad. Better to have it happen automatically.

They are.. and so is this one.. the submitter lacks enough brains to read the story before writing the headline.. and Im suspect about whomever greenlit it

GaryPDX: They're using emergency reasoning to flush through pork. And the People continue to tolerate it.

Gary.. your wrong.. read it again gary.. it aint pork

its a cost of living raise put through annually for judges (who are underpaid for their education/experience level..)

and the congressional raise thing was just inaccurate.. its not in the bill.. it happens on its own every year

Pigs are flying

its all PORK for Unions, and a payback for support to Comrade Obama.

"Mission accomplished" is now

"Change we can believe in"

except for the huge Dem-o-rat sellin everything on e-bay.

Can we say "culture of corruption"?

God, How many of those had a -D behind their name?

Is Winterwhile even human? Or is it some kind of terrible attempt at A.I. by the Young Earth movement?

Is anyone really surprised by this?? Thanks for the CHANGE Barack HUSSEIN Obama!!

The $170k isn't a spectacular amount, as they need to have 2 households, lots of travel and so forth.

OTOH, judges have a guaranteed job for life unless they do something really stupid. And Congress critters get a great pension and health benefits for life too.

winterwhile: Pigs are flying

its all PORK for Unions, and a payback for support to Comrade Obama.

"Mission accomplished" is now

"Change we can believe in"

except for the huge Dem-o-rat sellin everything on e-bay.

Can we say "culture of corruption"?

9/10, bravo. Its great to blame someone who ISN"T EVEN IN OFFICE YET!

So it's the auto bailout/judge payraise bill?

Did they stick anything else in there?

Finally, pay raises where they're needed. It's tough to keep a good judge for too long when he's making 1/10 of what he could be making, especially in a big city.

let's take a vote, who is making more money this year than last?

I'm not, my commission all but disappeared and I'm down about 12%.

Let's vote, who's up, and who's down?

Change!

cchris_39: Change!

Wanker!

This is why I didn't vote for a single incumbent. Too bad most of them still won. And I don't really consider a Democrat taking a Republican seat to really be a 'change'. The country still gets raped, it's just a new dick your ass doing it.

Shaggy_C: This is why I didn't vote for a single incumbent. Too bad most of them still won. And I don't really consider a Democrat taking a Republican seat to really be a 'change'. The country still gets raped, it's just a new dick your ass doing it.

So I have a meeting with my house representative on Saturday.... load me up with some talking points.

xpointx: Gary.. your wrong.. read it again gary.. it aint pork

its a cost of living raise put through annually for judges (who are underpaid for their education/experience level..)

and the congressional raise thing was just inaccurate.. its not in the bill.. it happens on its own every year

If you think that will stop his emoesque poutrage, your just wrong.

Personally, I support our new overlords.

Etymology:

congress: 1528, from L. congressus "a meeting, hostile encounter," pp. of congredi "meet with, fight with," from com- "together" + gradi "to walk," from gradus "a step" (see grade). Sense of "meeting of delegates" is first recorded 1678. Meaning "sexual union" is from 1589. Used in ref. to the national legislative body of the American states since 1775 (though since 1765 in America as a name for proposed bodies).


So basically, it's a hostile encounter with some sexual union.