MoveOn.org sends me an occasional email. Fair enough, I'll be open minded. In a recent one they were asking me to "sign [a] petition to Congress, urging them to act now to rein in Wall Street greed." Here's the problem with that: It is like asking the inmates to take care of the asylum. What evidence could I put forward to support my view? I point to the 27th Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment states:
No law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.
This was ratified in the month of May 1992. Apparently in 1989 an automatic "cost of living adjustment" law was passed (here) and "in nine of the last 10 years, Congress has given itself a raise, totaling more than $30,000." (here). While $30K is much smaller than the millions of dollars that go to executives, the executives get it legally. Congress is doing an end run around the very document that gives them the authority to legislate in this nation.
All this reminds me of the quip from Cullen Hightower (here): "Talk is cheap -- except when Congress does it."
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