http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=5291

 

Congress itself is a classic example of what can happen when penny-wise policies restrict the caliber of people who can be attracted.

 

No top-level doctor, lawyer, economist, engineer or CEO can become a member of Congress without taking a big pay cut, perhaps costing that person's family millions of dollars over a lifetime.

 

On the other hand, if you paid every member of Congress a million dollars a year, it would cost less than the cost of even a small government boondoggle, much less a whole agency.

 

It is not that the turkeys in Congress today deserve a raise.

 

They don't even deserve their current pay. But that is the very reason for attracting different people. Cheap politicians are actually very expensive and the same principle applies to CEOs.

 

This is an interesting idea, and I've heard it applied to public school teachers also. I know I would get a job teaching in public school if they offered more money.

Pay teachers more, but not politicians.