Want to get the
minimum wage raised in a hurry? Multiply it by the 2,000 hours of a forty hour a week, fifty week work year, and make that the salary for all members of the House and Senate. Make it the salary for all members of their staffs.
Of course, if members of Congress really were paid minimum wage salaries, most would quit. Which for the most part would be an added bonus. And an extra added bonus would be that it would reduce the deficit, thus putting smiles on the faces of Fred Hiatt, Ron Fournier, Chuck Todd, Alan Simpson, Erskine Bowles, and the adherents of Village conventional wisdom.
Now, some might say paying members of Congress minimum wage would make them susceptible to bribery and other forms of corruption. And they'd probably try to say it with straight faces.
Of course, this isn't ever going to happen. But members of Congress should be forced to consider what life is like on minimum wage.