The Hightower Report

REPRESENTING THE REAL AMERICA

Did you get your $4,400 raise this year? Are you even keeping up with inflation? Are you pulling in $170,000 a year?

If you answered "no" to any of the above, guess what, buckoes? You're not in Congress.

By a 244-181 vote in June, our Congress critters quietly hiked their own pay, putting them in an income class exceeding 97% of American households. And guess what? Unlike us riffraff, their pay raise is automatic! Deserve it or not, need it or not, they get this annual boost, unless they choose not to accept it. And golly, guess what again? They rarely choose to say no!

It works like this. The pay hike is automatically awarded unless lawmakers vote to block it with an obscure procedural move. This move never succeeds because the leaders of both parties agree in advance that they'll deliver the majority of their members to vote to accept the money. Imagine having your arm twisted to accept a pay raise! That's an easy twist.

Worse than the raise -- which comes when the majority of Americans are falling behind economically -- are the excuses of the congressional leaders. They say the big bucks are necessary to retain experienced lawmakers. Yeah ... experienced at raising their own pay, which they've done for seven of the past 10 years. And if you want to hear a truly sad tale, try this: Members wail that they have to meet with lobbyists who are paid far more than they are, so they need to narrow the gap to save face.

Instead of saving congressional face, how about we outlaw high-dollar lobbyists, pay members of Congress the median income of all Americans, put the members in group housing in Washington, provide public financing of congressional campaigns, and eliminate automatic pay raises? Then Congress might come closer to representing the real America.

UNFRIENDLY SKIES

Travel in some primitive parts of the world is a nightmare -- passengers are treated like livestock, service is surly, rules are ridiculous, delays are common, and the whole experience is dreadful. Luckily, here in sophisticated America, we have modern airlines -- on which passengers are treated like livestock, service is surly, rules are ridiculous, delays are common, and the whole experience is dreadful.

Airline executives publicly blame everything from the impact of 9/11 to bad weather, but when these executives talk to shareholders and the business media, they gleefully confess they have deliberately created such unpleasantness as a crude way to jack up their stock prices and profits.

For example, while the public demand for air travel has steadily increased, airline honchos have intentionally decreased the number of flights. That's the opposite of how a free market economy is supposed to work -- if consumer demand is up, companies theoretically respond by increasing supply.

But air travel is a monopolistic market, with one or two airlines controlling nearly all airports. So, by cutting the number of available seats, not only can the monopolists create an artificial shortage that raises ticket prices, but they also create overbooked flights that have all the charm of cattle cars.

Meanwhile, they've also made drastic cuts in staff, leading to more breakdowns and flight delays, as well as less service for customers. The staff that remains has had its wages and benefits slashed, which doesn't help morale. And to make employees even more surly, CEOs have started paying themselves millions of dollars in bonuses.

Based on these manipulations, one airline president enthusiastically told shareholders, "We see an encouraging revenue environment." Sure, boss -- and we passengers see a discouraging decline into primitive levels of travel. Thanks for nothing.