How should we give politicians a raise

Many elected officials, from Washington, D.C., to Spokane, Wash., are getting a raise this year.

The fact that they are getting more money in what might charitably be described as “hard times,” has some people angry.

It’s also fodder for some pretty good satire, particularly on late night television. If you weren’t so tired from shoveling snow to stay awake on recent nights, you could have caught comedians getting big laughs by pointing out that Congress, which gets a raise despite landing the nation trillions in debt, was dissing auto executives for their big salaries and being billions in debt.

But the real problem isn’t how much more they get, but how they get it – with very little effort and very little accountability.