No money, no respect

Poor German politicians have neither.

While US Congress and Senate members don't get the respect that they don't deserve but do get money, German parliamentarians are to be really pitied.

In the shitstorm about the Offshore Leaks havens, a major story about the remuneration of German federal elected officials was almost drowned out.

As in other countries, when German parliamentarians want something for themselves, they appoint an independent commission -- it looks better.

Over here, you know the shit is going to hit the fan when the independent commission is given the fancy French title "enquete" (inquiry), so find "Enquetekommission" on the interweb, and you get some insight into the painful or weird topics of German politics.

The independent Enquetekommission will then publish a report justifying whatever the pre-determined result was.

Case in point: parliamentiarians are woefully underpaid.

To get to this foregone conclusion, you must ignore ancient reports from a couple of years ago which detail that parliamentarians raked in 65% more in 1991 prices. Compared to 30% for average working people, who deservedly stay under the inflation adjusted price hikes of 37%.

But this is not the year 2010, this is 2013, and everything is different.

Just how different? The Enquetekommission report tells us:

1) They have a stressful job.
2) They have to be an expert in at least one field.
3) They need to be available outside of regular hours.
4) They lack job security. One dumb statement, and they are out of a job.
5) Technological pressure is pretty much constant.
6) They are under constant scrutiny.
7) They don't get enough sex.

You, venerable reader, may be tempted to ask "how is that different from the checkout lady at the grocery store, the guys down at the steel mill, the neck wringer at the chicken hatchery?"

To which we must respond: "This is where respect for the burden of office is needed. Please do understand that the burden of office is so immense that Germany still has not adopted the anti-corruption standards put forth by the unrealistic eggheads of Transparency International."

Ahm, yes, item 7, we put that in just to keep you entertained. 

Anyway, you can see how the latest food fight will end. 

[Update Feb 2015] German members of parliament did get a 10% across the board raise a year ago, and they added extra compensation for various committee posts. And in order to avoid recurring public discussion about their remuneration, automatic adjustment for inflation is included.

At present, the German Bundestag (federal lower house) has more members than the US Congress plus the US Senate combined, at one quarter of the population of the US.