Fiscal Responsibility May Not be Strong Point of Well-Paid Politicians

As world-wide attention is focused on the Euro dropping and the bailout of Greece, the financial plight and budget woes of some states in the U.S. have become less visible. But perhaps those topics should still be front-page news.

Dennis Tubbergen, noted financial advisor and CEO of USA Wealth Management, LLC, tackled this issue on a recent blog and provided an interactive map of the United States which shows each state’s budget deficit on a per capita basis. (The map is a product of ManyEyes by IBM’s Collaborative User Experience research group.)

According to the map, only North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana have no budget deficits. California leads with a per capita deficit of 922, while New York’s deficit stands at a whopping 918.

Tubbergen said he asked himself how some states could have no deficit while others had extremely large deficits.

“It occurred to me to dig into how hard their legislators work,” explained Tubbergen. “Could it be there is a correlation between how the legislatures were structured and the state’s financial condition? Do the lawmakers in North Dakota work harder than those in California?”

Work harder? Maybe. Work for less money? Definitely.

“While my research wasn’t all that scientific or in-depth, what I learned was interesting,” noted Tubbergen. “North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana have part-time legislatures and pay their representatives very little when compared to states with full-time legislatures.”

In fact, California legislators are full-time and earn a base salary of $95,291. In Michigan, where the per capita deficit is 160, legislators earn $79,650. But in the three states with no deficit, legislators are only paid a per diem for each day that the legislature is in session. Wyoming representatives earn $150 per working day, while their counterparts in North Dakota earn $135 per daily session. Representatives in Montana take home a mere $82.64 per day. (Source: National Conference of State Legislatures)

In the states where per diem pay rules, the representatives hold other jobs to maintain a living for themselves and their families.

“In other words, these legislative bodies are made up of regular people like us who ‘serve to serve’ and are not there for personal interests or political ambition,” concludes Dennis Tubbergen. “It seems to me that if all politicians worked part-time for little pay, things might get a lot better a lot more quickly.”

For more information on Dennis Tubbergen’s views, visit www.dennistubbergen.com.

The opinions expressed herein are those of the writer and not necessarily those of USA Wealth Management, LLC. This update may contain forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements as to future events that involve various risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause actual events or results to differ materially from those that were forecasted. Information obtained from third party resources is believed to be reliable but the accuracy cannot be guaranteed.

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This release was published on openPR.