Why is president bush against a modest pay raise for the troops?

Question

hey jim c. - spare me your 'leftist media' moonbat idiocy. the president, who claims to be for the troops, is AGAINST a pay raise for these guys, many of whom will be denied disability benefits and will have employment and psychological problems for the rest of their lives.
spare us all your psycho-babble neocon tin foil conspiracy theories...

congress suggested one figure and bush was 'against' their suggested raise.

Answer 1

Giving soldiers modest raises really adds up once you figure all the members of all the armed services. It really cuts into the profit margin of investors like KBR and BlackWater and the like. Give us more money decreases the amount of money they take home. And after it really makes a huge difference if you make $135 million or $134 million profits. I mean they might have to wait until next quarter to buy the fur lined bathtub. You did notice the 2.2 percent raise for last year. Did you notice the 8.9 percent raise most of the generals recieved? The rich get richer.

Answer 2

The military usually gets 1.2 percentage point above the EIC.

EIC is the "cost of living adjustment "

For 2008, the EIC is 2.5%

Meaning the military would receive a 3.0% pay increase across the board.

NOTE: most pay increases also have non across the board componets, for certain year and rank groups.

Some members of Congress proposed a 3.5% pay increase.

Bush said it was not needed to continue on the path to pay parity by 2112.

Thats the whole point of indexing to EIC.

Back in the 1990's, the pay gap between the military and civilians increased every year and got as large as 13%

So the law was changed to add an additional 1/2 percentage point to all annual pay raises above the EIC.

The point was to equalize pay by 2112.

The pay gap now stands at 3.4%, down from 10.5% in 2001.

Pay Increases and the pay gap the last 15 years:

Year/Pay Raise.......Pay Gap

1994 2.2%............... -12.0%
1995 2.6%............... -12.5%
1996 2.4%............... -13.0%
1997 3.0%............... -12.8%
1998 2.8%............... -13.3%
1999 3.6%............... -13.3%
2000 6.2%............... -11.4%
2001 4.1%............... -10.5%

2002 6.9%............... -7.7%
2003 4.8%............... -6.5%
2004 4.1%............... -6.0%
2005 3.5%............... -5.1%
2006 3.1%............... -4.6%
2007 2.2%............... -4.0%
2008 3.0%............... -3.4%

Answer 3

Don't know but you need to remember one thing, Although they may not make alot in their pay check, there is other compensation most people don't take into consideration. For example, there is free housing and/or housing assistance, free medical and dental for the soldier and their family, free meals and food allowances, etc, etc. When you add up the cost of all this, and remember the soldier is not paying this out of his/her own pocket, plus theuir take home pay, they're not as under paid as you may think they are.

Don't get me wrong - they aren't getting rich by any means, but there is more to it than what the liberal leftist media wants you to believe.

Answer 4

As a veteran, I will tell you that we don't do it for the money.

Jeepers: Is it safe to assume that you meant 2012? From your chart, it looks like we're closing in a lot sooner than 2112!

Answer 5

I'm pretty certain that the military gets a pay raise annually. Always has and always will. I know for the twelve years I was in we certainly did.

Answer 6

Where do you get your information? Bush is against? a modest pay raise?
http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0206/020606r1.htm

http://usmilitary.about.com/od/payandbenefits/a/07paychanges.htm

http://www.military.com/benefits/military-pay/military-pay-overview

The 2.2% payraise is across-the-board
The 8.3% payraise is for some mid-level noncommissioned personnel and warrant officers.

Answer 7

BECAUSE HE IS AN ***HOLE!!!!!!