And Now For Something Entirely Different: Japan

Our courteous Karlo at Swerve Left:

American politicos could take a few lessons from their Japanese counterparts. The new Japanese prime minister recently lowered his own salary by 30 per cent, and reduced the salaries of all cabinet members by 10 per cent.

While we're at it, why don't we pass a law forbidding all members of lawmakers families from working as lobbyists, and even more importantly, create another law forbidding all former government personnel from working for firms that subcontract for the U.S. government. (The law could simply state that the government is forbidden from accepting contracts from firms that employ its former workers.) This would help limit the culture of corruption--those people who quit their jobs as colonels or cabinet members to suddenly find lucrative employment as high-paid "consultants" (just why a retired cabinet member with no background in given industry is such a treasure trove of information and contacts I'll leave you to guess.)