(I'm shocked, SHOCKED, I tell you!) LOL!!
You're right about the vote pandering.
Come to think about it, I was only making about 80 bucks a month when I went into the USAF. That potato picker was making almost double what I was making.
My base pay when I joined the army in 1964 was $69 a MONTH. Compare this to being paid TWICE this much in 1941,and you can see they were VERY well paid for the time.