White House raises all around! Errrr.... all around the TOP.

A 2.5% pay raise is nice, but it's especially nice when you're making a solid six figures every year. When you're making $15 an hour, it's not so great. But it still beats nothing, which is just what the low men on the White House totem pole have gotten.

President Bush's most senior aides -- the ones who hold the coveted title of "assistant to the president" -- recently received a $4,200 cost-of-living bump-up in compensation and now earn a top pay rate of $165,200, according to an internal White House list of staff salaries. The list was compiled by the administration for the year that ended June 30 and is displayed both alphabetically, and by dollar ranking, below. Those at the bottom of the White House staff pay scale -- the folks answering phones and responding to the president’s mail, for example -- remain stuck at last year’s pay floor of $30,000, according to a year-to-year comparison of White House data obtained by National Journal.

At that level, the White House aide who keeps a log of the gifts sent to the president makes about as much as the average starting pay for a public school teacher. At $15 an hour, that’s almost three times the national minimum wage of $5.15. (Congress is debating this summer whether to raise the minimum wage, while the administration prefers to leave it where it is).

UPDATE: You know, just in case you didn't have the stomach to read the National Journal article, I feel obliged to point out a few more nauseating aspects of the story.

Actual White House staffer:

Baker, Stuart Director for Lessons Learned $106,641

And just so you know what a dick the president is: "White House salaries and job titles are largely controlled at the discretion of the president." I can almost hear it...

Rove: "Hey, Dubya. Mind if I pick up an extra four grand this year?"

Bush: "Sure thing, big daddy. Help yourself. Heh heh heh."