With the campaign season upon us, many incumbents and hopefuls from both parties will be trying to sell the "Ah, shucks, I'm just an average Joe like you, feelin' your pain."
They're not. One percent of Americans are millionaires. Forty-four percent of the 535 members of congress are. Many of the richest are Democrats; John Kerry is worth approximately $209 million, California's Jane Harman is worth roughly $245 million. But the Republicans aren't doing too badly for themselves. The richest member of congress is Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa, who is worth over $250 million. These numbers are somewhat murky, as they are averages between the highest and lowest figures calculated by the Center for Responsive Politics. Also, federal financial disclosure laws don’t require members to list the value of their personal residences. Perhaps that's why McCain couldn't quite remember how many homes he owned during the Presidential campaign a couple of years ago. (Vice President Joe Biden, who is President of the Senate, is reportedly worth a mere $27,000.)
The median worth for members of the House in 2008 was $622,254. For the rest of us, the average income of Americans aged 35 - 44 is $51,575. (Most members of congress are older than this, but even among Americans 55-64, the average is $180,124.)
"So what?", you may be saying. "It takes a Highly Motivated Person to manage to be elected to the House or Senate. These are the same qualities that would drive a person to potentially become very wealthy." And you're right. (Except, of course, for those who were born into it.)
However, what does matter is where this wealth is coming from. According to the CRP, "some lawmakers have profited from investments in companies that have received federal bailouts; dozens of lawmakers are invested in Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America." So, members of both parties are receiving money from TARP recipients, who were bailed out by those Americans earning about 1/6 of what their representatives are earning.
While both parties are roughly equal in their share of Very Wealthy Members, it is the Republicans who seem to try and pull off keeping one foot in the country club, and one down on the farm. Who could forget (much as we try) the embarrassing spectacle of "Joe the Plumber", who held neither a plumber's license nor union card, on the campaign trail with multi-millionaire John McCain. Sarah Palin continues with her should-be-trademarked "How's that working out for ya?" shtick, pretending to be a folksy Alaskan mom who just happens to only take speaking engagements that pay her in the tens of thousands. Most relevant to this election season is the Tea Party, who claim to be a collection of grass roots activists coming together organically; "everyday Americans rising up and engaging in the process.” This, of course, is bullshit. As evidenced by the spelling on their signs, many Tea Partiers couldn't name the three branches of government, or one amendment, save for the second. They certainly couldn't mount the massive P.R. campaign that's sucked in every news outlet from Fox to MSNBC. That takes money and political acumen, which has been funneled into the Tea Party by the likes of Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers.
Nothing here is new. The Founding Fathers probably enjoyed a similar ratio of wealth to the population of their time. But what is so insidious is the tactic of many Republican candidates, and to be sure, a few Democrats, who will try and convince American voters who are hurting that they have some idea of what we are going through. They don't. And that's fine. Just, please, please, have some good ideas on how to fix it. If I was to be diagnosed tomorrow with cancer, I don't need my doctor to be a cancer survivor, or to lie to me and tell me she is. None of that will make me better. I just need her to do her job and fix me.
But, the next congressional fundraiser I attend, there had better be an open bar.
Sources included-
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29235.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-5553408-503544.html
http://www.moneyrelationship.com/retirement/the-average-net-worth-of-americans-where-do-you-stand/
http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/
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I wonder why politicians think it's good news to be regular folk anyway. Last I checked...us regular folks have more than our fair share of bad ideas and outcomes...we'd like to think those of privilege and success can apply some of their brilliance to our country's way of life. But it's no surprise...people are complicated and are seldom what they seem.
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