[Vision2020] The 1% in Congress

Sat Nov 12 09:09:18 PST 2011

This kind of thing is a good illustration of what concerns me about this 
whole 1% / 99% metric.  Here is a list of people who are in Congress who 
have a lot of money.  So what?  There is no indication as to how these 
people got their money.  No condemnation of certain Congressmen because 
they passed legislation that directly helped their bottom line.  No 
effort to separate the wheat from the chaff.  How many of these people 
came into their wealth and decided they wanted to do something good with 
it but also understand the idea behind the phrase "free milk and a 
cow"?  The only thing we can say is that they are doing well.

it looks vaguely like a target list, frankly.  What ever happened to the 
good old American Dream(tm)?

What we should be focused on is unmitigated greed.  It exists in all 
levels of society, not just in the most wealthy.  Condemn the laws that 
encourage it, such as the ability of shareholders to sue if a company is 
making a decision that affects short-term profits in favor of long-term 
growth or the various tax dodges written into the tax code to benefit 
specific companies over their competition (making for a non-free trade 
market).  There are plenty other examples of outright greed that we 
could be focusing on.  Instead, we are focusing on net wealth as some 
kind of metric of Good vs. Evil.  Sure, the wealthy could be doing more 
to help the poor, but so could each one of us.

While we're on the subject of the seven deadly sins, why not take a 
close look at "envy" while we're at it?

Paul

On 11/11/2011 04:34 PM, Ron Force wrote:
> *Table 2: All members of Congress with average net worth above $9 
> million, from 2009*
> Name 	Minimum Wealth 	Maximum Wealth 	Average 	Chamber
> Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) 	$156,050,022 	$451,100,000 	$303,575,011 	House
> John Kerry (D-Mass.) 	$182,755,534 	$294,869,059 	$238,812,296 	Senate
> Mark Warner (D-Va.) 	$65,692,210 	$283,077,995 	$174,385,102 	Senate
> Jared Polis (D-Colo.) 	$36,694,140 	$285,123,996 	$160,909,068 	House
> Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) 	$89,358,027 	$231,245,995 	$160,302,011 	Senate
> Vernon Buchanan (R-Fla.) 	-$69,434,661 	$366,180,982 	$148,373,160 	House
> Michael McCaul (R-Texas) 	$73,685,086 	$201,537,000 	$137,611,043 	House
> James E. Risch (R-Idaho) 	$38,936,114 	$179,131,990 	$109,034,052 	Senate
> Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) 	$61,446,018 	$136,218,002 	$98,832,010 	Senate
> Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) 	$64,210,256 	$125,529,976 	$94,870,116 
> Senate
> Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) 	$46,055,250 	$108,109,018 	$77,082,134 
> Senate
> Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) 	$49,083,204 	$104,690,018 	$76,886,611 
> Senate
> Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) 	-$7,356,915 	$124,229,990 	$58,436,537 	House
> Gary Miller (R-Calif.) 	$19,365,053 	$84,302,000 	$51,833,526 	House
> Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) 	$9,778,047 	$91,656,998 	$50,717,522 	Senate
> Diane Lynn Black (R-Tenn.) 	$14,673,049 	$84,145,990 	$49,409,519 	House
> Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) 	$19,898,179 	$67,697,000 	$43,797,589 
> House
> Rick Berg (R-N.D.) 	$19,347,579 	$58,981,451 	$39,164,515 	House
> Nita M. Lowey (D-N.Y.) 	$14,900,036 	$63,125,000 	$39,012,518 	House
> Kenny Marchant (R-Texas) 	$13,303,385 	$63,106,351 	$38,204,868 	House
> Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.) 	$6,598,014 	$56,244,997 	$31,421,505 	House
> Scott Rigell (R-Va.) 	$11,618,078 	$48,200,000 	$29,909,039 	House
> Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) 	$12,556,055 	$44,669,000 	$28,612,527 	Senate
> James B. Renacci (R-Ohio) 	$17,571,131 	$39,297,044 	$28,434,087 	House
> Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) 	$11,522,909 	$44,209,871 	$27,866,390 	Senate
> Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) 	$7,045,017 	$41,899,994 	$24,472,505 	House
> Tom Petri (R-Wis.) 	$5,111,026 	$43,765,999 	$24,438,512 	House
> John Campbell (R-Calif.) 	$9,227,063 	$37,282,000 	$23,254,531 	House
> Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) 	$8,368,014 	$37,945,000 	$23,156,507 	House
> Richard L Hanna (R-N.Y.) 	$10,960,117 	$33,276,000 	$22,118,058 	House
> Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) 	$15,681,206 	$27,543,006 	$21,612,106 	Senate
> Blake Farenthold (R-Texas) 	$10,359,086 	$31,381,997 	$20,870,541 	House
> John Hoeven (R-N.D.) 	-$12,829,960 	$52,851,999 	$20,011,019 	Senate
> Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) 	$7,102,036 	$32,756,000 	$19,929,018 	Senate
> Kay R. Hagan (D-N.C.) 	$3,549,596 	$33,149,981 	$18,349,788 	Senate
> F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) 	$14,990,621 	$20,923,567 
> $17,957,094 	House
> Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) 	$1,056,768 	$34,566,596 	$17,811,682 	Senate
> Michael F Bennet (D-Colo.) 	$6,217,020 	$27,780,000 	$16,998,510 	Senate
> Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) 	$10,447,125 	$23,082,001 	$16,764,563 	Senate
> Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.) 	$9,542,219 	$23,259,000 	$16,400,609 	House
> Fred Upton (R-Mich.) 	$7,010,173 	$25,651,000 	$16,330,586 	House
> Rosa L. DeLauro (D-Conn.) 	$5,429,018 	$26,697,997 	$16,063,507 	House
> John McCain (R-Ariz.) 	$9,769,247 	$22,072,994 	$15,921,120 	Senate
> Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) 	$7,790,095 	$20,949,999 	$14,370,047 	House
> Cynthia Marie Lummis (R-Wyo.) 	$4,939,028 	$23,591,999 	$14,265,513 
> House
> Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) 	$6,393,295 	$20,874,000 	$13,633,647 	Senate
> Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.) 	$6,593,088 	$20,654,033 	$13,623,560 	House
> Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) 	$4,561,077 	$20,503,000 	$12,532,038 	House
> Tom Price (R-Ga.) 	$7,653,606 	$17,121,588 	$12,387,597 	House
> Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) 	$8,010,107 	$16,623,001 	$12,316,554 	Senate
> Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) 	$4,100,005 	$20,250,000 	$12,175,002 	House
> Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) 	$6,126,070 	$18,078,998 	$12,102,534 	House
> Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) 	$6,407,085 	$17,427,999 	$11,917,542 	Senate
> Rob Portman (R-Ohio) 	$5,544,075 	$17,468,999 	$11,506,537 	Senate
> David Dreier (R-Calif.) 	$5,264,092 	$17,715,000 	$11,489,546 	House
> David B. McKinley (R-W.Va.) 	$5,216,060 	$14,316,000 	$9,766,030 	House
> John A. Yarmuth (D-Ky.) 	$2,850,009 	$16,349,999 	$9,600,004 	House
> John Fleming (R-La.) 	$2,153,834 	$16,797,770 	$9,475,802 	House
> Jon Runyan (R-N.J.) 	$5,000,034 	$13,674,999 	$9,337,516 	House
>
> Source: Center for Responsive Politics 
> <http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/index.php>
>
>
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